The 14 Absolute Best Shampoos for Color-Treated Hair 

If you’ve colored your hair countless times, then hair dye maintenance is in order. Whether you opted for the safe and expensive salon-perfect shade or the brave and budget-friendly at-home one, color fading is inevitable. Using about any basic shampoo is pretty bold because it will leave your hair looking bland with just a few washes later. 

A plethora of powerful components eventually contributes to color fading over time. From over washing with rough waters, harsh chemicals, and hot water to the overuse of tough blow dryers, straighteners, and curlers. Not to mention chronic sun exposure ultimately bleaches your hair. If you’re going outside, leave no stone un-turned. Meaning, wear a cap and spray hair sunscreen. 

Never overlook sulfates and silicones in the old, regular shampoo’s ingredients, as they are pretty harmful and probably don’t preserve color.

Not only do they irritate the skin, but they also strip the scalp of its natural oils, causing flaking and drying.

For the ultimate best results, always opt for gentle, sulfate-free, moisturizing, and nourishing ingredients. 

Check out the 14 absolute best shampoos for color-treated hair right here down below. 

Best for Oily Scalp: OUAI Detox Shampoo

OUAI Detox Shampoo

The ultra-clarifying OUAI Detox Shampoo completely cleanses any impurities and smells fresh without stripping away the hair follicles, thanks to its weightless key ingredient, apple cider vinegar infusion.

Another main ingredient is keratin which helps straighten your mane.

It features a super easy-to-use dispenser. This nutrient-rich shampoo acts like a stellar toner that regulates your pH balance.

Use this thick shampoo once a week, as it packs a punch in dusting off all the week’s gunky buildup. There is no need to continuously do that and dry down the hair for no reason. 

Best for Thick Hair: OUAI Thick Hair Shampoo

OUAI Thick Hair Shampoo

There’s no better way on earth to complement your thick hair than to hydrate and smooth your luscious locks, leaving them frizz-free with the influencer-fave  OUAI Thick Hair Shampoo.

After struggling to find a ‘cool, calm, and curated’ haircare brand, influential hairstylist to the stars Jen Atkin showcased her impressive client list that includes the likes of Kim Kardashian, Katy Perry, Jennifer Lopez, Chrissy Teigen, Tracy Anderson, Melissa Wood Tepperberg, and Marianna Hewitt along with many more, where she decided to establish her haircare line with OUAI. Pronounced ‘way.’

The breezy label is like a ‘breath of fresh air,’ standing out with its stunning yet subtle packaging, sleek fragrance, and luxuriant ingredients, such as the marshmallow root, shea butter, avocado oil, and hydrolyzed keratin that comprise this thick-hair shampoo that does more than most shampoos.

Ouai shampoos provide unparalleled hair protection! 

Best Organic: RAHUA Color Full Shampoo 

Rahua Color Full Shampoo

Looking for hair-strengthening ingredients from the breathtaking Amazon rainforest to help keep color-treated hair vibrant? 

Helping to maintain colored hair’s vitality, this nourishing Rahua shampoo is ideal for highlighted and color-treated hair.

Formulated with Rahua and morete (Buriti) oils from the eye-opening Amazon rainforest.

This nutrient-rich shampoo keeps hair nourished and strengthened.

Follow along with the matching hair conditioner and hair mask for best results.

Best Vegan: Olaplex No.4 Bond Maintenance Shampoo

Olaplex No. 4 Bond Maintenance™ Shampoo

This carefully curated and creatively engineered product restores a healthy and youthful glow to your hair with every wash.

Part of Olaplex’s innovative, science-savvy 3-4-5 System, the No.4 Bond Maintenance shampoo is a medicinal product that leaves your hair shinier, healthier, and much easier to manage.

Highly hydrating and supremely moisturizing from tips to roots, this reparative bestseller is proven to reduce breakage and strengthens all hair types in the long run.

Best Formula: ORIBE Shampoo for Beautiful Color 

Oribe Shampoo for Beautiful Color

After transforming your look with a new, exciting color, ensure your locks stay smooth, hydrated, exuberant, and vibrant with the help of Oribe’s Shampoo for Beautiful Color.

Its metamorphosizing yet gentle vegan formula not only preserves the dye for a straight-out-of-the-salon finish but ultimately gives your hair a serious boost of moisture through rare Baobab Tree Extract that fortifies over-processed and chemically treated hair.

Suitable for all hair types. Finish off by complementing your hair with the Conditioner for Beautiful Color for exceptional results.

Best Sulfate-Free: Shu Uemura Color Lustre Sulfate-Free Shampoo for Color-Treated Hair

shu uemura Color Lustre Sulfate-Free Shampoo for Color-Treated Hair

Taking care of your hair is an art form, so you must indulge in only the best products within your life to enliven it.

Shu Uemura is ready with its ultra-nourishing Art of Hair Color Lustre Rituals Shampoo that locks in color and moisture and optimizes the hair for the ultimate shine.

Suitable for all hair types. This sulfate-free shampoo is for haircare mavens, as it assists you in facing anything in your hectic daily life. 

