Best Shampoos for Bleached Hair – Nurse your Hair Back to Health

By Shehnaz Shirazi
Updated May 16, 2023

This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, we may earn from qualifying purchases.

Ah, the fresh beaming blonde hair.

Glistening under the light, it adds a delightful touch of warmth and radiance to any complexion. Doesn’t it? Except when brassy tones and breakages rear their ugly heads and ruin it all.

That’s where a good shampoo for bleached hair swoops in with its recovery powers. It strengthens, banishes all hints of brass, and upholds that fresh-out-of-the-salon tone in all its glory.

To help you, we’ve rounded up the best shampoos for bleached hair of all kinds, whether your goal is to rescue a bad bleach job, keep your blondes cool, and everything in between.

Scroll on …

The Best Shampoos for Bleached Hair

Redken Extreme Bleach Recovery Set

The best shampoo kit specially formulated to help over-processed bleached hair recover to full health.

Buy From Amazon

According to Redken, hair lightening treatments make up more than 75% of in-salon services. However, they also point out that the number one concern for most clients is hair damage and how fast they can recover for their next hair makeover.

For Redken, the health of the client’s hair is always a top priority, and they understand that bleaching hair often goes hand-in-hand with damage and breakage. Redken’s mission is to help clients continue their in-salon treatments without this fear and anxiety.

That’s why after years of research and innovation, they developed a breakthrough product that can instantly reverse the effects of hair bleaching – The Extreme Recovery range.

Watch this video to learn more:

© Credit: Redken Access. Lucas Shaffer. YouTube

The Redken Extreme bleach recovery system is the ultimate savior for bleached hair addicts. The set comes with a bleach recovery shampoo, a conditioning rinse, and an intensive cream treatment designed to nurse over-processed bleach-damaged hair back to full health.

So how does the Redken Extreme Bleach Recovery work?

It uses Cica (Centella Asiatica) and Lamellar water (liquid conditioning rinse) to strengthen the hair from root to tip.

Cica, a herb extract rich in amino and fatty acids, calms inflammation and stimulates new cell growth.

Lamellar water, a liquid conditioning rinse, fills the hair’s porosity while providing softness, smoothness, and shine.

By combining these two, the treatment heals the inner structures of the hair and superimposes an additional cuticle layer on top of each strand to help with a faster recovery.

Judging by the positive reviews, this set does an excellent job at transforming dry, brittle, and even the most chemically-trashed hair into soft and manageable hair from early use.

The Redken Extreme Bleach Recovery is also highly-recommended by New York senior hair colorist Rachel Bodt, who boasts clients like Georgia May Jagger, Tilda Swinton, and Olivia Wilde.

So here’s what you get in the kit:

Bleach Recovery Shampoo

Calling upon the antioxidant-rich and healing qualities of cica cream and Redken’s unique conditioning complex, the bleach recovery shampoo is gentle enough to treat highly sensitized hair, leaving it supple, shiny, and healthy. Unlike regular shampoos, it does not strip the hair’s natural oils and won’t fade your hair color even when used daily.

After a few uses, you will feel the full effects of its fortifying formula, making your hair resilient against breakage and damage.

Lamellar Water Rinse

Redken’s Extreme lamellar water rinse is a conditioning treatment that fills the hair’s porosity for improved smoothness and shine.

In just 10 seconds, this “liquid band-aid” moisturizes and repairs brittle strands from the inside out. The high amount of cationic polymers in the lamellar water encourages conditioning agents to enter the hair, adding a second cuticle layer to repair porosity and improve manageability.

Cica Cream Leave-in Treatment

This unique leave-in cream is formulated to boost moisture, resilience, and elasticity in severely damaged bleached and color-treated hair.

The star ingredient of this product is cica – also known as tiger grass. Cica has been used for centuries in Korean skincare to calm inflammation, stimulate cell growth, heal wounds, and produce collagen ^[3]. Also rich in fatty and amino acids, essential for the hair, cica is an excellent regenerative ingredient that makes the Redken Extreme Bleach Recovery a standout product in this category.

This leave-in cream will heal your hair while fighting frizz and adding extra shine to make your color look fresh and vibrant.

How to use it:

• Massage the shampoo in wet hair and let it sit for a bit.
• Rinse your hair thoroughly.
• Wring out the excess water from your hair.
• Apply 1-4 doses of the lamellar water from mid-lengths to ends.
• Lather it into your hair thoroughly.
• Rinse.
• Apply the Extreme Bleach Recovery cica cream.

If you need a stronger clarifying shampoo to sweep up any leftover alkaline chemicals after your bleaching treatment.

Best Purple Shampoo for Yellow Bleached Hair

Best toning shampoo for yellow hair after bleaching.

Buy From Amazon

The Fanola No Yellow shampoo is an absolute brass blaster with impressive hue-restoring powers. It uses strong and potent violet pigments to tone unwanted yellow shades from bleached blonde, light blonde, or streaked hair.

With over 81, 667 reviews and 4.6 out of 5 ratings (at the time of writing this), it is the most popular toning shampoo on the market.

This product is featured in:

• Cosmopolitan Magazine’s 45 best editor-approved products
• Elle Magazine’s 8 expert-picked purple shampoos
• Glamour Magazine, praising its excellent ratings

Fanola artist Leanne Chadwick, a master at bleaching hair and creating the iciest blondes, swears by the No Yellow shampoo.

Besides toning and neutralizing brassiness, it makes the blonde in your hair stand out so much more. It works as a clarifying cleanser to make your hair feel light and airy, rejuvenating your strands to build body and volume from the roots.

