11 Best Shampoos for Colorful Hair

May 9, 2023

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Getting a new hairstyle is a great experience! You get to go and be pampered for anywhere between 15 minutes to hours on end. Sometimes though, updating your look can come with a few stressful moments as well.

One of those stressors can include finding a new shampoo, and is particularly challenging if you are going through a big change, like dying your hair purple. The difficulty can be compounded if you also have curly, wavy, coily or damaged hair.

With all these potential stresses attached to changing shampoo, some people might choose to either not color their hair(and miss out on all the fun of purple hair!), or just stick with their original shampoo.

However, your stylist is likely to warn against using a regular shampoo on your newly transformed hair for a few reasons, and none of them are to upsell you a product you don’t need. Most importantly, a shampoo specifically formulated for purple hair is color-safe, meaning that it won’t remove color from your hair, which can make your expensive dye job last longer.

Other reasons include the health of your hair. Purple hair is usually achieved by first bleaching the hair very light blond, especially if you are going for a cool toned, or light purple.

Unfortunately, reaching the light blond necessary for this color to stick in your hair can be detrimental to it. The bleaching process is well known for damaging and drying out hair, and if you have to have multiple rounds of bleach to get an even color, it can have a major impact.

A properly formulated purple shampoo will help to reduce this damage through focusing on hydrating and repairing your hair. So, in between salon visits you can improve the health of your hair and repair some of that damage. Healthy hair is better for holding color as well as feeling and looking more smooth and shiny.

Thus, it is a good idea to switch to a purple shampoo if you are going to be getting purple hair. Burt choosing which shampoo to use can be difficult, and may even put people off transforming their hair altogether.

To help, we have come up with this list of the 11 best shampoos for purple hair. This will help you choose the best shampoo available for your particular hair type. We will also have a Q and A session at the end for all your new purple hair related questions.

1. Blu Atlas Shampoo

Blu Atlas is quickly making a name for itself and offers a fantastic shampoo to start our list off with. This shampoo is not specific for purple hair, which means that if purple hair is just an idea at this point, or one of many colors you plan on trying, the shampoo will be suitable for you throughout your hair journey.

Although this shampoo doesn’t have a purple pigment, it is exceptionally gentle which makes it great for retaining color. It is also focused on making your hair as healthy as possible, with tons of natural ingredients sure to improve the quality of your hair. Healthy hair is better at holding color, so it is a great idea to focus on the quality of your hair whatever the treatment.

The main ingredients in this shampoo are natural products that bring health and shine to the hair. This means that regardless of your hair type, this natural shampoo will be able to give you a gentle, cleansing wash.

One of these ingredients is jojoba oil, which contains vitamins A, D, and E, as well as plentiful fatty acids and antioxidants. These components all work together to reduce and repair damage, making it a great ingredient for recently stressed purple hair.

Another ingredient is aloe vera, able to soothe and smooth the hair and add needed moisture. It also contains antioxidants, as well as vitamins A, C, and E, all of which can help to restore your hair to its healthiest state.

The final star ingredient is saw palmetto, which is an anti-inflammatory compound that also helps to increase volume and hydration for the hair and scalp. This is great for people who struggle with the bleaching process involved in getting purple hair. The anti-inflammatory properties reduce possible damage to the hair and skin that helps to restore their overall health.

Altogether, this shampoo is a fantastic choice for someone who is interested in changing their hair color to purple, as it is able to repair, as well as being gentle enough not to risk stripping the color from the hair. It definitely deserves to be top of the list for the 11 best shampoos for purple hair.

2. Keratherapy Keratin Infused Color Protect Shampoo

This shampoo from Keratherapy is a specially formulated shampoo designed to help restore the health and strength of color-treated hair. As such, it is a great fit for second place on our list of the 11 best shampoos for purple hair.

Like the Blu Atlas shampoo, this selection doesn’t have any purple pigment in it, which means that if you are interested in multiple colors, or transitioning your hair from its current shade, this would be a great choice.

This shampoo has balanced protein and moisture for all hair types, and includes keratin proteins (the protein that makes up the majority of your hair and nails) for strength and support.

As the bleaching process is so damaging to your hair, adding in the right amount of protein on top of moisture helps to repair your hair and restore strength and shine. Too much moisture on its own would cause your hair to feel stringy, and frizz.

This shampoo helps to protect not only the color of your hair, but also the texture. Changing the color of your hair is a great way to update your look, but you definitely don’t want to add in a whole host of new issues with frizz and breakage.

In addition to protein, this shampoo also has a color-guard from UV rays. This means that your freshly treated hair will be protected day in and day out from the biggest source of damage on the planet – the sun.

This cleanser is also gentle enough to keep your hair vibrant and fresh, while also removing any residue from the day that dulls your beautiful new look. It is suitable for all hair types, and is an excellent choice to start repairing the damage from your new color.

3. Artnaturals Purple Shampoo for Blonde Hair

This shampoo is the first on our list that comes with a natural tint. In this case, it is a purple color that is designed to help to cancel out yellow tones in blond hair. However, it is also a great choice as a shampoo for purple hair, as it helps to tone out the brassiness that can sometimes develop in freshly bleached hair.

