It’s the ultimate conundrum: you love the look of your hair when it’s been coloured – whether professionally or with an at-home dye kit – but you don’t necessarily love what it does to the health of your locks. Without question, the chemicals often used in the colouring process are not great for your hair, especially when you move into the realm of bleaching and all-over colour, stripping strands of moisture and shine.
What’s more, while colour can look great when it’s salon-fresh, over time environmental aggressors and the wrong products can take the life out of vibrant shades, sometimes changing the colour or tone, leaving you with a look that’s definitely not what you signed up for.
Step in colour-friendly shampoos. These formulas, designed to work with, not against, coloured hair, will help to maintain and refresh your desired shade, whether that’s boosting the bonds between the colour and your hair, as with Kerastase Bain Chromatique Sulfate-Free Shampoo, or addressing dreaded brassy tones, where PRO:VOKE Touch of Silver Brightening Purple Shampoo comes into its own.
There are also shampoos designed specifically to save seriously parched hair, such as those created by hair health heroes Philip Kingsley and Moroccanoil.
If you do have colour-treated hair, then as well as choosing the right shampoo, it’s important to focus on condition, ideally applying a rich hair mask at least once a week. If possible, try not to wash your hair every day, and avoid aggressive heat styling where possible. Oh, and chlorine is definitely not your best friend… but maybe a swim cap will be!
Bring salon vibes into your shower with this striking bottle of TIGI goodness. It’s designed specifically to keep coloured hair looking great, whether you’ve got a touch of natural-looking balayage or full-on crazy colour.
The shampoo contains a hydrating blend of sweet almond oil, nourishing coconut oil and keratin. Not only does this give coloured hair the moisturising boost it often craves, the product also smells divine with a delicious, toffee scent. You’ll be unscrewing the cap to have a big sniff in the shower, it smells so good!
As an added bonus, the product will strengthen and repair damaged hair with essential vitamin E and pro-vitamin B5. Hair is left more resistant to breaking during brushing, meaning fewer split ends and more lively-looking colour.
If you want to add a touch of luxury to your bathroom shelves, then Kerastase is the brand to turn to. With salon standard products, it uses potent active ingredients and beautiful packaging to create haircare that looks great, and actually works.
Free from sulphates, which can strip natural oils from the hair leaving it feeling rough, dry and brittle, as well as irritating the scalp, this shampoo is specially designed to stop colour from fading. It contains zinc gluconate, which locks in colour by creating strong bonds between colouring agents, linseed oil, smoothening the hair from root to tip for maximum light reflection and vitamin E, a moisturiser that reduces hair breakage and helps fight the aggressors that cause colour fading.
If you’ve spent a lot of money going blonde, the last thing you want is for your beautiful, cool colour to start turning brassy and yellow. Luckily, there’s an easy (and cheap!) way to correct this, with the cult beauty product that is PRO:VOKE Touch of Silver Brightening Shampoo.
While there are plenty of more expensive purple shampoos on the market, this one really stands up to the competition. And in case you’re wondering, ‘purple’ really is the most accurate word – this bright violet concoction is just the right shade to neutralise yellow and orange tones, and is suitable for white, silver and platinum hair, as well as ash blondes.
The results are truly noticeable, with hair colour looking instantly refreshed and brighter after one wash. For best results, leave it on for a few minutes as you would conditioner. Just one note though – you need to be careful when applying this product, as otherwise you can end up with bright purple shampoo all over the tiles and ceiling!
Let’s be honest: regularly colouring your hair isn’t the best for its condition, and serious bleach or colour addicts can end up with locks that are dry and frazzled.
Step in Philip Kingsley Moisture Extreme Shampoo. The folks at Philip Kingsley know a thing or two about hair health (this is, after all, a brand that was developed by a legendary trichologist), and the company has poured that wisdom into developing a shampoo that will help rescue parched tresses from the grips of a condition crisis.
The intensely hydrating formula of nourishing oils will restore moisture to the hair, smoothing down rough cuticles to reduce frizz and inject shine. If your hair needs saving, this is the product to turn to.
If you’re looking to balance out the damaging effects of colour and chemicals on your hair, then Moroccanoil’s Moisture Repair Shampoo is a great shout. Infused with the brand’s signature ingredient – Argan oil sourced from the south of Morocco – it is antioxidant-rich, and also contains reconstructive keratin to boost and repair each strand.
The shampoo lathers up well and leaves your hair and scalp feeling wonderfully clean, as well as giving you hair that is gorgeously soft and full of body. It is also sulphate, paraben and phosphate-free, which all helps to keep the hair more moisturised.