How to use it:

• Wash your hair in lukewarm water to allow cuticles to open.
• Use gloves to prevent staining of the hands.
• Apply liberally to damp hair and ensure full coverage.
• Leave for 3 – 10 minutes (depending on brassiness).
• Rinse hair with warm water.
• Use once a week or when you see signs of brassiness.

The results last for up to 8 washes.

Best Shampoo for Damaged Bleached Hair - Nexxus Keraphix

This protein-rich shampoo heals severely damaged hair to restore strength and elasticity.

Buy From Amazon

If you’re strictly on damage control after bleaching your locks, the Nexxus Keraphix healing shampoo should be your first point of call.

The Keraphix formula is engineered by fusing black rice, micro keratin, collagen, and elastin to revive chemically-trashed bleached hair.

Working from the core of the hair fiber, it repairs and restores the protein structure worn down by bleaching treatments. It heals, reconstructs, and nourishes the hair for a speedy recovery to ease you back into your hair goals (cough: selfies, coloring, extreme hairstyles).

Inspired by Nexxus New York City salon, this product is so effective that you’d see extraordinary results in no time. Kim Kardashian is a big fan of Nexxus hair products for keeping her bleached hair in pristine condition. Considering her fashion commitments, you won’t expect her to cry about the state of her hair after a bleaching session! She’s all about instant results. And Nexxus products do just that!

How to use it:

• Apply the Keraphix shampoo to wet hair.
• Work the rich foamy lather into your hair thoroughly.
• Let it sit for a few minutes.
• Rinse thoroughly.
• Follow up with the Keraphix conditioner or Keraphix masque.

Best Vegan Shampoo for Bleached Hair - Verb Ghost Shampoo

A vegan and weightless cleansing shampoo for bleached hair that also prevents hair color from fading.

Buy From Amazon

Verb is the new buzzy yet minimalistic brand making waves in the beauty circles, all thanks to its clean, environmentally-friendly, vegan, and affordable products.

Don’t be fooled by the understated packaging. It may look cheap initially, but once you start using their products, you’ll discover the brand’s authenticity and high quality.

The Verb Ghost shampoo is so lightweight that it’ll instantly disappear into your hair – hence the name Ghost. For those with sensitized bleached hair looking for a gentle, sulfate-free, and vegan formula, this shampoo is the best pick.

The Verb Ghost shampoo contains:

• Moringa oil – Fast absorbing oil to naturally smoothen hair
• Sunflower seed extract – Fatty acids to moisturize.
• Aloe vera – pH balancing.
• Hydrolyzed soy protein – To lock in moisture.
• Quinoa protein – To repair and strengthen.

How to use it:

• Massage a small amount to damp hair.
• Lather well and rinse.
• Follow with the Ghost conditioner.

Best Shampoo for Bleached Gray Hair

Clairol Shimmer Lights Shampoo

Buy From Amazon

The Clairol Shimmer Lights banishes dullness and brassy tones in blonde, gray, brunette, and silver hair with its protein-rich color-enhancing purple formula.

Did you know?

Shimmer Lights is the original and first ever anti-brassiness product to hit the haircare industry in the 1980s.

Regarded as one of the best and most dependable purple shampoos in the market, Shimmer Lights is a cult favorite of many stylists and celebrities alike.

Celebrity hairstylist Christine Symonds describes this product as her favorite and most trusted for making her clients’ hair look bright and at its best on the red carpet. Looking at Kayley Cuoco’s flawless hair on her Instagram feed (prepped by Christine), it’s no wonder she is such a big fan.

The creamy deep purple pigment in this shampoo neutralizes unwanted yellow and orange tones in the hair, giving you brighter and shinier locks.

True to its name, Shimmer Lights adds shimmer and shine to blonde, gray, or silver hair right from the very first use.

The only drawback is that it contains some sulfates.

How to use it:

• Apply to wet hair.
• Lather and rinse.
• Let it sit for 3 – 5 minutes for extra brightening color.
• Use twice a week or as needed.

Best pH Balanced Purple Shampoo for Bleached Hair

pH balancing shampoo (pH 5.5 – 6.5) for color-treated and bleached hair.

Buy From Amazon

The Luseta purple shampoo protects, enhances, and brightens color-treated hair with its pH balancing formula designed to shield the cuticle layer from external oxidizers.

Although not strong on toning, this shampoo does a decent job at drawing out brassiness and illuminating blonde hair.

We love the quality ingredients, but there is a little hitch with the sulfate-free formula. We noticed sodium c14-16 olefin sulfonate on the back of the bottle. Although not technically a sulfate, it is a surfactant that may dry the scalp when used frequently.

Otherwise, top marks for its clean, nourishing formula that leaves the hair feeling luxuriously soft and vibrant.

How to use it:

• Apply shampoo to wet hair.
• Gently massage onto hair and scalp.
• Rinse thoroughly.
• Follow up with the Luseta color conditioner.

Best Shampoo for Brassy Bleached Hair - Amika Bust Your Brass

A brassy-busting, violet-purple shampoo that removes yellow tinges from blonde hair and produces cool, vibrant, and gleaming results.

Buy From Amazon

The Amika Bust Your Brass shampoo is fast becoming a favorite among beauty editors and hair colorists for its ability to knock out brassy tones, keep blonde color on point, and strengthen the hair’s elasticity to withstand breakage.

Allure magazine calls it the best option for those with super dry, brittle blonde hair and combating brassiness.

Cosmopolitan rates it for its paraben-free, sulfate-free, phthalate-free, and nutrient-rich formula that leaves the hair soft and super hydrated.

You’ll be pleasantly surprised to know that one bottle can last you for over 4 months! The shampoo is highly pigmented (ultraviolet), so a small dollop is enough to lather and cover your entire head.

