How to Choose the Best Shampoo for Coloured Hair: Top Picks for Blonde, Brunette, Red & Black

Here’s where the right shampoo can help.

The best shampoos for coloured hair are specially formulated to help maintain, enhance, or even correct your hair colour, allowing you to keep your tresses looking salon-fresh.

However, no coloured hair shampoo is formulated the same. Dyed blondes may require toning, redheads need extra anti-fade protection, and brown or black tresses could benefit from a cool tone refresher. 

So, read on to discover the best shampoos for your hair colour – because your shampoo should be as unique as your hair needs!   

How to Protect Hair Colour with a Colour Protect Shampoo

Hair dye works by penetrating the hair shaft, depositing colour molecules. This can make hair more porous, meaning that every time we wash our tresses, we wash away the dye, causing our hair colour to fade or lose that beautiful shine.

To lock in the vibrancy of your just-dyed hair, we recommend using colour protect shampoos such as the Vitamino Color Spectrum Professional Shampoo by L'Oréal Professionnel. Designed with the latest cutting-edge technology in hair care science, its Ferulic Acid + Citric Acid formulation helps tone, add shine, and bring brightness to your lock in day 1 colour vibrancy for up to 100 days*  If you’re after a natural colour with a subtle change, regular root touch-up, or grey hair coverage, opt for Vitamino Color shampoo. Enriched with resveratrol, a powerful antioxidant that helps protect and nourish hair, the shampoo works to restore colour and shine. 

The best colour protect shampoos gently cleanse your hair to avoid stripping any colour while locking in that all-important hydration to keep dye-treated hair from going dry. While colour protect shampoos do most of the leg work, don’t forget that you can also help maintain healthy hair by following these hair stylist-approved tips: 

• Protect your hair from sun and environmental damage
• Refrain from washing your hair too often, as this strips away the colour
• Always use heat protectors and moderate your use of heat tools

*Instrumental test after 49 washes using the full Vitamino Color Spectrum routine   

 

How to Choose the Best Shampoo and Conditioner for Coloured Hair

Your hair colour should be as unique as you are – that’s why professionals recommend a tailored approach, suited to your unique shade. 

Hairdressing experts use a hair colour wheel to help explain the science behind colour theory. Cool-tinted colours such as purples, blues and greens are contrasted by warm shades like yellow, orange, and red.

Each colour is neutralised by the opposite colour on the wheel. So, if your hair appears too yellow, you can contrast it with a purple tint. If your hair gives off reddish tones, you can set it off with green pigments.

Choosing the Best Shampoo for Blonde Hair

 

Is your hair looking brassy, yellowish, or simply a bit dull? If you’ve ever dyed your hair blonde, you will likely have experienced at least one.

As yellow and orange are on the warm side of the hair colour wheel, using purple or blue toned shampoos can help you achieve a cool blonde shade such as platinum, ash, or champagne blonde.

But what does purple shampoo do? Purple pigmented shampoos deposit violet-tinted molecules on your hair. When you wash your hair, you are also washing the blonde hair dye out, which can cause your hair to go brassy.

Using purple shampoos such as Vitamino Color Spectrum Purple Tinted Shampoo when washing your hair is an easy and quick way to neutralise any unwanted warm tones.

Picking the Best Shampoo for Brunette Hair

For cool-toned, rich-coloured brown shades that don’t give off reddish or orangey tones, reach for a blue-tinted shampoo.    
 
So, what does blue shampoo do? If you’re a light to medium dark brunette, the opposite shade on the hair colour wheel is blue. Using a blue shampoo like Vitamino Color Spectrum Blue Tinted Shampoo by L'Oréal Professionnel neutralises any warmer shades to give you a cool brunette shade.     
 
If you’re a darker shade, such as chestnut or dark brown, using a green tinted shampoo can help better counteract the darker reddish tones, such as Vitamino Color Spectrum Green Tinted Shampoo by L'Oréal Professionnel.     

Choosing the Best Shampoo for Red Coloured Hair

Whether light copper, peach, fiery red, or mahogany, there is one thing that unites all these hair shades: fading.    
 
Why does red hair colour fade so fast? These dyes tend to fade much more quickly because the red colour molecules are larger and don’t penetrate the hair shaft as deeply as other colours. This means washing your hair also means you’re washing away your dye.     
 
So, how to keep red hair from fading? Use a colour protect shampoo like our L'Oréal Professionnel Vitamino Color Spectrum Shampoo for Coloured Hair which locks in day 1 colour vibrancy for up to 100 days*.  Our hairdresser-approved tip for redheads? Wash your hair using cold water to prevent colour molecules from escaping.    
 
  *Instrumental test after 49 washes using the full Vitamino Color Spectrum routine 

Opting for the Best Shampoo for Black Hair

 

Want to keep your locks jet black or richly coffee-coloured? Haircare professionals recommend using a colour protector or green-tinted shampoo.
 
What does green shampoo do to your dark brown or black hair? It helps neutralise any reddish tones in your hair, so you can keep your colour shiny and fresh, without it fading into warm tones.

The Vitamino Color Spectrum Professional Green Tinted Shampoo by L'Oréal Professionnel is specifically formulated with the needs of black or dark brown hair and restores shine, vibrancy, and tone for salon-looking hair. 

Treatments for Coloured Hair to Keep Your Colour Vibrant

You now know the best shampoos for coloured hair. But why stop here? Our range of professional-grade products include: 

• Coloured hair conditioners: the best conditioners for coloured hair help lock in the dye molecules and keep your hair soft and shiny. Vitamino Color Colour-Care Conditioner is a good option for everyday use.
• Coloured hair masks: coloured hair can become more porous and prone to breakage, so deeply nourishing your coloured strands with a mask such as our Vitamino Color Spectrum Professional Mask, can help keep your hair looking healthy and vibrant.
• Coloured hair serums: to help protect your coloured hair from UV sun damage, heat tools, and to retain shine and gloss, use our Vitamino Color Spectrum Professional Glass Shine Serum.

Lock In Day-1 Colour with Vitamino Color Spectrum

Discover our full range of treatments for coloured hair with our Vitamino Colour Spectrum range.