The Best Cruelty Free Face Cleansers To Replace Cetaphil and Walgreens — Daisy Approved 🐾
Four verified alternatives at every price point — and I'm personally testing all of them.
If your skin care audit revealed that your everyday face cleanser didn't make the cruelty-free cut — welcome to the club. Mine didn't either.
Cetaphil, Vanicream, and the Walgreens Cream to Foam Cleanser all landed in our Switch or Proceed With Caution categories during my skin care audit. Which means I needed to find replacements I could actually recommend — not just list.
Here's what I found.
What I Was Looking For
Before I share the alternatives, I want to be clear about my criteria. A good cruelty-free cleanser swap needs to:
✅ Meet The Good Switch cruelty-free standard — Daisy Approved
✅ Be genuinely available at major retailers or easily ordered online
✅ Be comparable in price to what you're already spending
✅ Actually work for real people with real skin
That last point matters more than people realize. There are plenty of cruelty-free cleansers that look great on paper and feel like sandpaper on your face. I'm not recommending those.
I'm currently testing all four cleansers below — reviews coming soon. In the meantime, here's everything you need to know about each one.
The Cleansers
🐾 e.l.f. Clean Freak Daily Cleanser
Certification: Leaping Bunny certified ✅ + PETA certified ✅
Category: ✅ Daisy Approved
Best for: Daily use, normal to combination skin
Price: Approximately $12 Size: 4 fl oz
Where to buy: Target, Walmart, Ulta, Amazon, elfcosmetics.com
e.l.f. is one of the strongest cruelty-free stories in the drugstore beauty space — fully certified by both Leaping Bunny and PETA across its entire product line. The Clean Freak Daily Cleanser is designed for daily use with a formula that removes impurities without stripping the skin barrier.
Price per ounce is comparable to Cetaphil — making this one of the most accessible swaps on this list.
🧪 Currently testing — personal review coming soon
🐾 Pacifica Vegan Ceramide Extra Gentle Face Wash
Certification: PETA certified ✅ + Cruelty-Free Kitty verified ✅ + Fully vegan
Category: ✅ Daisy Approved*
Best for: Sensitive skin, dry skin, vegan shoppers
Price: Approximately $12 Size: 5 fl oz
Where to buy: Target, Ulta, Whole Foods, Walmart, pacificabeauty.com
Pacifica is a fully vegan brand — every single product across their entire line — which means their cruelty-free commitment extends beyond testing to every ingredient in every formula. They hold PETA certification and are verified by Cruelty-Free Kitty, one of the most respected independent cruelty-free research resources in the space.
Pacifica has made a deliberate philosophical choice to align with PETA over Leaping Bunny as a fully vegan brand — PETA's broader ethical framework aligns more closely with their values than Leaping Bunny's narrower no-testing standard. We've verified their status through multiple independent sources and are giving them a Daisy Approved with a transparency note about their certification choice.
The Ceramide Extra Gentle Face Wash is specifically formulated for sensitive skin — a direct comparable to what many Cetaphil and Vanicream users are looking for.
🧪 Currently testing — personal review coming soon
🐾 Mad Hippie Cream Cleanser
Certification: PETA certified ✅ + Leaping Bunny renewal in progress* + EWG Verified as Low Hazard
Category: ✅ Daisy Approved*
Best for: Dry to normal skin, sensitive skin, clean beauty enthusiasts
Price: Approximately $14 Size: 4 fl oz
Where to buy: iHerb, Amazon, Whole Foods, madhippie.com
Mad Hippie occupies a slightly different space than the other cleansers on this list — this is a clean beauty brand with a strong independent ethos and EWG verification across their line. Their Cream Cleanser is a gentle, non-foaming formula designed for sensitive and dry skin types.
A note on certification: Mad Hippie claims both Leaping Bunny and PETA certification and is currently PETA verified. They do not currently appear on the active Leaping Bunny list — however Leaping Bunny operates a rolling re-enrollment process, and this may reflect a gap in renewal rather than a change in practice. We're monitoring and will update when their renewal is confirmed.
🧪 Currently testing — personal review coming soon
🐾 Derma-E Ultra Hydrating Alkaline Cloud Cleanser
Certification: Leaping Bunny certified ✅ + PETA certified ✅ + Fully vegan
Category: ✅ Daisy Approved
Best for: Dry skin, mature skin, hydration-focused routines
Price: Approximately $20 Size: 6 fl oz
Where to buy: Target, Ulta, Whole Foods, Amazon, dermae.com
Derma-E sits at a slightly higher price point than the others on this list — but the size is also larger, and the formula is notably more specialized. This is a clinical-feeling brand with serious ingredient credentials — their Ultra Hydrating line is designed specifically for dry and mature skin that needs significant moisture support.
Leaping Bunny and PETA certified across their entire line. If you're replacing Vanicream specifically — and you have dry or sensitive skin that needs real hydration — this is worth a serious look.
🧪 Currently testing — personal review coming soon
Quick Comparison
Product Certification. Price/Size. Best For. Where To Buy
e.l.f. Clean Freak. ✅ LB + PETA. ~$12/4 oz. Normal/combo. Target, Walmart, Ulta
Mad Hippie Cream. ✅ PETA ~$14/4 oz. Dry/sensitive. iHerb, Amazon
Pacifica Ceramide. ✅ PETA + CFKitty*. ~$12/5 oz. Dry/sensitive Target, Ulta, Walmart
Derma-E Cloud. ✅ LB + PETA. ~$20/6 oz. Dry/mature Target, Ulta, Amazon
*Daisy Approved with transparency note — see individual product details above
Which One Should You Try First?
If you're replacing Cetaphil:
Start with Pacifica Vegan Ceramide — it's the most directly comparable in terms of gentle everyday cleansing for sensitive skin, and the price is almost identical.
Alternatively - e.l.f. Clean Freak is your most accessible and affordable starting point — widely available and drugstore priced.
If you're replacing Walgreens/CeraVe: Try Derma-E Ultra Hydrating Alkaline Cloud Cleanser — the hydration focus and sensitive-skin credentials make it the closest match for what Walgreens/CeraVe users are typically looking for.
If you want the cleanest possible formula: Mad Hippie Cream Cleanser — EWG-verified low hazard means every ingredient has been assessed for safety. This is the choice for anyone who cares about what's in the formula as much as how it's made. They also have a full sustainability plan on their website.
A Note On Personal Testing
I'm currently using all four of these cleansers in rotation — paired with their matching moisturizers from the same brand to give each one a fair evaluation.
Personal reviews are coming once I've had sufficient time to assess each one properly. Personal reviews are coming once I've tested each one properly. I'll tell you exactly what I found, including anything that didn't work for my skin type.
My goal is to help you narrow down your choices to save you time and money while giving you peace of mind that the products you use are cruelty-free.
Because cruelty-free should mean better — not just different.
🧪 Reviews coming — subscribe to The Daisy Dispatch to be the first to know 🐾
Tested by me. Trusted by you. 🌼
— Rebecca & Daisy, Chief Approval Officer
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