Weirdly enough, after the pandemic hit us here in NYC, one of the things I missed the most was grocery shopping. Leisurely grocery shopping, not must-buy-essentials-and-only-the-essentials-before-I-get-outta-here grocery shopping. So I started spending a lot of time browsing the virtual aisles of the pantry section of Target.com. Target has free shipping on purchases over $35, but only some items qualify for free shipping without signing up for their paid grocery delivery service, Shipt. Unlike Amazon, where prices of some pantry food items were skyrocketing, Target provided a safe and affordable way to buy pantry staples like canned soup, peanut butter, and pasta, and for that, I’ll forever be a loyal Target customer. Eventually, I started buying non-food items during my online shopping trips. One day, I stumbled upon Cloud Island Fragrance-Free Shampoo and decided to give it a try. A few weeks ago, I finally had the chance to try it out after polishing off my bottle of Shea Moisture Fragrance-Free Shampoo.

Cloud Island is one of Target’s private label brands. It produces items for babies, including clothing and personal care products. I haven’t tried any of their other products, but they also make a fragrance-free baby lotion and balm that I’d like to try someday.

Cloud Island Fragrance-Free Shampoo ingredients

My Dad the Chemist’s review of Cloud Island Fragrance-Free Shampoo

Does “tear-free” mean anything?

This product also says it is “tear-free.” That got me wondering: Do companies need to submit their products through testing to label them “tear-free” or is it unregulated, like the term, “all natural?” Turns out that you actually do have to put your product through a test before putting “tear-free” on the label. Cool. See below for more details from my dad.

Cloud Island Fragrance-Free Shampoo review

Cloud Island Fragrance-Free Shampoo is packaged in a transparent plastic pump bottle, like a soap. The consistency is a bit more liquidy than creamy, like a runny hair gel. There is no detectable odor to speak of. This shampoo does not lather very vigorously, which makes it hard to tell where or how well it has distributed across your scalp. But the experts say that foaming is not indicative of superior cleansing capabilities. I do feel like I tend to use more product when it doesn’t foam up, so I’m going through this bottle pretty quickly. I usually need about three pumps to feel like I have enough to distribute across my scalp.

After rinsing it out, my hair feels pretty clean, but definitely not well conditioned. You’re going to need a good conditioner after this to prevent tangling and frizziness. This is not a conditioning shampoo. I’ve also used this shampoo as a face wash before, and found it to be pretty nice. It also works as a body wash, as advertised.

All in all, I think this is a great fragrance-free shampoo option that you should consider picking up during your next Target run. Even though it’s designed for babies, it’s a great option for anyone of any age who wants to avoid fragrances in their personal care products. Though fragrances aren’t as big of a deal in rinse-off products, it’s still nice to know that you aren’t submitting yourself to unnecessary irritants every day, even if you only do so for brief periods of time before rinsing them out. Plus, my dad thinks the addition of lactobacillus ferment could help promote a healthier scalp. I’ve also seen this ingredient appear in skin care products, such as Ren Clean Skincare Evercalm mask and Origins Mega Mushroom Soothing Treatment Lotion.

The only downside of this product is that it hardly produces a lather at all. If you enjoy lathering shampoo into your scalp, this shampoo will probably fall short of your expectations. Shampoos typically use sulfates to produce a lather, but sulfate-free shampoos find alternatives that work nicely. For example, Shea Moisture Fragrance-Free Shampoo uses decyl glucoside, a surfactant, to help it foam up like a soap (but not quite to the extreme level of an Herbal Essences shampoo!). This product hardly lathers at all, so if lathering capabilities are a dealbreaker for you, then avoid this shampoo at all costs.

Otherwise,I think Cloud Island has made a really high-quality product for babies and adults who have sensitive skin and scalps. I’m excited to try other fragrance-free Cloud Island products like the baby lotion, which also contains oat extract and lactobacillus.

Related reading

• Pipette Baby Shampoo and Body Wash review
• The Seaweed Bath Co. Moisturizing Unscented Argan Conditioner review
• Shea Moisture Fragrance-Free Shampoo Review
• Whole Foods Fragrance-free Shampoo review
• Whole Foods Fragrance-free Conditioner Review + Product Comparison: How does it stack up against its peers?
• Other fragrance-free product reviews
• Baby vs. adult skin care product reviews