Best Repairing: LIVING PROOF Restore Shampoo 

Living Proof Restore Shampoo

The hair cure-all, once put on, cleanses, smooths, and softens hair simultaneously with every rinse and repeat.

The given clue is in the apt name of Living Proof’s Restore Shampoo due to its innovative formula tailored to rejuvenate and repair damaged hair, fortifying it against any future breakage.

The result? Tresses that appear instantly shinier, noticeably healthier, tremendously smoother, efficiently clean, and highly free from dirt, oil, and pollution.

Those after the technical details can look to the brand’s innovative Proprietary Amino Cleansing Complex. This surfactant infusion blend deeply cleanses your hair without stripping it away from its natural oils. It seems like an oxymoron, but it’s not. 

Best Non-Stripping: SISLEY Hair Ritual Color Perfecting Shampoo 

Sisley Hair Rituel #4 Color Perfecting Shampoo with Hibiscus Flower Extract,

Protect colored and highlighted hair with Sisley’s Hair Rituel Color Perfecting Shampoo, carefully formulated to deliver a deep clean without seriously stripping away any pigment or leaving it lackluster and limp.

It contains hibiscus flower extract, which smells luxuriant and is rich in vitamin C and amino acids to completely fortify the hair, leaving it lusciously lively, luminously shiny, and lightly scented.

The non-stripping formula preserves color vibrancy, despite repeated washing and smells like the wind’s breeze. 

Best for Medium Hair: Kérastase Chroma Absolu Shampoo

Kérastase Chroma Absolu Shampoo for Fine to Medium Color-Treated Hair

This luscious shampoo replenishes and revamps color-treated hair one step at a time.

Combining three products from the Chroma Absolu range, Kérastase Chroma Absolu Shampoo is here to help you revive color-treated hair.

Infused with hyaluronic and amino acids, this shampoo helps you enliven color while strengthening your locks, bringing back their shine and health.

The shampoo paired with the conditioner is a must for anyone who dyes their hair. It consists of nourishing acids such as amino, lactic, and tartaric, specified to smooth hair while keeping the orange away.

This brass-removing shampoo is specifically formulated for fine-to-medium hair types. 

Best for Dry, Damaged Hair: R + Co Gemstone Color Shampoo 

R+Co Gemstone Color Shampoo | Frizz Control, Repairs + Preserves Hair Color | Vegan + Cruelty-Free

Say bye-bye to frizz and hello to beautiful hair with the help of R + Co Gemstone Color Shampoo.

The deeply cleansing without stripping formula is to die for! Smells like a flower and looks like a gem, this rich shampoos unparalleled.

Leaves hair sumptuously soft and smooth. 

Best for Fine Hair: David Mallett Shampoo No. 02 Le Volume

David Mallett Shampoo No. 02 Le Volume,

The decadent David Mallett Shampoo No. 02 Le Volume cleans and volumizes hair simultaneously.

It’s infused with Nori, a Japanese Red Algae rich in proteins such as invigorating vitamins A, B12, and C, alongside trace elements to nourish and strengthen the hair follicles from deep within.

Not only is it shine-inducing, but it’s also color-retaining. 

Best for Blondes: Oribe Bright Blonde for Beautiful Color

Oribe Bright Blonde Shampoo for Beautiful Color

Shed a spotlight on blonde within a flash.

This reviving and revitalizing purple shampoo is enriched with Pure Violet and Reflective Pearlized Pigments that impart brighten blonde hues while balancing brassiness, correcting dullness, and toning highlights.

It’s infused with color-safe keratin and all-natural, organic ingredients that make up the Brightening Complex, which are lemon, ginger root, and chamomile extracts to retain hair color and maintain its luminosity.

Its effective Oribe Signature Complex and Multi-UV protection prevents future color fading and counteracts the withering effects of the sun, photoaging, and oxidative stress, leaving the hair healthier and shinier like it’s naturally lit from within. 

Best Cruelty-Free: CHRISTOPHE ROBIN Color Shield Shampoo 

Christophe Robin Color Shield Shampoo

Masterfully manufactured to lock in moisture, Christophe Robin’s Colour Shield Shampoo mainly protects your shade from fading, resulting in a lasting lustrous, and glossy look.

Crafted with powerful ingredients such as camu camu, pomelo extract, and Crambe oil, the expertly crafted gentle formula maintains the intensity of your color while working to restore dry strands.

Follow with the Colour Shield Mask for immense moitruization and intense hydration to your damaged mane

Best Perfecting:  Davines Minu shampoo 

Davines MINU Shampoo, Color Retention Shampoo For Colored, Treated Hair, Protects & Keeps Hair Bright, Shiny For Longer

When life gives you the lemony, zesty Davines Minu shampoo you embrace it with wide open arms!

The Color Perfecting Shampoo is infused with Hibiscus flower extract to gently cleanse and cares for colored and highlighted hair.

It’s also enriched with sunflower seed extract, which protects against fading due to excessive washing and exposure to the sun.

The restructuring complex (Cotton proteins, Ceramide analog) prevents future breakage. The Pro-vitamin B5 (D-Panthenol) fervently fortifies and preserves the hair’s softness and suppleness.