A good hand cream can reduce dryness and roughness.
After going vegan and dropping L’Occitane, we were on a long quest for an equally good vegan hand cream. Instead of one good one, we found 13 vegan hand creams we like.
With the plant world full of beautiful oils like coconut and shea butter, hand creams are born to be vegan. See our guide with the top vegan hand creams for 2024.
All products below are vegan and cruelty-free, meaning they are free of animal-derived ingredients and have not been tested on animals. 💚
Best Vegan Hand Creams 2024
These are our favorite vegan hand creams, balms, and lotions for 2024.
- Best overall: Grown Alchemist Orange & Vanilla Hand Cream
- Best runner-up: Sparitual Slow Beauty Citrus Cardamom Hand Salve
- Best organic: Voesh Velvet Luxe Hand And Body Lotion
- Best unscented: MaryRuth’s Unscented Hydrating Hand Cream
- Best affordable: Hempz Milk and Honey Herbal Hand & Foot Creme
- Best luxury: Aesop Resurrection Aromatique Hand Balm
- Best with SPF: Jane Iredale HandDrink Hand Cream SPF 15
- Best anti-aging: Derma E Rosehip & Almond Hand And Cuticle Cream
- Best for dry hands: Benton Shea Butter And Olive Hand Cream
- Best for cracked hands: Fenty Skin Hydra’Reset Glycerin Hand Mask
- Best for sensitive hands: Attitude Soothing Hand Cream
- Best for eczema: Skinfix Eczema+ Hand Repair Cream
Best Vegan Hand Cream Overall
1. Grown Alchemist Vanilla & Orange Peel Hand Cream
Grown Alchemist Orange & Vanilla Hand Cream is the best vegan hand cream. It’s a really lightweight lotion that hydrates the skin well and smells like fresh orange milk.
The vegan hand cream absorbs deep into the skin and relieves dryness instantly. The natural cream is rich in botanical extracts and vitamins. See our full review here.
- What we like: it’s fresh, non-greasy, and offers deep hydration
- What we don’t like: the consistency is watery
- What reviews say: softens and soothes hands for the whole day, helps with damaged skin, absorbs quickly
Key ingredients: rosehip oil, camellia, sea buckthorn, wheat germ | Main benefits: soothing, softening, moisturizing | Features: vegan, artificial fragrance-free, made in Australia
Shop on: Amazon, Official site, Walmart
Best Vegan Hand Cream Runner-Up
2. Sparitual Slow Beauty Citrus Cardamom Hand Salve
This vegan hand cream goes everywhere we go. The organic vegan cream combines two nutritious plant oils – marula and shea – to nourish, hydrate, and protect your hands.
We like everything about this cream, especially the mild citrus cardamom scent and non-greasy texture. And you should definitely try the vegan hand serum of the same line.
- What we like: softens and hydrates hands immediately, leaves no grease
- What we don’t like: it’s expensive
- What reviews say: lovely scent, hands skin is softer and healthier
Key ingredients: marula oil, shea butter, honeybush extract | Main benefits: protecting, nourishing, hydrating | Features: vegan, artificial fragrance-free, artificial colors-free, GMO-free, gluten-free, made in the USA
Shop on: Amazon, Official site
Best Organic Vegan Hand Cream
3. Voesh Velvet Luxe Hand and Body Lotion
Velvet Luxe is a beautiful organic vegan hand cream made from avocado and virgin olive oils. What’s best, can choose your own scent – our fave is soothing lavender.
The cream comes in different sizes. We prefer the larger bottle since it doubles as a vegan body lotion. The lotion absorbs well without leaving any residue and makes your skin silky soft.
- What we like: lovely scent, nourishes and repairs the damaged skin on hands
- What we don’t like: too lightweight for very dry skin, contains fragrance
- What reviews say: moisturizing and quickly absorbing, leaves no greasy feeling
Key ingredients: virgin olive oil, avocado oil | Main benefits: nourishing, softening, moisturizing | Features: vegan, gluten-free, mineral oil-free, artificial colors-free
Shop on: Amazon, Official site, Walmart
Best Unscented Vegan Hand Cream
4. MaryRuth’s Unscented Hydrating Hand Cream
This fragrance-free vegan hand cream is simple, natural, and organic. It absorbs well and uses calming herbs like honeysuckle, Centella Asiatica, geranium, and dandelion.
