Free & Clear Shampoo Alternatives Without CAPB or Glucosides

Vanicream's Free & Clear shampoo is a genuinely cocamidopropyl-betaine-free, fragrance-free shampoo, and its two primary cleansers are alkyl glucosides (lauryl glucoside and coco-glucoside). For most people avoiding CAPB that is fine. If your patch test also flagged decyl or lauryl glucoside, the 2017 Allergen of the Year, you need a shampoo that leaves out both families, and that is a shorter list. This page quotes Free & Clear's current ingredient list from the brand's own site, states plainly what it does well, and sets Baresel, a CAPB-free and glucoside-free option, next to it on composition facts only. A contact allergy is a medical matter: read the full INCI of whichever bottle you choose, and patch-test with a dermatologist or allergist.

What Free & Clear does well

Free & Clear has been the default answer to "shampoo without cocamidopropyl betaine" for years, and the ingredient list explains why. Quoted from vanicream.com on 2026-09-21: "water, lauryl glucoside, coco-glucoside, acrylates copolymer, sodium cocoyl glutamate, sodium cocoyl glycinate, glycerin, sucrose cocoate, panthenol, pentylene glycol, 1,2-hexanediol, disodium EDTA, caprylyl glycol, sodium hydroxide, sodium chloride." There is no cocamidopropyl betaine, no hydroxysultaine, no amidopropyl anything. The brand describes it as free of fragrance, parabens, sulfates, and formaldehyde releasers, with no botanical extracts or essential oils, and as dermatologist tested and pH balanced. It contains no isothiazolinone preservative either; the glycols on the list (pentylene glycol, 1,2-hexanediol, caprylyl glycol) are the kind commonly used to support preservation without those systems.

It is also widely available and inexpensive. Vanicream sells it in 12 oz and 2 oz sizes, and on the day this page was written Target listed the 12 oz bottle at $12.99, roughly $1.08 per fluid ounce. It is stocked by major US pharmacies, which matters when you are mid-flare and need a bottle today. On those three counts, availability, price, and a betaine-free surfactant system, it is a good product, and this page does not claim otherwise.

Where a reader might look further: the glucosides

The first two ingredients after water are lauryl glucoside and coco-glucoside. Alkyl glucosides are mild nonionic surfactants and are well tolerated by most people, but they are also a documented contact allergen. The American Contact Dermatitis Society named them Allergen of the Year for 2017. In a Columbia University series of 897 patients patch-tested for suspected cosmetic dermatitis, 48 (5%) reacted to decyl glucoside and/or lauryl glucoside, and 65% of those reacted to both, which led the authors to conclude that neither glucoside adequately screens for the other and that clinicians should test decyl, lauryl, and other alkyl glucosides together. Decyl glucoside has been on the North American Contact Dermatitis Group standard series since 2009, so if you have had a recent full panel, your report will say whether it is relevant to you.

The practical rule: if your patch test is positive to CAPB only, Free & Clear's ingredient list contains nothing from the betaine family and is a reasonable choice. If it is positive to CAPB and to an alkyl glucoside, or if you have reacted to glucoside-based "gentle" products before, Free & Clear's surfactant base is the wrong one for you, and you need a shampoo that leaves out both families. Do not guess; your dermatologist can tell you which case you are in.

Baresel: CAPB-free and glucoside-free

Baresel is built to leave out both. Its full published INCI is: Aqua/Water, Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate, Sodium Cocoyl Glutamate, Glycerin, Panthenol, Sodium Chloride, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Citric Acid, Sodium Benzoate, Potassium Sorbate, Tocopherol. The cleansers are an isethionate, a taurate, and an amino-acid glutamate; there is no betaine, no glucoside, and no sulfate. It is fragrance-free with no masking scent, and it is preserved with sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate rather than isothiazolinones or formaldehyde releasers. It is $22 for 250 ml, on pre-order, charged only when it ships, with free worldwide shipping. That is smaller and more expensive per bottle than Free & Clear, and it is not stocked in pharmacies. It is also not coconut-free: the isethionate, taurate, and glutamate are all coconut-derived, and Free & Clear's glutamate, glycinate, and sucrose cocoate are too. Any surfactant can, rarely, sensitize; Baresel makes no hypoallergenic or safe-for-everyone claim.

How to choose between them

Let the patch test decide, not the marketing. If your confirmed trigger is cocamidopropyl betaine alone, both products leave it out, and Free & Clear is the cheaper, larger, easier-to-find option. If your trigger list includes an alkyl glucoside as well, Free & Clear's base is the one to avoid, and Baresel's isethionate, taurate, and glutamate system is the composition difference that matters. If you have not been patch-tested and are guessing from symptoms, stop and get tested; DermNet calls patch testing the gold standard for diagnosing allergic contact dermatitis, and without it you are comparing labels against an unknown. Whatever you pick, read the printed INCI on the bottle before first use, because both brands can reformulate, and do a small-area trial before switching your whole routine.