How to use it:

• Apply to wet hair
• Massage into a lather.
• Rinse thoroughly.
• Follow with Cool Blonde conditioner.
• Use 2-3 times per week or as needed.

Best Bleached Blonde Color Toning Purple Shampoo - Bold Uniq

Beat the brass, eliminate frizz, and brighten your blonde with this trio set.

Buy From Amazon

The Bold Uniq trio set is ideal for creating ice-cool blondes, dazzling silver, and ash tones with its stronger-than-ordinary purple toning formula.

We particularly love this shampoo because it has quality ingredients such as coconut oil, jojoba oil, marula oil, chamomile, vitamin E, and lavender oil, among many others. It’s packed with some serious goodness for bleached hair recovery. You feel it straight away after washing your hair.

The non-drying formula makes your hair feel lush, silky smooth, and effortlessly cool. It’s so good that you’ll forget that you even bleached your hair.

Keeping blonde hair blonde has never been easier.

How to use it:

• Do a strand test before you start.
• Wash your hair with regular shampoo first.
• Towel dry, then apply the shampoo.
• Lather and distribute evenly throughout your hair.
• Let it sit for 3-5 minutes.
• Rinse well.
• For a more shimmering platinum/silver/ash tone, leave it in for up to 20 minutes.
• Follow up with the Bold Uniq conditioner for best results.

Best Brightening Shampoo for Bleached Blonde Hair

A revitalizing violet shampoo that brightens and illuminates natural or bottle-blonde hair.

Buy From Amazon

Oribe’s Bright Blonde shampoo is like the aurora borealis, bottled.

It couches all the brightening and illuminating action for dull-looking hair in a rich and creamy shampoo intensified with pure violet and reflective pearlized pigments.

Both the shampoo and conditioner use Oribe’s signature complex recipe that combines watermelon, lychee, edelweiss flower, and a blend of other botanicals to create a potent antidote for oxidative hair stress like bleaching and chemical processing.

It also provides high-factor UV protection to shield your bleached hair from sun damage.

How to use it:

• Apply the shampoo to wet hair.
• Rinse with lukewarm water.
• Then apply the conditioner.
• Let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes.
• Rinse out.
• Blot and squeeze gently with a towel.

Best Violet Shampoo for Bleached Hair

Rich and neutralizing ultra violet shampoo for faux-blonde and gray hair.

Buy From Amazon

The Kerastase Blond Absolu is bleachin’ good stuff.

It uses smart skincare ingredients like hyaluronic acid and brightening edelweiss flower to create an effective formula that helps bleach-damaged hair recover while neutralizing brassy tones and maintaining a cool blonde shade.

Kerastase Absolu is also a hair care system that allows you to customize its products based on your blonde goals. Whether you’re after the sun-kissed ombre, platinum blonde, or gray hair, the system allows you to mix and match products to create the perfect solution that works for you.

As its tagline says:

“Whichever blonde you are. You dare. We care.”

How to use it:

• Wear gloves before using.
• Wet your hair first and remove excess water.
• Apply touch by touch onto key areas.
• Add more water and emulsify the shampoo.
• Leave it in for 2 to 5 minutes.
• Rinse thoroughly.
• Alternate with the Bain Lumière weekly or as an alternative.

Best Pre-Shampoo Oil for Bleached Hair

This pre-shampoo treatment oil reinforces bleached hair to prevent tangles and breakage when washing.

Buy From Amazon

The Leonor Greyl oil is a hydrating and protective pre-shampoo oil that prevents tangles and breakages. It adds a layer of lubrication on the hair cuticle to prevent shampoos from stripping. Simply massage into dry hair before shampooing or leave it on overnight before washday, then shampoo out.

Your bleached locks will thank you!

How to use it:

• Apply to dry hair over the lengths and ends.
• Distribute evenly with a brush.
• Leave on for 5-10 minutes or overnight.
• Wash out with shampoo.

Best Drugstore Shampoo for Bleached Hair

The best drugstore purple shampoo for brassy bleached hair is approved by hair colorists.

Buy From Amazon

From canceling out brassy tones to making your blonde hair look purer and brighter, this budget buy is worth picking on your next trip to the drugstore. Infused with hibiscus flower and purple dye, it has a gentle formula that creates a rich lather and conditioning experience.

Despite claiming it has no sulfates, we noticed a few mild surfactants to be cautious of. Avoid using it daily. 2-3 times a week is good for best results.

How to use it:

• Apply to wet hair and massage into a lather.
• Rinse thoroughly.
• Follow up with EverPure brass toning purple conditioner.
• In case of contact with eyes, rinse immediately.

Best Bonding Shampoo to Use After Bleaching

Bond builder and maintenance shampoo from the tried-and-tested hair care system that Celebs swear by.

Buy From Amazon

Bleaching damages the disulfide bonds in the hair ^[4], which is why it becomes fragile and prone to breakage.

Olaplex is an award-winning brand that focuses on bond-building technology for the hair to facilitate faster recovery from chemical treatments.

Their No. 4 bond maintenance shampoo is ideal for bleached hair as it uses the same principle for relinking disulfide bonds at a molecular level. The shampoo provides strengthening and reparative benefits to help bleached hair recover faster so you can get on with your styling needs and hair goals.

How to use it:

• Apply and massage the product throughout your hair.
• Let it sit for a few minutes.
• Thoroughly rinse.
• Follow up with the No. 5 bond maintenance conditioner.

Best Blue Shampoo for Orange Bleached Hair

Anti-orange toning shampoo with blue pigment ideal for dark blondes, brunette, gray, and platinum hair.

Buy From Amazon

The Fanola No Orange shampoo uses rich blue pigments to tone and offset brassiness. It can correct undesired orange, copper, and red reflections in dark blonde, brunette, grays, and platinum hair colors.