This product also contains coconut oil which rejuvenates and restores the hair to its healthiest state. Bleaching the hair is a harmful process, so having something in the shampoo to help restore softness to it can help reduce the stripping properties of a shampoo, while keeping its cleansing effectiveness.

This formula is also vegan, and cruelty free, so it’s a great choice for those who are conscious of their impact on animals when choosing products.

Although this shampoo is designed for blond hair, it is able to treat and protect the color of your purple hair by dealing with issues caused by the bleaching process. The ability to reduce brassy tones is also a great idea for people with very light purple hair, where variations in the underlying hair color could also cause unsightly streaks in your fresh new color.

4. Virtue Purifying Shampoo

This shampoo is the first on our list to have been designed by a biotechnology company rather than a hair care one. This shampoo contains a specialty ingredient which is Alpha Keratin 60ku(R).

Unlike regular keratin, this is a synthetic protein that is nearly identical to the keratin we produce naturally. This means that it is able to integrate more efficiently into the hair than keratin found in other products.

This shampoo is also the first on our list to be a clarifying shampoo. Clarifying shampoos are designed to be used once a week or less (depending on hair type), and help to remove debris from the hair that is too entrenched to be cleansed with regular shampoo.

Using this as a replacement for your regular shampoo would be a mistake, as it would very quickly strip the color from your hair. However, as a clarifying shampoo, this product is a great choice because it helps to repair the hair as it removes things like smoke, residue, or pollution that can damage it.

Virtue has also extensively tested their product and found that after a mere five uses, there was a 138% increase in vibrancy of color, 67% reduction in frizz, 95% restoration of split ends, and a 22% increase in the thickness of hair.

With statistics like these, you can see why we have added this clarifying product to this list of the 11 best shampoos for purple hair.

5. J Beverly Hills Blue Fragile Color Preserve Shampoo

J Beverly Hills is a well renowned brand, which strives to bring salon-quality products into the home. In this case, the shampoo is from their Blue line, which is suitable for all hair types and styles, and helps to gently cleanse hair on an everyday basis.

The Blue line is a great range, as it has a wide variety of products so pretty much anyone can find a product that is perfect for them. The shampoo we have added to our list is the Fragile Shampoo, which is a wonderful choice for color-treated hair.

This product helps to restore hair and is specifically designed to reduce concerns like frizziness and damage. It uses chamomile, nettle, and sage to treat and preserve your hair color.

Because this product has been designed for daily use, it is very gentle and won’t cause strippage of the purple color from your hair. It is also able to repair your hair with regular use from damage caused by the bleaching process.

In addition, this product helps to prevent damage from UV rays, acting as protection for your hair that you can refresh every day.

6. Watercolors Intense Color Shampoo

This is a small business brand that helps to provide temporary colors for hair that is naturally or pre-lightened to at least a level 7. If you are unfamiliar with hair color levels, that means that it is able to deposit color on hair that is naturally (or bleached prior to application) very blond.

However, this brand is also suitable as a shampoo that just helps to sustain your color. Because it has enough pigment to color hair that is super light, it has plenty of pigment to reduce the effects of washing your hair.

Instead of washing out color, this shampoo from Watercolors actually helps to refresh your color, so it keeps your hair looking vibrant and new well past what you would expect with non-colored shampoos.

The key ingredient in this product is reflective color enhancers, molecules that help to reflect the existing color and create more depth and vibrancy in the color of the hair. It also contains a plethora of repairing and nourishing ingredients.

In addition to keeping your color lasting longer, this shampoo also assists in reducing any brassy or yellow tones that develop as your hair begins to repair from the bleach. This can cause some sections of your hair to change color or develop streaks, but by using this product you can keep your underlying hair color toned and fresh to display the purple color.

It is important to note that this shampoo will actively color your hair, so it may not be the best choice if you are sharing shampoos, or want your hair to fade out a bit. People with light hair will have their hair turn a lavender or purple color if they use this shampoo.

7. Loma Nourishing Shampoo

Another small business brand, Loma has developed an incredibly gentle shampoo made from ingredients mild enough to be used on your face. If you wouldn’t use a cleaner on your face, you shouldn’t be using it on your scalp and hair if you are looking to nourish and repair the hair.

This product has been developed for chemically treated hair, and is especially good at treating issues of dryness and lack of nourishment, making it great for using on hair that has been bleached and then dyed, as these processes can cause the hair to lose moisture and nutrients from deep within the follicle. Ultimately, this damage leads to a loss of texture, frizziness, and uncontrolled hair.

Since no-one wants their hair to be unmanageable, we would recommend using a shampoo like this one from Lome, where the shampoo can add back moisture and nutrients to support the hair.

In addition, this shampoo is natural and made with clean, cruelty free ingredients. One of those ingredients is aloe vera, well known in the world of hair care as a great moisturizing and restorative product.

