14 Best Shampoos for Color-Treated Hair to Stay Vibrant and Rich
From your initial hair-coloring appointment, to the touch-ups every six to 12 weeks afterward, maintaining color-treated hair is a commitment that requires changing your usual hair care routine.
For example, colorists typically recommend wearing hats in direct sunlight to prevent fading, or being extra delicate with your hair to prevent damage, frizz, or tangles. Heat-protectant products become even more important for heat-styling, since high heat can damage the hair cuticle. And, whether you have color-treated hair or not, it's always important to use hair care products that prevent common symptoms of damage, like dryness, frizz, and split ends.
Luckily, you can prevent that damage by introducing color-safe products to your hair care routine from the very first time you wash with your new hair color.
“Color treated hair can fade, lose shine, or dry out after coloring if not properly maintained,” says Tina Deeke, colorist at Maxine Salon in Chicago. “Typically, shampoo for color-treated hair has a gentle cleanser that protects freshly colored hair until it’s ready to be colored again. Many also protect against environmental factors, add a touch of moisture, and fight frizz.”
You'll want to look for a shampoo that's sulfate-free (AKA formulated without the lather that strips your hair follicles of their moisture). “Non-sulfate or low-sulfate shampoos are great for preventing fading,” Deeke says. There are also color-safe shampoos designed specifically to tone down brassy blondes, extend the life of punchy rainbow hues, and protect against the stressors that cause breakage.
If you aren’t seeing a difference in the vibrancy and lifespan of your hair color with a dedicated shampoo, “add a deep conditioning masque into your routine a few times a month,” Deeke says. “It keeps your hair healthy and further protects your color.” Look for ingredients like argan oil, shea butter, and avocado seed oils, which are extra-nourishing and can keep hair from becoming frizzy. Deeke also recommends rinsing with cool or lukewarm water, since hot water can further strip away moisture, making hair look dull.
Want to keep your next color service looking salon-fresh between appointments? Continue reading below for our picks of the best shampoos for maintaining colored hair.
Meet the Expert
Tina Deeke is a senior colorist at Maxine Salon with 18 years of experience. She worked 12 years as a stylist before switching over to hair color and is responsible for introducing the balayage technique to Maxine Salon.
1. The Best for Blondes:
PLAYA Violet Brightening Shampoo
If you usually get highlights or lowlights in shades of brown, going bright blonde can feel like a huge adjustment. To hold onto the true buttery or silvery shades you left the salon with, grab this purple shampoo. It's packed with violet pigments to offset brassiness and remove buildup, so you can achieve a soft, glossy finish. It's also infused with antioxidant-rich vitamin C and babassu oil to renew hair—just use it one to two times a week to max out its benefits.
2. The Best for Keeping All Shades Shiny:
ORIBE Shampoo for Beautiful Color
Hairstylist-approved brand ORIBE has mastered a sulfate-free shampoo formula that stands up to the elements—no matter your hair type. “It’s concentrated, gentle, adds shine, and smells great,” Deeke says. Not only does it strengthen hair post-treatment, but the gentle formula (which features ORIBE's Signature Complex to protect, baobab extract to nourish, and hydrolyzed protein to fortify hair) leaves hair feeling new, too. Plus, the gorgeous bottle will make your shower look like a luxury spa.
3. The Best Color-Safe Plant-Based Formula:
BRIOGEO Superfoods Banana + Coconut Nourishing Shampoo
This vegan sulfate-free shampoo sounds good enough to eat with a plant-based ingredient list featuring banana, coconut, and açaì berry. It works well for color-treated, keratin-treated, chemically-treated, and relaxed hair—not to mention curly hair—reducing color fade and supporting scalp health.
4. The Best for Moisturizing Damaged Hair:
ANDALOU NATURALS 1000 Roses® Complex Color Care Shampoo
While we love hair dye for all the amazing color options we can choose from, there's no doubt it's damaging and dehydrating to our strands. Give dry, damaged, processed hair a head start at recovery with this shampoo's moisturizing combo of strengthening PhytoCellTec® alpine rose stem cells and conditioning rosehip and pomegranate oils. This shampoo reduces frizz and protects against split ends, making your hair look softer, fuller, and shinier while protecting your hair color.