Besides toning, the shampoo strengthens bleached hair to prevent dryness and breakage.

With over 24, 050 reviews and a 4.5 out of 5 rating at the time of writing this article, it is the most popular and best blue toning shampoo for bleached hair. Period.

How to use it:

• Wear gloves before using.
• Apply to wet hair.
• Massage, and leave on for 1-5 minutes.
• Lather and rinse.
• Use gloves to prevent staining hands.
• Can be used once a week or every 3 washes to help with undesired copper/red reflections.

Best Everyday Shampoo for Bleached Hair

A gentle color-protecting shampoo for washing bleached hair every day.

Buy From Amazon

The Biolage colorLast has a gentle formula that makes it an ideal shampoo to be used on bleached hair every day. It helps your salon hair color stay fresh and vibrant for up to 20 washes.

This shampoo’s low pH and high moisture level assist in evening out the hair’s surface for a saturated and glossy color that can last for weeks.

How to use it:

• Apply to wet hair.
• Lather with a massaging motion.
• Pair it up with the ColorLast conditioner for best results.

Best Shampoo for Bleached Blonde Highlights

Excellent shampoo for brightening dull highlights, lowlights, and balayage.

Buy From Amazon

The John Frieda Highlight Activating shampoo is an excellent choice for those with bleached highlights or lowlights that look dull, drab, and lifeless. The formula is specifically designed to nourish and hydrate dry hair, reactivating the shine, shimmer, and vibrancy from faded highlights. Enriched with avocado oil, this shampoo also leaves the hair feeling silky smooth and soft to the touch.

If you don’t like purple or blue shampoos, the John Frieda highlight activating shampoo is a better alternative to cutting brassiness without depositing any color.

A little goes a long way with this lightweight product, so you’ll be able to use it over and over again! It leaves your hair clean, fresh, and vibrant, which is what you want as a blonde!

How to use it:

• Gently massage into wet hair.
• Lather and rinse well.
• Follow up with the John Frieda Sheer Blonde highlight activating moisturizing conditioner for best results.

High Porosity Shampoo for Bleached Hair

Corrects porosity of the hair after bleaching and chemical processing.

Buy From Amazon

Bleaching damages the integrity of the hair cuticle layer [4], making it highly porous. That’s why the hair often attracts external polluters after bleaching to make it look brassy. Porous hair absorbs everything from its surroundings.

The Joico Color Balance purple shampoo fixes the root of brassiness by first correcting the highly porous layer with its one-of-a-kind liposome delivery system. It continuously releases keratin, rosehip oil, and arginine to strengthen the hair.

Ideal for natural blondes, bleached blondes, and people with silver and gray hair, the Color Balance shampoo uses violet pigments that directly attach to the hair to neutralize unwanted yellow tones. It also contains green tea extracts and UV absorbers to prevent color fading from the sun.

How to use it:

• Apply to wet hair.
• Let it sit for 3-5 minutes.
• Rinse.
• Repeat 2-3 times per week, alternating with regular shampoo.
• Follow with the Color Balance purple conditioner for best results.

Best Keratin Shampoo for Bleached Hair

The Virtue Recovery shampoo resurfaces the hair strand by strand to fill cracks of damage with its unique alpha keratin protein 60ku.

Buy From Amazon

The Virtue brand is all about Alpha Keratin 60Ku – its unique differentiator.

Starting as a biotech hair company, a group of bio-scientists discovered how to collect keratin in its pure form (alpha keratin 60ku). Virtue subsequently developed this research further into an innovative formula – keratin that has the unique ability to adapt to its target host.

In other words, when you use a Virtue hair product, your hair recognizes the product’s keratin as its own, and it’s immediately pulled to where it’s needed most.

Unlike other keratin treatments that take time to be ingested by the hair, Virtue products work faster to bind and reconstruct the hair.

This is highly beneficial for bleached hair, which experiences significant keratin damage [4]. Virtue Recovery refills the lost keratin, working strand by strand to mend the cortex.

And the results are impressive:

• After 4 applications, it’s proven to reduce frizz by 67%.
• After 5 applications, there is a 95% reduction in split ends.
• After 1 application, it increases hair thickness by 22%.
• After 5 applications, it increases color vibrancy by 138%.

How to use it:

• Lather a small dollop in between your palms.
• Apply to wet hair.
• Massage thoroughly to lather up.
• Rinse.

Best Shampoo for Bleached Curly Hair

This curl-friendly coconut-derived and sulfate-free shampoo is designed for the most delicate and fragile hair with a fortifying and anti-breakage formula.

Buy From Amazon

This luxurious and nourishing shampoo is made with an ancient Tahitian recipe of coprah coconut oil and tiare gardenia flowers, which are known to revive distressed hair.

Proven to reduce breakage by 98%, the Monoi shampoo cleanses and detangles while restoring strength and elasticity to every curl.

The shampoo is sulfate-free, paraben-free, petroleum-free, mineral oil-free, and artificial color-free.

How to use it:

• Apply to wet hair.
• Massage until you get a good lather.
• Rinse.

Best Shampoo for Bleached African American Hair

Protein-rich damage reconstructing shampoo ideal for black hair.

Buy From Amazon

The Aphogee shampoo is a protein-rich treatment that helps to repair and strengthen bleached black hair. It’s also abundant in emollients and essential vitamins that work together to restore shine and pliability to damaged hair without harming the curl pattern. It’s best used after bleaching or relaxing services.

One beauty junkie who went as far as bleaching her hair twice, using 7 boxes of hair dyes for color correction, and chopping 7 inches because of the resulting damage, claims the Aphogee shampoo has been a savior in restoring her hair.

