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10 best purple shampoos to brighten and tone blonde hair

Say goodbye to stubborn warm shades with one of these purple shampoos or toners to brighten blonde hair

Ella Delancey Jones
Thursday 29 August 2024 12:17 EDT
We looked for products that would keep our tresses icy cool
We looked for products that would keep our tresses icy cool (The Independent )
Our Top Picks

They say blondes have more fun, but that statement can be called into question when it comes to the maintenance of an icy, cool sheet of glossy blonde. After walking out of a salon appointment with platinum locks, you’ll want to maintain the look. Over time, though, your hair can end up looking ‘brassy’, with orange and undesirable warm tones caused by heat damage from hair styling tools, pollution, UV damage or washing with a shampoo that does not protect coloured hair.

A good purple shampoo is a form of hair toner that will banish this brassiness, distributing purple pigment throughout the hair to neutralise brassy tones. Hannah Phillips, co-owner and senior colourist at Bangs salon, says: “A purple shampoo or conditioner is an absolute must as an aftercare product for anyone with dyed blonde hair.

“The purple pigment inside the product is designed to neutralise any yellow or brassy tones that can occur, especially if you live in a hard-water area, such as London,” she notes. “I always recommend to start using a purple shampoo or conditioner two weeks after hair has been freshly coloured, and carry on using fortnightly to weekly when you are due a colour top up or have been on holiday in the sun.”

We tried the best formulas on the market and whittled it down to a top 10 to help you keep your tresses icy cool.

How we tested the best purple shampoos

Strength, shine and scent were also factored in
Strength, shine and scent were also factored in (Ella Delancey Jones)

We tested each shampoo on cool-toned blonde highlighted hair, putting them to the test of whether they could keep our hair icy, as well as whether they could add some extra strength, shine and, of course, scent to our hair.

The best purple shampoos for 2024 are:

  • Best overall – Olaplex No.4P purple blonde enhancer toning shampoo: £28, Lookfantastic.com
  • Best budget buy – Pro:Voke touch of silver brightening purple shampoo: £2.84, Amazon.co.uk
  • Best for a quick fix – Watermanstone me ultimate violet shampoo: £13.95, Watermanshair.com
  • Best for everyday use – Fudge professional everyday clean blonde damage rewind violet toning shampoo: £14, Lookfantastic.com

Olaplex No.4P purple blonde enhancer toning shampoo

best purple shampoo
  • Best: Overall
  • Size: 250ml
  • Sulfate-free: Yes
  • Designed for: All blonde, lightened, and grey hair
  • Why we love it
    • Smells great
    • Repairs damaged hair
    • Leaves hair feeling salon-fresh

Often touted as the holy grail for hair, this purple version of the famous Olaplex is no different. It’s highly concentrated and promises to tone our blonde hair while cleansing and repairing. We did what the bottle recommended and pre-washed our hair with another shampoo to remove any build-up, then lathered up with this and let it do its work for the recommended one to three minutes (we opted for a minute and a half). Our hair was left feeling salon-fresh, perfectly toned and with a lovely scent to boot.

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Pro:Voke touch of silver brightening purple shampoo

best purple shampoo
  • Best: Budget buy
  • Size: 200ml
  • Sulfate-free: No
  • Suitable for: Blonde, grey or white hair
  • Why we love it
    • Budget-friendly
    • Leaves hair feeling soft and moisturised

A personal favourite, this shampoo is a great buy if you’re on a budget but need to lift your blonde. The smell of the shampoo is really pleasant – you’ll be sniffing your grape-scented locks for the rest of the day.

The shampoo can be paired with the touch of silver conditioner (£2.99, Amazon.co.uk) – using the two products left our hair feeling soft and moisturised with a great colour. The shampoo has violet and blue pigment for intensive toning and works on blonde, grey or white hair.

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Watermans tone me ultimate violet shampoo

best purple shampoo
  • Best: For a quick fix
  • Size: 250ml
  • Sulfate-free: Yes
  • Designed for: Blonde, bleached and grey hair
  • Why we love it
    • Has a matching conditioner
    • Does cause a mess
    • Works quickly
  • Take note
    • Don’t leave it on for too long

This purple shampoo can be bought individually or as part of a set with a Tone Me conditioner. The shampoo comes in 250ml – you won’t be running out quickly if you’re using it once a week. It has a pleasant smell, and the product itself is thick, meaning you can apply it without accidentally redecorating your bathroom in purple hues. It’s a good one for a beginner. The packaging explains how long to leave the product on for (one to two minutes) with a word of warning about leaving it on for too long. Do heed that warning, as it does work quickly. We had to wash ours out of our hair at the one-minute mark, to avoid purple staining.