5. The Best for Silky-Soft Strands:
AVEDA Color Conserve™ Shampoo
AVEDA Color Conserve™ is a colorist-favorite for the way it cleanses without stripping your hair color or causing excess dryness. This sweet-smelling moisturizing shampoo with certified organic lavender, geranium, grapefruit, and other pure flower and plant essences prevents fading and promotes vibrancy while keeping your hair soft, smooth, and shiny. It's also cruelty-free, so you can lather up without worrying about your furry friends.
6. The Best for Bold, Vivid Hair Colors:
R+CO Gemstone Color Shampoo
Hair colors that aren't typically found in the wild (i.e. lime green or pastel pink) require some extra love to stay true. R+CO has a special formula to keep your colored hair bright and bold for as long as you want it to, thanks to ingredients like vitamin E and a color-protection complex that keeps your color vibrant for up to 10 washes. It's also vegan and smells absolutely amazing with notes of Sicilian lemon, tangerine, eucalyptus, green tea, tree moss, and crisp amber.
7. The Best for Bringing Down the Brass:
EVA NYC Tone It Down! Blonde Shampoo
Keep the sass, kick the brass. This purple shampoo is specifically formulated to tone down the brassiness and damage that can sometimes accompany blonde hair. While it tones your color, wild cherry bark extract moisturizes your hair to keep it healthy and shiny. Lather this on two to three times a week as needed to keep your blonde hair bright without being brassy.
8. The Best Reparative Color-Safe Formula:
NATURELAB. TOKYO Repair Shampoo
It's no secret that color-treated hair is more prone to damage, but this color-safe, paraben-, and sulfate-free shampoo protects color-treated hair on a whole new level. How? By targeting the source: your scalp. Smart keratin reinforces and protects your strands while bamboo stem cells strengthen them from the inside out. Plus, argan and prickly pear oils offer UV protection while they hydrate and moisturize, transforming damaged hair into happy hair in no time.
9. The Best for Lightening Highlights:
THEORIE Purple Sage Brightening Shampoo
To keep your sun-kissed look fresh for longer, use this THEORIE shampoo to brighten pale brunette to silver shades and restore texture, bounce, and resilience. It's also amazing at removing brassy tones and keeping your hair soft and shiny, without stripping or fading your hair color. What's more, you don't have to have color-treated hair to experience this shampoo's brightening benefits: it also brightens natural hair and keratin-treated hair, too.
10. The Best for Removing Buildup:
OUAI Detox Shampoo
This clarifying shampoo doesn't just deep-clean hair, removing buildup from products like dry shampoo and silicone-based stylers (which can weigh down fine hair). It also contains hydrolyzed keratin to strengthen, cut down on frizz, leave hair shiny and soft, and remain color-safe. By removing the impurities, it leaves your color that much better and brighter.
11. The Best Drugstore Shampoo:
L’ORÉAL PARIS Elvive Color Vibrancy Protecting Shampoo
The best part of a drugstore color-safe shampoo like this one? It can offer impressive performance, thanks to the protective blend of antioxidants and UV-filters, which helps prevent fading. In fact, used with the conditioner, it offers up to 60 days of vibrant color. If you’re at the salon, consider asking for L'ORÉAL PROFESSIONNEL Serie Expert Metal Detox Shampoo, which is used by pros. “It is a great addition to your shampoo routine, since it removes metals so color works better and stays longer,” Deeke says. “It also helps prevent breakage.”
12. The Best Dry Shampoo for Color-Treated Hair:
ORIBE Gold Lust Dry Shampoo
Dry shampoo can be a game-changer for keeping your color brilliant and bright, since it means you can wash less. This antioxidant-rich powder not only cleanses hair without adding texture or leaving behind residue, but it's also translucent—so it won't leave a white cast that throws off your hair color, no matter what that is. Plus, like all things Oribe, it smells incredible.
13. The Best for Bleached Hair:
PUREOLOGY Strength Cure Blonde Shampoo
Color treatments can be inherently damaging, which is why a strengthening formula can be transformative—especially if you've gone with a chemical service like bleaching. Not only does this purple color neutralize brassiness to keep your color true, but it's also infused with the amino acids (AKA the building blocks of protein) that hair needs to stay soft, smooth, and strong.
14. The Best for Breakage-Prone Hair:
OLAPLEX Nº.4 Bond Maintenance Shampoo
The latest formula from OLAPLEX re-links the bonds that have been broken during your color service—allowing it to repair damage, seal split ends, and nix frizz. It works for all hair types, curly hair included, and leaves hair feeling like new—which is pretty much the dream post-coloring. And not only is it silicone-free, but the shampoo is also vegan and cruelty-free.
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