How to use it:

• Wet hair.
• Apply the Aphogee Shampoo.
• Massage into hair and scalp.
• Rinse.
• Towel dry and style.

Best Sulfate-Free Shampoo for Bleached Hair

A bleached hair shampoo that doesn’t contain any nasties.

Buy From Amazon

Co-founded by Justin Anderson – one of the most sought-after colorists in the world – the dpHue cool blonde shampoo is formulated to keep your hair color looking fresh between salon visits. It also kicks out the brass with its rich purple pigments that lather into a rich foam.

The USP of this shampoo is its sulfate-free formula. So you can count on it not to strip your hair color and natural oils. It’s made with silk proteins and hibiscus flower extract to strengthen hair, improve luster, and increase brightness.

And you can feel good about using it – it’s animal-friendly and contains no parabens, sulfates, phthalates, gluten, or silicone.

How to use it:

• Apply to wet hair.
• Massage thoroughly into a rich lather.
• Rinse.
• Leave for up to five minutes for extra moisturizing.
• Use the dpHUE Cool Blonde conditioner after.

Best Hard Water Shampoo for Bleached Blonde Hair

Malibu C combats the harsh effects of hard water to prevent your hair color from oxidizing.

Buy From Amazon

The Malibu C color wellness is a unique shampoo formulated to fight fade and give your hair unparalleled protection against hard water and pool water.

Its advanced color-lock technology helps retain your hair color vibrancy for much longer while infusing moisture and antioxidizing vitamin c to keep your hues poppin after every wash.

And it doesn’t stop there – this shampoo set also comes with a brilliant conditioner and hydrating masque sachets you can use in between.

How to use it:

• Massage into wet hair.
• Rinse thoroughly.
• Follow with the Color Wellness conditioner.

Related:

Why Do You Need a Good Shampoo for Bleached Hair?

Once you’ve bleached your hair, there is no turning back. You’ve got to put in the high-maintenance hard work that comes with it. Otherwise, your lengths will frizz, your ends will split, and your beaming blonde locks will brass up.

“Having bleached hair is like having a finicky house plant: It’s not a full-time job, but you need to take your lifestyle and daily routine into account before making the leap.” Tim Aylward
Celebrity Hairstylist - NBC News

Bleach opens up the outer layer of each hair strand to excavate pigments ^[5], breaking apart the proteins, melanin, hydrogen, and disulfide bonds that hold its internal structure.

Bleach is also highly alkaline. It leaves behind oxidizing elements in the hair and scalp that can continue to corrode the hair if not washed out properly.

To recover and maintain the integrity of your hair, a good aftercare routine supported by neutralizing, hydrating, and toning products is essential. And if there’s one thing you’ll never skip in your hair care routine, that’s washing.

So make every washday count. Make every shampoo count towards putting some love back into your parched locks.

Nowadays, shampoos have evolved far beyond being just simple scalp cleansers. The new generation of shampoos can do much more. They can make your hair grow faster, boost keratin and collagen, neutralize chemicals, tone brassy hair, and the list goes on …

After bleaching your hair, you need to find a good shampoo that delivers tons of moisture and repairing ingredients that can help recover and maintain the integrity of your hair.

Here are the many ways a good shampoo formulated for bleached hair can help you restore your hair.

Strengthen With Every Wash

A bleach recovery shampoo infuses and locks in moisture-boosting ingredients into your strands. With healing ingredients, micro protein infusions that can infiltrate the hair cortex, and bond-building technology, every wash reinforces the strength and resilience of each hair strand to stop it from breaking off.

A good shampoo minimizes breakage and split ends by restoring elasticity and strength.

Boost Moisture

Bleaching leaves your hair dry, brittle, and dehydrated.

“When you bleach your hair, it changes the porosity and elasticity of your hair. When your hair is more porous, it is thirsty, and the hair cuticle is more open, which can cause frazzled ends if not adequately cared for.” Cyd Charisse
Hairstory stylist and blonding specialist - The Zoe Report

These parched locks need all the moisture they can get. Sure, a deep conditioning hair mask will do the job, but a nourishing and moisturizing shampoo that doesn’t contain sulfates can also offer much-needed hydration to revive straw-like strands after every shower.

Soft hair that’s easy to detangle and doesn’t frizz up will help you speed through your hair washing routine in half the time.

Reduce and Eliminate Frizz

Swelling of the cuticle layer, high porosity, and structural degradation increase interfiber friction, causing the hair to frizz.

A good shampoo uses a multi-targeting delivery system to fill out the porosity and restore proteins that leached during the oxidizing process. It progressively mends the hair fibers while band-aiding the outer cuticle layer to stay shut, thus reducing friction, frizz, and flyaways.

Remove Leftover Oxidizers

Close-to-root bleach applications can often leave behind chemicals that can cause an itchy and sensitive scalp. Moreover, these chemicals are highly alkaline, meaning they will keep your hair in an alkaline state. The hair and scalp must always be kept in the range of 4.5 – 5.5. A pH above 7 will cause irritation, bacterial infection, and swell the hair cuticle layer, resulting in dry, brittle, and damaged hair.

That’s why a neutralizing shampoo is essential to counteract alkaline chemical deposits left during hair bleaching. A neutralizing shampoo eliminates chemical residue and rebalances the scalp and hair’s environment to the recommended pH range.

The result: A harmonious pH balance that allows your scalp and hair to flourish again.

Kick out the Brassy Tones

Faux blondes and brassy tones go hand in hand. Your bleached hair will inevitably, at some point, turn to a less-than-flattering shade of yellow or orange. To keep your blonde looking fresh and fabulous, a toning shampoo can help neutralize brassiness from the start.

