UrbanUpdate

The best purple shampoo can prolong the brightness of bleached hair for months after the fact. If you’ve ever professionally bleached your hair, then you know how hard it can be to preserve the hair’s blonde or platinum color. (I say “professionally bleached” because those at-home dye jobs are probably already yellowish from the start, so there isn’t much color preservation needed.) 

Things like hard water, hair products, sun exposure, chlorinated water, and hot-tool styling (like blow dryers and straighteners) can significantly diminish your expensive dye job. They can turn hair a sad, dull, brassy yellowish color. The same goes for people with naturally blonde or gray hair, as well as silver-dyed hair; these tones can grow dull without some kind of brightening solution.

Because purple is opposite on the color wheel from yellow, the best shampoo for fighting brassiness is purple. These shampoos use a crushed violet pigment in order to get this brass-toning color. You can also get a purple conditioner, as well as some purple hair treatment masks. However, you don't want to double-up on purple products—and that's just one of the rules of using this stuff correctly. 

The Rules of Using Purple Shampoos (and Other Purple Products)

1. Purple shampoo does not replace your regular shampoo

Think of purple shampoo as a treatment, not a daily-use product. This is the easiest way to avoid overdosing on purple.

2. Start with once a week, then switch to twice

The most you’d likely need to tone your hair is twice a week. Start with once a week, though, because it’s easier to correct it from a yellow under-toned base than from an orange and over-toned one. You can plan on using the product once weekly routinely, then deploying it ad hoc in-between washes whenever things look a little brassy.

3. Different hair colors call for different purples

The intensity of purple will be determined by your hair’s own color. If you need the brightness of blonde to pop (natural or dyed), then keep the purple on the lighter, brighter side. If you need the powerful platinum or silver tones to shine through (same for gray), then you want a deeper shade of purple.

4. Use it depending on your hair color 

If you’re a natural blonde, then use the purple shampoo for two minutes, tops, and rinse it out. Platinum-dyed blondes can wear theirs up to 15 minutes (or as advised by the product label), while gray hair types can go longer yet. Afterwards, you can use your favorite (non-purple) conditioner. Ideally it’s one that calls itself blonde/gray/bleach friendly.

5. Don’t pair purple products

Some people prefer to get their purple from a conditioner, and others from a hair treatment mask. No matter where you get it from, make sure it’s limited to once a week (twice tops, whatever your stylist or colorist advises). We prefer shampoos for natural blonde since they’re fast and easy to lather, and to rinse clean, whereas conditioners can take longer, rinse less easily, and can thus deposit unevenly. (And if you only have two minutes of wear time, every second is precious.) 

6. Don’t use purple shampoo in dark or color-dyed hair

This shampoo targets natural and dyed blondes, plus gray and silver-dyed tones. Anything else will experience some kind of color compromise due to the deposits in purple shampoo.

7. Do a hair mask every couple weeks

Purple shampoo has a drying effect on hair, and as such, can take a toll on the overall quality of strands. This is one argument for using a purple conditioner or treatment mask in place of the shampoo, but it’s otherwise a reason as to why you should do a regular hair-reviving mask in order to fortify your hairs and prevent breakage and split ends (which are especially common for dyed and bleached hair) as well as rigidity and coarseness (which is especially common for gray hair).

The Best Purple Hair Shampoos

These are the best shampoos for bleached hair, blonde hair, silver hair, and gray hair. Note that many of these brands also offer the same toning benefits in a counterpart conditioner, if you prefer to get your purple dosage that way instead.

The Best Purple Shampoo for Natural Blondes

Redken purple shampoo for blonde hair$24

Amazon

The Best Purple Shampoo for Dyed Blondes

Paul Mitchell purple shampoo for platinum hair$38

Amazon

The Best Purple Shampoo for Silver Hair

Sachajuan purple shampoo for silver hair$28

Amazon

The Best Purple Shampoo for Gray Hair

Pantene purple shampoo for gray hair$15

Amazon

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Adam Hurly has been covering men's grooming since 2013 (and for GQ since 2016). He is also a travel writer. In Fall 2024, Adam is launching Blue Print by Adam Hurly, a men's grooming platform. Adam resides in Lisbon (previously Berlin, NYC, and San Francisco). He is a Sioux Falls, SD, native... Read moreWriterInstagramRelated Stories for GQBathroom and ShowerHair