This is also a great hypoallergenic vegan hand cream for sensitive skin. It is free of all possible additives and fillers like parabens, sodium lauryl, fragrance, and colorings.
- What we like: absorbs quickly, safe for sensitive skin
- What we don’t like: not nourishing enough for very dry hands
- What reviews say: helps with chapped skin, hands are softer and hydrated
Key ingredients: honeysuckle, Centella Asiatica, geranium, dandelion | Main benefits: moisturizing, hydrating, nourishing | Features: vegan, GMO-free, fragrance-free, hypoallergenic, artificial colors-free, made in the USA
Shop on: Amazon, Official site, Walmart
Best Affordable Vegan Hand Cream
5. Hempz Milk and Honey Herbal Hand & Foot Creme
Don’t mind the name, Hempz Milk & Honey hand cream is 100% vegan. This affordable vegan hand cream is made with cocoa, shea, and hemp seed oil. Milk & honey is just the fragrance.
While perfume is a no-go in skincare these days, we personally like the nostalgic warm honey scent. The plant balms and rice extract also give instant hydration to your hands.
- What we like: moisturizes but leaves no greasy feeling, thick consistency
- What we don’t like: contains fragrance
- What reviews say: excellent price value, good to use during winter or when hands are feeling very dry
Key ingredients: cocoa butter, shea butter, rice extract, hemp seed oil | Main benefits: soothing, moisturizing, calming | Features: vegan, gluten-free, made in the USA
Best Luxury Vegan Hand Cream
6. Aesop Resurrection Aromatique Hand Balm
Resurrection Aromatique is a luxury vegan hand cream with fragrant notes of mandarin and cedar. It uses a rich nourishing basis of coconut oil, sweet almond oil, and macadamia oil.
This vegan hand cream is featured on almost every list. Some say it’s worth the hype, others disagree. We think it all comes down to whether you love the scent or not – we do.
- What we like: a little goes a long way, lovely scent, skin feels more nourished
- What we don’t like: it’s expensive
- What reviews say: a great gift, moisturizes deeply
Key ingredients: sweet almond oil, coconut oil, mandarin, rosemary, cedar | Main benefits: softening, nourishing, hydrating | Features: vegan, natural ingredients, artificial fragrance-free, made in Australia
Shop on: Amazon, Official site
Best Vegan Hand Cream With SPF
7. Jane Iredale HandDrink Hand Cream SPF 15
Looking for a vegan hand cream with sunscreen? HandDrink is our top pick for a vegan spf hand cream. The cream is packed with antioxidants, it smells fresh, absorbs fast, and moisturizes as it protects.
If we could change one thing about this cream, we would turn up the SPF level. Sunscreen is most effective with SPF 30, so we would throw in some extra factors.
- What we like: very refreshing, hydrates for a long period
- What we don’t like: the SPF is not enough
- What reviews say: leaves no greasy feeling and absorbs quickly into the skin, calms and soothes even damaged skin
Key ingredients: lemongrass oil, apple extract, white and green tea | Main benefits: protecting, moisturizing, hydrating | Features: vegan, SPF 15, gluten-free, artificial fragrance-free, soy-free, made in the USA
Best Anti-Aging Vegan Hand Cream
8. Derma E Rosehip & Almond Hand And Cuticle Cream
If you are in the market for an anti-aging vegan hand cream, Derma E has a good option. The cream hydrates the skin well and keeps your hands young with vegan collagen and retinol.
This affordable cream has so much going on for it with the whole anti-aging heavyweight and nourishing oils. We also like the scent but wish it was a little milder.