By using color depositing pigments that counteract and correct warm tones, toning shampoos are available in various shades. If your hair is on the yellow side, opt for a violet toning shampoo; if it’s more orange, go for a blue toning shampoo.

So lean-in blondes. There is a shampoo for correcting every color you can imagine.

Less brass. More sass.

Keep those blonde tresses looking silky and bright.

To summarize:

A good shampoo can help by:

• Strengthening the hair with every wash,
• Neutralizing alkaline leftover chemicals,
• boosting moisture,
• restoring lost proteins,
• sealing the cuticle layer for less frizz,
• preventing brass, and,
• correcting your tones.

Buying Guide – What to Look for When Buying a Shampoo for Bleached Hair

We’ve gone down a few rabbit holes in search of the ideal shampoo for bleached hair, and we’ve got to be honest with you. It’s hard to find one that can tick all the boxes. But we’ve narrowed down all the important qualities during our research. We’ve made it easy to help you identify the essentials you should be looking for based on your hair condition and styling endeavors.

So here’s the list:

Ingredients

When picking a shampoo for washing bleached hair, you need one that is:

• Sulfate-free (mild sulfates are ok as long as you don’t use daily),
• Sodium-chloride free.
• Moisturizing.
• Nourishing.
• Low pH or pH balanced.
• Anti-breakage.
• Strengthening.

Sulfates and sodium chloride are detergents that strip natural oils from the hair. After bleaching your hair, you desperately need to hold on to every drop of natural oil that your hair can soak in.

Moisturizing and nourishing ingredients are excellent for fortifying the hair from within. Together with protein and amino acids, they help power the cellular function within the cortex to kick start the hair’s recovery.

The scalp and hair are naturally low pH, and they need to be maintained in this range for good reasons. First, an acidic range prevents bacterial buildup, and secondly, lower pH keeps the cuticle layer closed and smooth. The tighter these cuticle cells are, the better they will protect the hair from external elements, especially when it’s been heavily sensitized by bleaching chemicals.

Anti-snap and strengthening ingredients are also a must-have. Bleached hair will snap for any reason. Heat, styling, washing, combing, brushing. Any type of manipulation will cause breakage in patches. You need a shampoo that can add resilience and improve the hair’s elasticity, allowing it to bend and twist without snapping like dry spaghetti.

Neutralizing

If your scalp feels itchy and dry, or you’ve applied bleach closer to the roots, you need a neutralizing shampoo. Chances are there may still be chemicals causing irritation. A neutralizing shampoo cleans them up and restores the acidic environment on your scalp.

Protein-rich

Bleach breaks apart the proteins, hydrogen bonds, and disulfide bonds in the hair shaft to scoop out color pigments. The process leaves the hair severely compromised and unable to function at its optimal capacity.

Native proteins in the hair’s structure allow water molecules to bind to the hair and keep water locked inside. Without a strong protein structure, your hair cannot hold moisture.

Look for a shampoo with hydrolyzed, alpha keratin, and amino acid protein. These types of proteins are ready-made for the hair.

Moisture-rich

Look for a shampoo that is formulated to hydrate and lock in moisture. “Humectants” is the word you must look for when reading the blurb about your next shampoo.

Humectants are agents that attract water from their surrounding

Look for:

• Esters.
• Vegetable oils and butters.
• Glycerin.
• Polyquaternium.
• Lanolin.
• Carbamides.

Check out the list of humectants here.

To Tone or Not to Tone?

A hair toner helps to keep your color on point and brass-free. It helps to enhance and correct the tonality of bleached or dyed hair. The need to use a toning shampoo depends on how your hair reacts to the bleaching treatment.

Bleaching removes the underlying pigments in the hair’s cortex but can sometimes fail to remove the underlying pigments completely, exposing the orange and yellows.

Hair toners are available in various colors, so you can choose one that will help correct the specific tone of your bleached hair. For example, if your hair is on the yellow side, you need a violet toning shampoo; if it’s more orange, you need a blue toning shampoo.

You can also use a toner if your lightened hair color is starting to pick up brassiness (unwanted tones) from the environment. For example, pollution, smoking, lack of care, hard water, and swimming in chlorine can cause discoloration. Brassiness makes your hair look more trashy than clean. A toning shampoo can help counteract the warmth and clean up the brassiness by using opposite colors on the color wheel.

Color Pigment

If your mission is to correct the tone of your hair after bleaching, identifying the correct color pigment in your color shampoo is critical.

You need to understand the color wheel theory to make that choice.

Here’s how to pick the correct one:

• Identify the problem (brassiness, wrong color, over toning).
• Identify what color you want to correct (too much yellow, orange, and red).
• Decide on the result you want.
• Look at the color wheel and find the color opposite the color you don’t want.
• Pick a shampoo that has the opposing color pigment.

Here is a quick tip on how to choose the color pigment:

• Purple: Fixes brassy and yellow tones.
• Violet: Fixes grays and platinum hair brassiness.
• Blue: Fixes orange, copper, and red tones.
• Silver: Fixes very light blonde, silver, and gray hair.

pH Balancing

The pH range of the hair is 4.5 – 5.5. This range plays a vital role in keeping the hair and scalp healthy by helping the cuticle scales fall right into place and protecting the acid mantle on the scalp against bacterial growth.

If your hair and scalp are pushed to the alkaline side, the hair cuticles start to swell, and the scalp becomes dry, itchy, and prone to bacterial growth.

A pH-balancing shampoo helps to restore your hair’s natural pH levels, which the bleaching process can throw off.

The closer the pH level of your shampoo is to the natural pH level of your hair, the more healthy and beneficial it is.

Here’s why:

A happy scalp can support your hair better from the roots.

