We kept seeing the same story.
People who did everything right — switched to a “gentle,” sulfate-free, natural shampoo to calm a reacting scalp — and reacted anyway. So we made the one those threads kept asking for.
For the people who kept getting caught out.
Spend an evening in the places people go when their scalp won't settle — r/HaircareScience, the contact-dermatitis forums, the reviews under every bottle that promises “gentle” — and one account repeats itself. Someone with a sensitive, reactive scalp finally switches to a kinder-sounding shampoo. And they react anyway.
When they read the label closely, the same name keeps turning up: cocamidopropyl betaine. CAPB is one of the most common causes of a shampoo reaction — the American Contact Dermatitis Society named it Allergen of the Year in 2004 — and it hides in a huge share of the shampoos marketed as gentle, sulfate-free, or natural. The very bottles a reacting scalp reaches for.
The shampoos that did leave it out were mostly clinical, stripping formulas — they fixed the allergen but left hair dry and tight. So people were stuck choosing between a shampoo that might make them react and one that would definitely dry them out.
We're not a lab, and we're not dermatologists. We're people who got tired of watching that problem go unsolved, over and over, in public — so we decided to build the shampoo those threads kept describing: genuinely cocamidopropyl-betaine-free, gentle enough not to strip, and honest enough to print the whole list.
Baresel is built backwards from the exclusion list — CAPB, sulfates, harsh preservatives and fragrance, all left out — then filled back in with only mild amino-acid and glucoside cleansers, glycerin and panthenol. And every ingredient is published in full, so you never have to take “gentle” on faith again.
Gentle shouldn't mean guessing.
What we stand on.
Defined by subtraction
The product is the exclusion. We lead with what's left out — cocamidopropyl betaine, sulfates, MI/MCI, fragrance — because that's what a reactive scalp is actually shopping for.
Trust the list, not the adjective
The full intended INCI is published, in plain language. If a cleanser is coconut-derived, we say so — so you can judge it against your own reactions, not our marketing.
Cosmetic, never clinical claims
We describe composition and gentleness — never 'treats' or 'cures'. A contact allergy is a medical matter for you and a professional.
Gentle shouldn't mean drying
Leaving CAPB out is only half the job. We pair the mild cleansers with glycerin and panthenol so it doesn't trade one problem for a dry, tight scalp.
What Baresel is not.
Being honest about the limits is part of the point — it's how you'll know you can trust the rest.
- A treatment for an allergy, dermatitis, or any scalp condition — Baresel is a cosmetic shampoo and makes no medical claims.
- A “coconut-free” guarantee — several gentle cleansers are coconut-derived; we're CAPB-free with full transparency, not coconut-free.
- A hypoallergenic promise — no product can guarantee that. Read the full list and patch-test.
Our claims, plainly
We only say cosmetic things — what's left out, what's in, and who it suits. No medical claims, no invented lab results, no reviews we paid for, no comparisons we can't stand behind.
We're a small, new brand. You won't find borrowed lab coats or “clinically proven” badges we didn't earn here — just a formula we're proud of and its full list in plain sight.
Baresel is a cosmetic shampoo and makes no medical claims. A contact allergy is a medical matter — read the full ingredient list, patch-test, and if you have a diagnosed allergy or scalp condition, speak with a healthcare professional.