- What we like: moisturizes deeply, absorbs quickly into the skin, hands feel more nourished
- What we don’t like: specific smell
- What reviews say: great price value, feels luxurious on hands, skin starts to look more smooth
Key ingredients: shea, almond, vegan collagen, retinol, rosehip, astaxanthin | Main benefits: nourishing, softening, moisturizing | Features: vegan, artificial fragrance-free, mineral oil-free, gluten-free, soy-free, GMO-free, recyclable packaging, dermatologist recommended, made in the USA
Shop on: Amazon, Official site
Best Vegan Hand Cream For Dry Hands
9. Benton Shea Butter And Olive Hand Cream
Benton’s Shea & Coconut cream is best for dry hands. The vegan cream uses olive oil, shea butter, and hyaluronic acid to give rich hydration without feeling greasy.
The consistency of this vegan hand cream feels a bit too thick at first. But when it warms up, it melts seamlessly into your hands without any stickiness. It’s also great for cold weather.
- What we like: long-lasting hydration, soothes the skin
- What we don’t like: the consistency is very thick
- What reviews say: very moisturizing and works well in a cold climate, great size to store in a bag
Key ingredients: shea butter, olive oil, hyaluronic acid, panthenol | Main benefits: softening, freshening, moisturizing | Features: vegan, hypoallergenic, dermatologically tested, artificial fragrance-free
Best Vegan Hand Cream For Cracked Hands
10. Fenty Skin Hydra’Reset Glycerin Hand Mask
If your hands are parched and cracked, you could use this vegan hand mask. First suggested to us by skincare expert Cassandra Bankson, this mask really resets your skin overnight.
Made with 40% vegan glycerin, the mask is quite greasy but cracked hands feel well hydrated and soft by the morning. The packaging of the mask sucks but the content is great.
- What we like: helps really well with damaged and cracked hands, hydrates deeply
- What we don’t like: greasy texture, contains fragrance
- What reviews say: great to use overnight, softens the skin, very moisturizing
Key ingredients: vegan glycerin, panthenol, melon oils | Main benefits: softening, hydrating, nourishing | Features: vegan, gluten-free, recyclable packaging, nighttime use
Best Vegan Hand Cream For Sensitive Hands
11. Attitude Soothing Hand Cream
Made with oatmeal and chamomile, this hypoallergenic vegan hand cream for sensitive skin soothes hands and reduces redness, dryness, and itchiness.
This cream has a nice and silky texture. We also like the light floral scent but if you prefer, the cream also has a fragrance-free version available.
- What we like: calms dry and red skin, irritation-free
- What we don’t like: specific smell
- What reviews say: works great for sensitive skin, absorbs quickly, moisturizes deeply
Key ingredients: oatmeal, chamomile, avocado oil, argan oil | Main benefits: soothing, moisturizing, calming | Features: vegan, hypoallergenic, dermatologist-tested, EWG-verified, artificial fragrance-free, recyclable packaging, made in Canada
Best Vegan Hand Cream For Eczema
12. Skinfix Eczema+ Hand Repair Cream
Skinfix has made a vegan hand cream to especially relieve eczema. This cream helps treat cracked, itchy, dry, and flaky hands with calming colloidal oatmeal and allantoin.
This vegan cream is ultra-hydrating and thick, so it takes a minute to absorb. But it’s thanks to its richness that the cream can really replenish dry and chapped hands.
- What we like: gives great hydration, calms eczema
- What we don’t like: absorbs slowly
- What reviews say: helps with fine lines on the hands, soothes the itchy skin, hydrates for a long period
Key ingredients: colloidal oatmeal, allantoin, sweet almond oil | Main benefits: hydrating, nourishing, calming | Features: vegan, gluten-free, artificial fragrance-free, made in Canada
Best Vegan Hand Creams By Ingredient
Are you searching for a vegan hand cream with retinol or hyaluronic acid? Here are our top vegan hand lotions that feature a particular key ingredient.
- With retinol: Beauty Pie Super Retinol Anti-Aging Hand Treatment
- With vitamin C: Valjean Labs Soften Hand Cream
- With hyaluronic acid: Yes To Avocado Daily Hand Cream
- With collagen: Derma E Rosehip & Almond Hand And Cuticle Cream
- With ceramides: Klairs Supple Preparation All Over Lotion
- With glycerin: Fenty Skin Hydra’Reset Glycerin Hand Mask
- With shea butter: Benton Shea Butter and Coconut Hand Cream
- With rose: Grown Alchemist Persian Rose & Argan Hand Cream
- With fragrance: Bliss Lemon & Sage Hand Cream
Best Vegan Hand Cream Brands
Here are some vegan and cruelty-free brands that offer a good selection of vegan hand creams:
- Derma E – Californian vegan skincare brand Derma E has three quality vegan hand creams. The creams use only natural ingredients like rosehip, neroli, and shea butter. They also offer an unscented vegan hand cream for sensitive skin.