A strong and tight cuticle layer prevents your hair strands from leaching color pigments. It also prevents environmental elements from absorbing into the hair, causing brassiness.

Biotin

When your hair has been chemically trashed by bleach, you need supplements that can reinforce its inner core. Aside from proteins, the hair also requires essential vitamins to support its cellular functions. Vitamin B7 (Biotin) is one of many nutrients that can support hair. Biotin stimulates the production of keratin cells, which are the critical building blocks of the hair’s inner structure.

Biotin makes the hair stronger, encourages growth, and prevents the hair from breaking.

Ingredients to Avoid

Sulfates

Sulfates are aggressive detergents in shampoo designed to cleanse the scalp by unclogging and removing oils and stubborn dirt. When applied to the hair, they exfoliate and strip natural oils and the top coat color you may use to tone your hair. To avoid color fading and dryness, use a sulfate-free shampoo.

PPD

PPD, also known as Paraphenylenediamine, is a partially oxidized colorless substance that requires oxygen to activate. It has been a critical part of hair color products for years. But its partially oxidized state is known to cause allergic reactions like reddening and swellness in sensitive individuals.

If you have skin sensitivity issues or have had similar reactions to hair dyes in the past, watch out for PPDs hidden in toning shampoos.

Do You Have to Use a Neutralizing Shampoo After Bleaching?

It’s not mandatory to use a neutralizing shampoo after bleaching, but most hair colorists would advise doing so to help rebalance the hair’s pH. If you’re doing your treatment in a hair salon, your colorist will most likely use one to wash your hair after bleaching anyway.

But if you’re doing it yourself at home, follow the instructions properly and get a neutralizing shampoo.

Here are 2 reasons why you should use a neutralizing shampoo after bleaching or any kind of chemical processing:

• A neutralizing shampoo lowers and rebalances the hair and scalp’s pH.
• It washes out chemical deposit leftovers from bleaching treatments.

Why and When to Use a Toning Shampoo After Bleaching?

It’s not always necessary to use a toning shampoo after bleaching. It depends on the condition of your hair and the results you are hoping to achieve.

If your hair is damaged – Skip It.

If damage control is your immediate priority, you can skip the toning shampoo and go straight for a reparative one. There’s no point trying to tone hair that’s in bad shape. It can make the hair even dryer and result in uneven pigmentation. Plus, a purple shampoo works by creating a coating around the hair, it will make it harder for other products to work.

Take it one step at a time and avoid stressing your hair with too many products.

Do what’s critical first, then worry about the aesthetic part.

If you notice signs of brassiness – Start using.

If you notice warm tones and brassiness creeping into your locks, reach out for a bottle of toning shampoo to start cooling them. A toning shampoo not only corrects hair color but also counteracts warmth and brassy-looking shades that make your hair look dull and trashy.

If you need color correction – Use It.

If your hair color turned out to be more yellow, orange, or red, it may be due to the peroxide not lifting enough of the dominant underlying pigments.

For example:

The most dominant undertones in dark hair are red and orange. If you don’t remove enough of those pigments, you’ll end up with an unflattering brassy orange. Blonde hair, on the other hand, has yellow undertones, which, when bleached, can leave your locks looking too pale.

A purple shampoo uses the hair color wheel theory to correct these problems. Depending on the color you want to correct, a toning shampoo will have the pigments of the opposite color on the wheel that deposit onto the hair to progressively counteract the base color and help you achieve the color you desire.

Don’t use a toning shampoo too often.

For whatever reason you’re using it, follow the instructions.

Many people tend to overuse in the hope that they can fix a bad color job quickly. But it does not work like that. Using too much toning shampoo in a short space of time can dry out your locks.

Purple Shampoo After Bleaching

Use a purple shampoo on:

• Light pale blonde
• Pale blonde
• Light blonde

to cancel Yellow.

These hair colors reveal yellow tones after bleaching. Purple (violet) is the opposite of yellow on the color wheel. Therefore, it cancels out the yellow for a cooler shade of blonde.

A purple shampoo also neutralizes brassiness and warm tones, which light-colored hair can easily pick up from the environment (pollution, smoke, swimming) or lack of care.

How Often Should You Use a Purple Shampoo?

Purple shampoo does not replace your regular shampoo. While it can be tempting to use it to get results faster, Redken certified color expert Adina Doss advises against it, saying – “When you eliminate too much yellow, it visually ends up darker and a lot of people don’t want it to look darker”.

When used in moderation and as advised in the product’s instructions, the purple shampoo will help your blonde look healthier and cooler.

How Long Do You Leave Purple Shampoo in After Bleaching?

Depending on your hair’s level of brassiness, leave the purple shampoo on for 2 -3 minutes.

The amount of time you leave it in depends on your specific shampoo. Some products can be rinsed out immediately, while others can be left on for 5 minutes or longer.

Read the product’s guide and stick to the amount of time recommended. Leaving it for longer will not give you faster results.

Does Purple Shampoo Lighten Bleached Hair?

Purple shampoo does not lighten bleached hair because it is not designed to lift hair color pigments as bleach does. It is a semi-permanent hair dye. Its main purpose is to deposit pigments to cancel out brassiness and correct color.

Blue Shampoo for Bleached Hair

Blue shampoo is ideal for brunettes and darker blonde colors that have been lightened.

Use a blue shampoo for:

• Medium Blonde
• Darker Blonde
• Light Brown

to cancel Orange.

These colors reveal underlying orange pigments when bleached, requiring blue, which is opposite on the color wheel, to cancel them out.

Similar to purple shampoo, a blue shampoo also offsets brassiness, usually as copper tones and red reflections in dark blonde and brunette hair colors.

