Best shampoo for thick color treated hair

The best shampoos for coloured hair to preserve your freshly-dyed strands

We’ve handpicked the best shampoos for coloured hair to retain vibrancy, shield against damage, and prevent fade.

Whether you colour your hair yourself or have it done in the salon, the best shampoo for coloured hair is an absolute must in your hair care regime, as any hairdresser will tell you. You’ve invested time and money in that fresh colour, so you want it to last for as long as possible. Amiright?

In short, you need a tailored formula so that you don’t strip away your colour and protect it against fading, as well as providing nourishment to counter some of the damage associated with colouring your hair. “It is so important to make sure you're using the correct shampoo to keep your colour looking fresh and vibrant while also cleansing the scalp,” Zoë Irwin, renowned colourist and Wella Professionals UK colour trend expert, stresses.

33 best shampoos for every hair type and texture, according to the GLAMOUR editors who use them

Gallery33 Photos

By Sophie Cockett and Denise Primbet

We know that the best shampoo is one of the foundation blocks of a good hair routine, so what should you look for on the bottle to ensure your formula will protect and maintain colour specifically?  “You want to make sure that the product clearly states that it's a colour protecting or colour-safe formula, ideally without parabens or sulphates,” says Justin Anderson, colourist to the likes of Jennifer Aniston and Margot Robbie and co-founder of new-to-the-UK dpHUE.

“Keep an eye out and try to avoid products with sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS) and sodium laureth sulphate (SLES), which are likely to cause colour wash out and leave you with faded strands.”

Toning shampoos are another great option to maintain your colour and neutralise any brassy or yellow tones, or to keep your shade warm or cool depending on your tone of choice. Plex systems are also a good sign, as they work to improve the condition of your hair. But avoid clarifying shampoos, which are designed to remove build-up in the hair. “They are great for cleansing the scalp, they are also most likely to remove colour molecules from hair strands,” Zoë warns.

Just before we dive into the top shampoo buys for coloured hair, our hair experts have a couple of other tips for prolonging your colour: “Rule number one, shampoo less often,” says Justin. “Over-shampooing is one of the number one ways to cause that beautiful new hair colour of yours to fade more quickly. It's like washing your favourite black t-shirt repeatedly to the point of the colour dulling and fading out!”

Zoë adds that heat protection is an absolute must when drying or styling your hair, as heat damage increases how quickly your colour will fade. In the same way, you should avoid scalding water temperatures when washing your hair to keep your colour vibrant. “Hot water can open the cuticles, allowing the colour pigments to escape,” she says.

The best shampoos for coloured hair at a glance:

• Pureology Hydrate Shampoo
• dpHue Color Fresh Shampoo
• Olaplex No 4 Bond Maintenance Shampoo
• TRESemmé Colour Shineplex Shampoo
• Josh Wood Miracle Shampoo for Dry, Damaged Hair
• JVN Hair Undamage Strengthening Shampoo
• ColorWow Colour Security Shampoo
• Moroccanoil Blonde Perfecting Purple Shampoo
• L’Oréal Paris Elvive Colour Protect Shampoo
• Wella Professionals Invigo Nutri Enrich Deep Nourishing Shampoo
• Redken Colour Extend Magnetic Shampoo
• Living Proof Color Care Shampoo
• Maria Nila Luminous Colour Shampoo
• L’Oreal Professionnel Metal Detox Shampoo
• Aveda Color Conserve Shampoo

After something more specific? We've got shampoo for dry hair**, shampoo for thin hair**, clarifying shampoo**, dry shampoo**, shampoo bars**, shampoo for red hair**, purple shampoo**, shampoo for curly hair**, shampoo for frizzy hair and soothing shampoos for itchy scalps.

For more from freelance beauty writer and editor Lucy, follow her on Instagram at @lucyabbers**.

Scroll for the best shampoos for coloured hair explained.

• Best shampoo for coloured hair that's damaged

  LIVING PROOF COLOR CARE SHAMPOO 236ML, £24, Cult Beauty

  Why we love it: Designed to protect against three major culprits that cause the colour to fade (damage, UV and hard water) with a unique filter, Living Proof’s shampoo for coloured hair is free from sulphates, silicones and parabens. Loved by hairdressers around the world, it works to soften and boost shine for that “just stepped out of the salon” feeling.

  Save when you shop for the best shampoo for coloured hair with these Cult Beauty discount codes.

• Best shampoo for coloured hair that is dry

  Olaplex No.4 Bond Maintenance Shampoo 250ml, £26, LookFantastic

  Why we love it: At this point Hollywood-loved Olaplex is pretty synonymous with coloured hair, and hairdressers and beauty editors agree that it’s like liquid gold for damaged hair. As with the famous No. 3 treatment, No. 4 Shampoo also works to repair broken bonds in the hair to remedy dryness and brittleness, leaving you with smoother and softer strands.

  Save when you shop for the best shampoo for coloured hair with these LookFantastic discount codes.

