I used to use Grandpa brand pine tar shampoo, but it has tallow (animal fat) in it.
I've tried Tannenbaum pine tar shampoo, but I did't like it at all - it's too watery, and it doesn't lather much at all. I needed to use way too much to: a)get it in my hair and not all over the shower, and b)get a decent lather going.

Does anyone know of any vegan pine tar shampoos? Have you tried any other brands/types?

Thanks for helping me with this.

PirateBean

I've never heard of pine tar shampoo. Can you tell us about it?

Sure. If you've ever browsed the hair care aisle at many stores, you'd find a number of shampoos from itchy scalp: Denorex, Nizoral, Selsun Blue, etc. (These aren't your 'basic' dandruff shampoos, but rather the heavy-duty anti-itch shampoos.) One such product is shampoo made with coal tar - Neutrogena T-gel is one popular brand. The coal tar is the active ingredient that helps reduce severe itchiness of the scalp.
Well, pine tar shampoo is made from pine tar instead of coal tar, and it works the same way (even better, I think). I have a severely itchy scalp, which is always at its worst in winter. During the summer, I find shampoos with rosemary help keep the itchiness under control, but I need heavy-duty ingredients in the winter to help.
I am so disappointed that the Grandpa brand pine tar shampoo has tallow in it. (A lot of health food stores have Grandpa brand soaps, too, and I'm wondering what's in those as well - time for a label-reading trip!)
I did a basic google search for pine tar shampoo, and I came up with several sites that sell it as bar soaps, but they can be used on the scalp and hair. I'm just wondering if anyone has used any of these pine tar bars (or other shampoos), and if they'd recommend one.
Thanks again.

Have you tried any tea tree shampoos? I believe they're suppose to help with itchy scalps, ect. There are lots of brands of vegan and cruelty free tea tree shampoos :) I'll try and find some links for ya

ETA- JASON has a tea tree shampoo that's vegan and is labeled for scalp normalizing. I've seen it lots of times at hfs ( it has a koala on the label ).
http://www.jason-natural.com/products/specialty_hair_care.php

Paul Mitchell makes a tea tree shampoo also that is good.

Tea tree shampoo seems to be pretty decent all around, with the exception of Nature's Gate. For some reason, it just seemed to aggravate the itchy scalp on me & my ex. I've heard only good things about the Paul Mitchell brand, however.

Burt's bees make a beeswax free shampoo : http://www.burtsbees.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10751&storeId=10101&productId=17456&langId=-1&categoryId=&showSubCategory=yes
I've checked the ingredients and it is (as far as I can tell) vegan-friendly....But I don't know if you want to buy from them becasue some of their other porducts use beeswax.

Aubrey's Calaguala Fern shampoo works really well for me. It used to say "cade tar" in the ingredients, but now it says "cade wood essential oil" -- it seems to be the same formula, though, at least I haven't detected a difference. Cade trees are in the juniper family, so I assume the cade acts similarly to pine tar.

Not all of Aubrey's products are vegan, but this one is. Their stuff is all natural, and none of their products are tested on animals.

Thanks for the info, everyone.

Borealis - I noticed that some pine tar shampoos list the tar as 'pine tar', and some list it as 'pine oil' - so I'm guessing that the cade tar shampoo you mentioned is still cade tar, even though they call it oil. (I'm guessing that 'oil' is more attractive as an ingredient to consumers than 'tar'. Tar sounds yucky, as though it would act as tree sap in your hair. It's nothing like that. I love it.)

Thanks also for the suggestions about the tea tree oil shampoos.

I emailed Packer's pine tar shampoo to find out what's in their shampoo - they list one of the ingredients as 'soap base', which could include animal fats. (Why, oh why, would someone want to rub corpse bits on their scalp?) So, I'll see what they have to say (and post it here, if/when I get a response.)

While tea tree oils shampoos sound good too, I really love the smell of the pine tar shampoo - smells like a wood fire. I know, some people probably don't think that's an attractive smell for a personal care product, but I enjoy it. It's rather invigorating. And smells of nature.

Off topic - the Grandpa brands website used to have the funniest advertising t-shirt for sale, which read, "Take a bath with Grandpa!" Too bad they have dead animal bits in the shampoo. I will have to write them about that problem, of course.

Aubrey Organics Caliguala Fern Tar Shampoo is vegan & works great!!:sunny:

In case anyone is interested, here's what the people at Packer's Pine Tar shampoo (and soap) had to say about my question as to whether their products are vegan:
--------------
Thank you for your query about Packer's Pine Tar Products.

Unfortunately, I am not able to share with you any more information than
what is on the package labeling regarding ingredients. Such information
is considered a trade secret and is proprietary.

Here is the list of ingredients as reflected on the packaging for
assisting you in deciding whether these products are right for you.

Packer's Pine Tar Soap
Ingredients: Soap Base, Pine Tar, Pine Oil, Iron Oxide, and PEG-75.

Packer's Pine tar Shampoo
Ingredients: De-ionized Water, Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate, Ammonium
Laureth Sulfate, Cocamide DEA, Polysorbate 20, Cocamidopropyl Betaine,
Pinus Pallustris Tar Oil, DM DM Hydantoin, Methylparaben, Tetrasodium
EDTA, Polyquaterium-10, Propylparaben, Caramel and Citric Acid.

Best of luck to you in your search.
------------------

I love how they won't tell me what's in the 'soap base' because it's 'proprietary information' . I think I have a right to know if I'd be rubbing animal fat on myself if I used their products.

And I'm not going to bother deciphering the ingredients in the shampoo.

I'll be giving the Aubrey organics fern stuff a try instead. (Or maybe I'll have to find a soapmaker to whip me up a private batch of pine tar shampoo. I've always wanted to learn soapmaking, but I am not at all happy at the prospect of handling lye.)

Thanks again for all your advice!