Silver Shampoo for Bleached Hair

A silver shampoo contains deeper purple pigments and is more suitable for silver grays and the brightest shades.

Use a silver shampoo for:

• Platinum
• Light blonde
• Grays
• Silver

to cancel Pale Yellows.

A silver shampoo contains deep purple pigments to offset pale yellows in silver, gray, and platinum hair colors.

It also eliminates warm undertones and brassiness that can make bright shades look dull and lifeless.

How to Use A Shampoo for Bleached Hair

There are a few things to keep in mind when using shampoo for bleached hair. Whether it’s a damage-repairing shampoo or a toning shampoo, bleached hair requires a delicate balance. You must follow the instructions carefully to ensure the product is not overworking your fragile hair.

Plus, following the instructions without being too hasty can save you from cocking it all up.

So here are a few things to keep in mind:

Always Do a Patch Test First

Before using this shampoo, do a patch test 48 hours before.

To avoid any unpleasant surprises, like staining your hair or not getting the correct color you wanted to achieve, do a patch test 24 hours before you use the product.

A patch test can also reveal if you have any allergies to certain ingredients. Some chemicals in toning shampoos may cause redness on the skin, itchiness, or irritation. Doing a patch test may save you from a fatal adverse reaction like allergy, choking, or discomfort.

Beware of the Stains!

Toning shampoos contain pigments that cause stains. Therefore, you must use gloves to protect your hands and nails from staining.

Cover your bathroom surfaces with old newspapers, and ensure you’re washing your bathtub or sink immediately after you’ve used your shampoo. Failing to do so may cause stubborn stains that will take a lot of scrubbing to remove.

“Purple shampoo can stain your hair for weeks or even months” – says Joseph Maine, celebrity hairstylist and co-founder of Trademark Beauty.

Moisturize Your Ends First

Due to the varying porosity levels, bleached hair is not evenly absorbent. The processed or highlighted hair will absorb more moisture and color pigments than the unprocessed virgin hair at the roots.

To prevent processed hair from over-absorbing, soak it with water or use a moisturizing conditioner to saturate your ends beforehand.

Avoid Leaving in Hair for Too Long

The “purple shampoo challenge” that took TikTok and social media by storm in 2019 may have seemed harmless fun, but there’s a serious downside to using purple shampoo. While it’s true that purple shampoo can help combat brassy tones, it can also leave your hair feeling dry and brittle and even cause it to break.

Katie Allan, a colorist and the owner of the MAYFIVE Hair Salon in London, says the purple shampoo is a maintenance product and should not be used daily. It is strong enough to dry out your hair.

Read: What happens if you leave purple shampoo in your hair for too long.

How to Wash Bleached Hair

Wash Hair with Lukewarm or Cold Water

Do not wash bleached hair with hot water.

Steam from hot water will expand the cuticles and further weaken the hair strands. Cold water, on the other hand, closes the hair cuticles to make the hair look strong and shiny. So if you can’t handle cold water, try washing with lukewarm water and finish with a quick cold rinse.

Use a Shower Filter

Hard water causes brassiness in color-treated hair. It contains high levels of minerals like calcium and magnesium that don’t dissolve from shampoos. Over time these unwashed minerals build up a filthy layer over the hair strands, thereby blocking your products from working properly – like moisturizers and conditioners. That’s why people who live in hard water areas always struggle with dry and brittle hair.

Plus, remember, bleached hair is porous. Not only will the minerals attach over the top, but the hair will also soak them up.

Another problem with hard water buildup is that it accelerates color fading due to the oxidizing nature of these minerals, causing dull-looking and brassy hair.

California-based colorist Jamie Garland calls hard water – a colorist’s worst nightmare due to its ability to change hair color.

Use a shower filter to prevent hard water from doing a number on your bleached hair.

Use a Good Moisturizing Conditioner

Damaged, bleached hair is in dire need of moisture and hydration. A good conditioner is an essential and non-negotiable product to add to your hair care routine.

A conditioner seals the hair shaft to help lock in moisture. It also gives the hair more slip to help you detangle without causing knots and tangles, which can lead to breakage.

And most important of all, a conditioner is a pH reducer. Bleaching makes the hair alkaline. So any product that helps to lower that pH to its ideal range is highly welcome.

Best Conditioner for Bleached Hair

Buy From Amazon

The Redken extreme conditioner is a professional salon-grade product designed to moisturize and strengthen all types of damaged hair intensely. As an extension to the Redken Extreme Recovery range, it complements the bleach recovery shampoo to give your hair all the fortifying nutrients it needs to rebuild itself to its pre-bleached state.

Supplement that with the cica cream leave-in conditioner for on-the-go styling; your hair will feel luxurious and soft to the touch.

How Often Should I Condition My Bleached Hair?

For bleached hair, a deep conditioner once a week is ideal. Avoid overloading your hair with frequent deep conditioning as it may cause protein buildup. Space it out nicely so that your hair can ingest and have time to recover before the next application.

Can You Put Leave-in Conditioner on Bleached Hair?

Leave-in-conditioners are must-have products for any type of processed hair, including bleaching. They are the post-wash hydrators that work overtime beyond the shower to keep your hair conditioned, smooth, and elastic. Leave-ins also protect from external elements like pollution and UV rays.

Final Thoughts

A good shampoo for bleached hair fortifies, rehydrates, removes brassiness, fixes high porosity, and removes oxidizers from the hair. The shampoo should progressively reverse the bleaching effect to nurse your hair back to its healthy state. It will also help you cut down on frequent salon visits for touch-ups.

You may not always need a toning shampoo. That depends on the bleaching results. So always make an assessment first.

Remember:

• Fix the critical part first to make your hair healthy again.
• Then worry about the aesthetics like toning and color correction.