Loma also has a violet colored shampoo for blond or bleached hair, so this could be an option if you notice your color is prone to being washed out quite quickly.

8. Malibu C Hard Water Wellness Shampoo

Chemically treated hair is often damaged as a result of the process. Most people think this is a fair trade off for getting a great new color, like purple, but it can also have unforeseen circumstances, particularly if it requires multiple treatments or hours in the salon chair.

One of these unforeseen changes can be susceptibility to hard water. This is water that is full of minerals, and most water used for showering is hard water. These minerals are why your shower head accumulates that white build up on the head.

Hard water can be damaging to all hair, but newly chemically treated hair is especially susceptible. Although you can use a product like a water filter on your shower, these options can be expensive, or unrealistic if you are renting or share a shower.

This Hard Water Wellness Shampoo from Malibu is the product for you if you have noticed your hair texture appears to get worse after showering. This shampoo helps to remove the mineral build up from the hard water in your hair, which allows it to be soft, shiny, and smooth.

This is a clarifying shampoo, but it’s gentle. It has been developed from vegan cleaning products that help to produce a deep clean without stripping moisture from the hair. As a result, it is a great choice for hair that has been recently chemically treated, and now struggles to maintain volume and shine as a result of hard water.

9. Tec Italy Conditioning Shampoo

This shampoo from Tec Italy has been created for dry or damaged hair. We have included it on our list of the 11 best shampoos for purple hair because purple hair usually needs to be bleached multiple times, and thus may have higher levels of damage than hair that has been colored differently.

Specially formulated for maintaining colored hair, this selection helps to maintain the cuticle (the outermost waxy layer that protects the hair), which can also help to keep the color for longer.

It also helps to clean the shaft of the hair without stripping the color out. This shampoo is very gentle and also has conditioning elements to help detangle hair and reduce damage from pulling at knots.

This shampoo is another recommended choice for people who are struggling to deal with the aftermath of the bleaching process required to get purple hair.

10. Brazilian Blowout Anti Frizz Shampoo

Our next choice is the sulfate-free Anti-Frizz Shampoo from Brazilian Blowout. Like most of the products on this list, it is designed to reduce and repair damage by using a balance of moisture and protein that helps to heal the hair and reduce frizz.

This shampoo is color-safe, which means it’s gentle enough to not actively strip the color out of the hair. It also helps to smooth the hair and infuses it with all the natural proteins and nutrients that leave your hair follicles as you bleach your hair.

As a result, this shampoo is great at helping to repair damage that leads to frizz, and may be an option for people who already struggle with frizzy hair even before coloring or bleaching. It also helps to promote shine and radiance in the hair throughout the day.

11. Herbal Essences Color Me Happy Shampoo

Herbal Essences is a well-known supermarket brand. They have developed an excellent shampoo for chemically treated or colored hair. It helps to protect your hair while also developing and highlighting shine.

This shampoo is color-safe and has been pH balanced to prevent the shampoo from damaging the color. It has also been dermatologically tested and is cruelty free. It also has a fully recyclable bottle (except the cap), so it is a great choice for environmentally conscious people.

Like many of the other shampoos on this list, the point of this shampoo is to protect your new purple hair color and to repair and prevent damage caused either by the bleaching and coloring process. It offers protection throughout your daily life while your hair is in a newly vulnerable state.

However, this shampoo differs in the fact that it is a bit more accessible for most people because it is available from Herbal Essences — a brand that is present in most grocery stores and easier to find when you are running low. This is why we have decided it is the perfect shampoo to end our list of the 11 best shampoos for purple hair.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between purple shampoo and shampoo for purple hair?

One of the things that often stymies people looking for a shampoo specifically for their purple colored hair is the fact that purple shampoo exists. Although it seems counterintuitive, most purple shampoos are actually not the best for purple hair, as they have been designed specifically for blond hair.

Looking for a shampoo that is specifically for colored hair may serve you a bit better, as these are designed to treat issues with loss of color and accumulation of damage. However, some purple shampoos can do both and we have some examples in our list.

What do I need to know before getting purple hair?

Changing your hair color is a big decision for many people, and some may feel hesitant about taking that initial leap. You should know that it is very likely that your hair will have to be bleached, even if you are a natural blond. This means that you may be inviting more damage to your hair than if you chose a different color.

In addition, the purple color is prone to fading quite quickly. The vibrant shade will often fade out to a gray or green color over time, depending on your original hair color and the tone of the purple that you are considering.

The best person to ask about going purple is a hair stylist, as they will be able to tell you about specific challenges for your hair type and style, as well as letting you know how often you will have to touch up your hair.

In addition, it’s a great idea to think about how the color purple suits you in general. Choosing the shade of purple can have an impact on your skin color, or how washed out you look through the power of color theory. As a result, it’s important to consider how changing your hair color will impact your skin, wardrobe, and makeup choices (if these things are important to you).

As always, our best advice if you have any questions or concerns is to consult with a professional hairstylist. They will be able to take a look at your individual hair health and recommend options for minimizing damage.

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