- Voesh – Voesh from New York offers organic vegan handcare products, including vegan hand creams. Their bestselling Velvet Luxe Hand & Body Creme comes in many great scents from refreshing cucumber to relaxing lavender.
- Grown Alchemist – Grown Alchemist is a natural vegan hand and body care brand from Australia. They have a unique collection of luxurious vegan hand creams made with ingredients like vanilla, Persian rose, and cedarwood.
- Hempz – Hempz is a beloved American vegan skincare brand with a selection of vegan hand lotions. They use a variety of plant extracts and plant oils with a moisturizing and conditioning hemp seed oil base.
- Love Beauty And Planet – if you are looking for affordable vegan hand creams, check out Love Beauty and Planet. The Unilever brand is entirely vegan and their vegan hand lotions use natural ingredients like orange flowers and eucalyptus.
- The Body Shop – The Body Shop is not a fully vegan brand (yet) but they have many vegan hand moisturizers made from strawberry, coconut, mango, and other plant-based ingredients. You can find vegan options using the online store’s vegan filter.
What Makes Hand Cream Vegan
Simply put, vegan hand cream is a hand cream that does not include any animal ingredients such as honey or beeswax. Vegan hand cream is also not tested on animals.
The most common ingredients that make a hand cream not vegan are honey, beeswax, lanolin, and animal-derived glycerin.
- Honey – a secretion made by honeybees, used as a humectant in hand creams
- Beeswax – a waxy substance made by bees, popular occlusive in hand creams
- Lanolin – an emollient derived from sheep’s wool, found in rich hand creams
- Glycerin – a widely used hand cream emollient that can be derived from plants or animal fats. Plant-based version is often marked “Vegetable Glycerin”.
Instead of animal-derived waxes and emollients, vegan hand creams use plant oils such as coconut, shea, cocoa, marula, hemp seed, and almond oil.
While most hand creams today are plant-based, many hand cream brands still sadly use animal testing. Some of these brands include L’Occitane, Kiehl’s, Origins, and Nécessaire.
To make sure you are buying a cruelty-free vegan hand lotion, we suggest you opt for products with a certified vegan label. Or pick a hand cream from our verified list.
What To Look For In Vegan Hand Creams
When looking for a vegan hand cream, choose as natural and clean creams as possible. Organic plant-based ingredients are usually better for your skin and the environment.
Since hand cream is used daily, there is no need to expose your hands to a long list of heavy additives like parabens, mineral oils, artificial fragrances, and colorings.
Great vegan ingredients to moisturize and protect our hands include almond, shea, olive, and coconut oil. We also love natural extracts from rose, lavender, and citrus fruits.
From vegan hand creams, we also recommend vegetable glycerin creams. Glycerin is such a simple and effective emollient that is also affordable.
How We Review Vegan Hand Creams
To select vegan hand creams, we follow the reviewing criteria below. The most important aspects in rating vegan hand creams are the ingredients, brand features, hydration, absorption, and price.
- Ingredients: We prefer vegan hand creams that use organic and natural ingredients. The fewer additives and fillers, the better.
- Hydration: Above all, a vegan hand cream should offer sufficient and long-lasting hydration. You should not need to reapply the cream every hour.
- Absorption: A vegan hand cream should absorb fast and not leave behind a sticky film. The exception is hand creams for eczema that need to be rich and greasy.
- Brand: We love to support hand cream brands that are fully vegan. We also favor brands that are socially conscious and use sustainably sourced ingredients.
- Price: A vegan hand cream should not cost a fortune. There are some luxury vegan hand creams (e.g. Aesop) that are worth the investment but overall, a hand cream should not cost more than 30 dollars.
