Products · Personal care · Vanicream
Vanicream Shampoo (formerly Free & Clear Shampoo)
Reader ratings
A fragrance-free, sulfate-free liquid shampoo with 15 named ingredients and mild sugar-based cleansers. It is cheap and plain, but we found no independent screening: it is not in the National Eczema Association directory.
Best for Someone who wants an inexpensive, fragrance-free shampoo for a sensitive scalp and does not need an outside review.
- Our quality rating
- Fair (3 of 5)
- Price range
- Budget
- Size
- 12 fl oz bottle (a 2 oz tube is also sold)
approx. $10.99 for 12 fl oz
See it on Vanicream’s site →We are not affiliated with Vanicream. This link goes to the maker’s own page, with no tracking code. How we're funded.
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Your review
Reviews are personal experiences, not research, and they never change our quality ratings. Every review is read by our team before it appears.
How we evaluated it
Why we chose it What put it on our list
- The maker’s page lists 15 ingredients. The cleansers are lauryl glucoside, coco-glucoside, sodium cocoyl glutamate and sodium cocoyl glycinate, which are the mild, non-sulfate type our shampoo guide points to.
- Vanicream calls it “fragrance free” with “no botanical extracts or essential oils”, and the list shows none. It also says the formula has no formaldehyde releasers.
- It is about $0.92 an ounce at Target, against about $3.72 an ounce for SEEN’s fragrance-free shampoo.
- The company, Pharmaceutical Specialties, Inc. of Rochester, Minnesota, says it has made products since 1975 to drug-quality manufacturing standards and is inspected by the FDA.
Trade-offs What to weigh before you buy
- No independent screening found. The shampoo is not in the National Eczema Association directory, which lists eight other Vanicream products. MADE SAFE’s index and EWG’s Verified directory have no Vanicream listing.
- The list includes acrylates copolymer, a synthetic polymer used as a thickener, and disodium EDTA. Target’s page adds a note that the formula “may contain” disodium cocoyl glutamate.
- Vanicream renamed this shampoo. Older bottles and some listings still say “Free & Clear”.
- Without fragrance, the shampoo takes on the smell of its ingredients, which Vanicream says is true of all its products.
What to know Details worth knowing first
Our guide to shampoo and body care suggests sulfate-free shampoos with gentler cleansers, and our fragrance guide explains why we look for no fragrance at all. This shampoo is built that way: sugar-based and amino-acid-based cleansers, glycerin, panthenol and a few preservatives and stabilizers, with no scent.
It earns a 3 because the checks that rest on an outside party came up empty. It has no EWG Verified or MADE SAFE listing, and the National Eczema Association, which lists eight other Vanicream products, does not list this one. Everything we know about the formula comes from Vanicream’s own page and the label text that Target shows.
If you want a listing behind the label, SEEN’s fragrance-free shampoo has one, at roughly four times the price. If you want the lowest price and a plain formula, this is a reasonable place to start.
Quality & testing How it measures up against our checklist
| What we checked | What we found |
|---|---|
| Every ingredient listed Maker’s claim | 15 ingredients on the product page, starting with water, lauryl glucoside and coco-glucoside. No “fragrance” line. Target’s copy of the list matches. |
| Independent screening: EWG Verified or MADE SAFE Not verified | None found. Vanicream does not claim either, MADE SAFE’s index does not list it, and EWG’s Verified directory has no Vanicream listing (searched on 2026-10-22). The National Eczema Association’s directory lists eight Vanicream products, but not this shampoo. |
| Fragrance-free Maker’s claim | Called “fragrance free” on the page, with “no botanical extracts or essential oils”. The list names none. |
| Short formula Maker’s claim | 15 ingredients. |
What the labels mean
- Verified We opened an independent record that confirms it: a certifier’s listing, a regulator’s list or a lab report. It is linked under Sources.
- Maker’s claim The maker says so on its own page or label. We read it but found no independent record.
- Not verified We looked and could not confirm it, or the maker does not say. Treat it as unknown.
Sources Where our facts come from
- Vanicream Shampoo product page. Maker’s page. Open ↗
- Target listing: Vanicream Shampoo for Sensitive Skin, 12 fl oz. Independent source. Price and label info as shown by the retailer. Open ↗
- National Eczema Association product directory, search for “vanicream”. Certifier or regulator listing. Shows eight Vanicream products. The shampoo is not among them. Open ↗
- Vanicream: our story. Maker’s page. Open ↗
- EWG Verified directory: search for “Vanicream”. Certifier or regulator listing. Returns no Vanicream products. EWG blocks automated fetches, so we read it in a browser on 2026-10-22. Open ↗
Where to buy Other stores and the prices we saw
- Target approx. $10.99 for 12 fl oz. Target’s page showed $10.99, marked down from $12.99, and the same 15-ingredient list.
Prices as we saw them on October 22, 2026. They change often. These links carry no tracking code and earn us nothing.
Alternatives Other options to compare
- SEEN Shampoo, Fragrance Free A liquid shampoo with the National Eczema Association Seal of Acceptance, at about $32 for 8.6 fl oz.
- HiBAR Fragrance-Free Moisturize Shampoo Bar A plastic-free bar at about $14.95, with no independent screening either.