• L'Oréal Elvive Colour Protect Shampoo 400ml, £2.49, Boots

  Why we love it: If you’re looking for a purse-friendly shampoo for coloured hair, this one is a best selling crowd pleaser. It’s super nourishing, promising to leave your hair touchably soft, and boasts multiple UV filters to help stave off any environmental damage – maintaining your colour for weeks on end.

  Save when you shop for the best shampoo for coloured hair with these Boots discount codes.

• Best shampoo for coloured hair for preventing fade

  Aveda Colour Conserve Shampoo 250ml, £17.20, LookFantastic

  Why we love it: A vegan formula that promises to protect your coloured hair’s vibrancy, this one has a heavenly 100% organic scent, just as we have come to expect from Aveda’s plant-packed products. The gentle formula works to prevent fade in coloured hair, as well as shielding it from the damaging effects of the environment.

  Save when you shop for the best shampoo for coloured hair with these LookFantastic discount codes.

• Best shampoo for blonde coloured hair

  Moroccanoil Blonde Perfecting Purple Shampoo 200ml, £19.95, LookFantastic

  Why we love it: Purple shampoo helps to neutralise any unwanted yellow or brassy tones in the hair, which is especially useful in blondes. This purple pigment-containing formula from Moroccanoil contains the brand’s hero ingredient, nourishing argan oil, as well as patented technology that helps to repair hair from the inside and seal the cuticle.

  Save when you shop for the best shampoo for coloured hair with these LookFantastic discount codes.

• Best shampoo for coloured hair extensions

  Color Wow Color Security Shampoo 250ml, £19.50, LookFantastic

  Why we love it: The name should give you a clue that this ColorWow is an authority on colour, but if that alone doesn’t convince you, the fact that there are 25 years of innovation behind the brand might. Color Security Shampoo contains an amino-fortified complex to help prevent your colour from dulling and is also suitable for extensions.

  Save when you shop for the best shampoo for coloured hair with these LookFantastic discount codes.

• Best shampoo for long coloured hair

  JVN HAIR UNDAMAGE STRENGTHENING SHAMPOO, £16, Space NK

  Why we love it: JVN Hair’s hero ingredient is hemisqualane, a plant-derived alternative to smoothing silicones that actually helps to improve the condition of your hair over time. All of the brand’s products are colour safe, but Undamage Strengthening Shampoo in particular goes hand in hand with coloured hair because of its repairing properties. Expect seriously soft strands when paired with the matching conditioner.

  Save when you shop for the best shampoo for coloured hair with these Space NK discount codes.

• Best shampoo for coloured hair that is dry

  Pureology Hydrate Shampoo 266ml, £17.85, LookFantastic

  Why we love it: As well as being vegan-friendly, all of Pureology’s shampoo and conditioner duos are formulated specifically for coloured hair, but Hydrate is one of our favourite shampoos for dry hair that may be prone to frizz, too. Quenching dry and thirsty strands from the first wash, the hydrating formula has a minty fresh scent and leaves hair feeling nice and silky.

  Save when you shop for the best shampoo for coloured hair with these LookFantastic discount codes.

• Best shampoo for coloured hair for scent

  Redken Color Extend Magnetics Shampoo 300ml, £15.30, LookFantastic

  Why we love it: As well as being sulphate-free, this particular formula from professional hair care brand Redken is acidic, making it another pH balancing formula that works hard to maintain your colour. Despite the impressive science behind it, it's still a fairly gentle cleanser and gives a real boost to your hair’s shine levels and vibrancy. It also leaves your hair smelling great – what more could you ask for?

  Save when you shop for the best shampoo for coloured hair with these LookFantastic discount codes.

• Best shampoo for coloured hair on a budget

• Best strengthening shampoo for coloured hair

• Best shampoo for coloured hair for a deep clean

• Best shampoo for coloured hair for shine

  DPHUE COLOR FRESH SHAMPOO 8.5 FL. OZ, £24, Cult Beauty

  Why we love it: Just touched down on UK shores is cool colour care brand dpHue, whose products help to keep your coloured hair looking fresh and shiny. The Color Fresh Shampoo has a nice creamy texture and subtle, sweet smell, leaving your hair nice and soft post-wash thanks to kumquat and sunflower seed extract. It’s suitable for all hair colours, though the brand offers blonde and brunette-specific formulas too.

• Best vegan shampoo for coloured hair

  Maria Nila Luminous Colour Shampoo 350ml, £19.30, Sally Beauty

  Why we love it: Alongside vegan hair care brand Maria Nila’s colour guard complex, which works to prevent colour loss, the hero ingredient here is pomegranate extract. The formula works t strengthen your hair, boost vibrancy and keep your mane feeling in tip-top condition. Plus it smells delicious with a fruity mix of peach, apple and blackberry. What’s not to love?

• Best shampoo for coloured hair with UV filter

  Miracle Shampoo for Dry, Damaged Hair, £15, Josh Wood Colour

  Why we love it: Josh Wood is something of a legend when it comes to hair colour, so the industry was delighted when he launched his own range of colour products. The shampoos contain a Colour Shine Complex to help lock in colour, plus a UV filter to shield against one of the major causes of hair damage. As well as Dry and Damaged there’s also an option for Fine and Fragile hair, should you need a shampoo for fine hair instead.