Vegan Hand Cream Comparison
| Brand | Product | Type | Key Ingredients | Main Benefits |
| Grown Alchemist | Orange & Vanilla Hand Cream | Overall | Rosehip Oil, Camellia, Sea Buckthorn, Wheat Germ | Soothing, Softening, Moisturizing |
| Sparitual | Slow Beauty Citrus Cardamom Hand Salve | Overall | Marula Oil, Shea Butter, Honeybush Extract | Protecting, Nourishing, Hydrating |
| Voesh | Velvet Luxe Hand And Body Lotion | Organic | Virgin Olive Oil, Avocado Oil | Nourishing, Softening |
| MaryRuth’s | Unscented Hydrating Hand Cream | Unscented | Honeysuckle, Centella Asiatica, Geranium, Dandelion | Moisturizing |
| Hempz | Milk and Honey Herbal Hand & Foot Creme | Affordable | Cocoa Butter, Shea Butter, Rice Extract, Hemp Seed Oil | Soothing |
| Aesop | Resurrection Aromatique Hand Balm | Luxury | Sweet Almond Oil, Coconut Oil, Mandarin, Rosemary, Cedar | Softening |
| Jane Iredale | HandDrink Hand Cream SPF 15 | With SPF | Lemongrass Oil, Apple Extract, White And Green Tea | Protecting |
| Derma E | Rosehip & Almond Hand And Cuticle Cream | Anti-Aging | Shea, Almond, Vegan Collagen, Retinol, Rosehip, Astaxanthin | Nourishing |
| Benton | Shea Butter And Olive Hand Cream | For Dry Skin | Shea Butter, Olive Oil, Hyaluronic Acid, Panthenol | Softening |
| Fenty Skin | Hydra’Reset Glycerin Hand Mask | For Cracked Hands | Glycerin, Panthenol, Melon Oils | Hydrating |
| Attitude | Soothing Hand Cream | For Sensitive Skin | Oatmeal, Chamomile, Avocado Oil, Argan Oil | Soothing |
| Skinfix | Eczema+ Hand Repair Cream | For Eczema | Colloidal Oatmeal, Allantoin, Sweet Almond Oil | Calming |
Why Trust Us
The only way to accurately review vegan hand creams is to test them out for ourselves. Thus, our team at Vegan Avenue has tried out all the vegan hand creams we feature in this article.
We also take into account other people’s experience with using these hand creams, especially people with severely dry or chapped hands. We combine our own experiences with reading tens of reviews online.
FAQ About Vegan Hand Creams
Hand cream is not always vegan. Hand creams can include a variety of animal ingredients (e.g. beeswax) and/or be tested on animals.
The best selection of vegan hand creams is available on Ulta and Amazon. In drugstores, look for vegan hand creams from Hempz and Love Beauty And Planet.
The best vegan hand cream is Grown Alchemist Orange & Vanilla Hand Cream. It smells great and hydrates the skin well.
No. L’Occitane is a company that uses animal testing, so none of their hand creams can be considered vegan.
The following The Body Shop hand creams are vegan: Strawberry, Lemon, Avocado, Coconut, Mango, Wild Argan Oil, and Almond Milk.
No. The cream is not vegan and includes beeswax.
Summary
Dry and cracked hands should be pampered only with the best vegan hand creams. And I hope you found your new favorite cream from our curated selection.
Hand cream is a product that does not need beeswax or sheep sweat – you can find so much better plant-based oils and balms for the job.
Our favorite vegan hand cream is the organic Slow Beauty Hand Salve from Sparitual. I love the mild warm scent and long-lasting hydration and protection the cream provides.
In the meantime, we’ll keep testing different vegan hand creams and let you know if we happen to come across a new gem.
See also: Best Vegan Body Lotions
Update on May 04 (2023): Fact checked and medically reviewed by MD Shimona Garg.
Update on February 18 (2023): Added a reference to support hand cream benefits.
Update on November 30 (2022): Added a comparison table.
Update on August 5 (2022): We changed our top product from Sparitual Slow Beauty Citrus Cardamom Hand Salve to Grown Alchemist Orange & Vanilla Hand Cream. We also added vegan hand creams for dry hands, sensitive hands, eczema, and men. In addition, we included a section of vegan hand creams by ingredient.