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Bumble and Bumble illuminated blonde purple shampoo

best purple shampoo
  • Best: For a gorgeous scent
  • Size: 250ml
  • Sulfate-free: Yes
  • Suitable for: Blonde tones, all hair types and textures
  • Why we love it
    • A little goes a long way
    • Great for more frequent use
  • Take note
    • Not as intense as others tested

Washing our hair with this product was a lovely experience. The shampoo is thick and a little goes a long way. We felt that the purple toning was perhaps not as intense as other products, but perfect for use more often during the week when maintenance is the key. We also really enjoyed the scent of this shampoo, as it evokes memories of Parma Violets and the smell fills the shower to add to the luxury experience. Pricier than some on the list, this purple shampoo is worth the money, especially when paired with the illuminated blonde conditioner, which left our hair feeling clean, soft and glossy.

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KinKind my platinum touch purple shampoo bar

best purple shampoo
  • Best: Purple shampoo bar
  • Size: 50g
  • Sulfate-free: No
  • Suitable for: Blonde, white/silver, bleached and highlighted hair
  • Why we love it
    • Eco-friendly and plastic-free packaging
    • Creates a surprisingly soapy lather
    • Great for travel

A different kind of shampoo than the others on this list, but one that will save up to two 250ml plastic bottles (and can offer up to 50 washes). We rubbed the bar with water during our shower to create a lather in our hands, then applied it to our hair. Having not used a shampoo bar before, we were pleasantly surprised at the amount of lather there was, how nice it smelt and how soft and shiny our hair felt. All of KinKind’s bars are plastic-free, vegan, cruelty-free, free of parabens and hand-made in the UK – plus they are delivered straight through your letterbox, reducing your carbon footprint. We also liked the fact the bar arrived with a little wooden stand to keep it from staining your shower or bath.

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FFØR re:move yellow shampoo

best purple shampoo
  • Best: For silver hair
  • Size: 300ml
  • Sulfate-free: Yes
  • Suitable for: Grey, silver and blonde hair
  • Why we love it
    • Great for those on the silver or grey side
    • Feels fresh and clean
  • Take note
    • Could easily stain

Coming from a brand we’d never heard of, this shampoo was really impressive. It’s a thick, dark purple formula that we think would easily stain, so watch out. Because of this, we didn’t infuse our hair for very long, because we didn’t want to tone our hair too much. However, we know this would be perfect for those trying to get or maintain silver or grey locks. It left our hair feeling fresh and clean, and with the strong organic lemongrass, lavender and cedarwood scent, it was quite a different experience from the rest of the shampoos on this list, but an enjoyable one nonetheless.

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Lee Stafford bleach blondes purple shampoo

best purple shampoo
  • Best: For brassy hair
  • Size: 250ml
  • Sulfate-free: No
  • Suitable for: Bleached, balayage, naturally light blonde or highlighted hair
  • Why we love it
    • Lovely spa-like scent
    • Does away with brassy tones
    • Great price

This purple shampoo contains a violet pigment to get rid of irritating yellow tones that can, over time, creep into coloured hair. The consistency of this shampoo from Lee Stafford is almost jelly-like and comes with a lovely scent of chamomile and moringa seed extract. It was really pleasurable to wash our hair with and we noticed some brassier tones in our hair completely vanished. This was one of the shampoos that was recommended consistently when we asked our community what they love to use. A great product at a great price.

  1.  £8 from Boots.com
Prices may vary
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Fudge Professional everyday clean blonde damage rewind violet toning shampoo

best purple shampoo
  • Best: For everyday use
  • Size: 250ml
  • Sulfate-free: No
  • Suitable for: Blonde coloured hair
  • Why we love it
    • Gentle enough for everyday use
    • Smells lovely

It’s important to keep your hair toned, but there is such a thing as using purple shampoo too much. Especially when you’re working with a professional formula with strong pigments, it’s possible to end up dyeing your hair purple. For that reason, this shampoo from Fudge is the perfect solution to use every day as a cleanser with a gentler toning system to keep our locks cool while not risking an accidental dye job. It’s a thinner and paler formula than some of the others on the list, but we felt comfortable washing our hair with it, while not having to keep to a strict time limit for having it on our hair. It smells lovely, too.

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Osmo super silver no yellow shampoo

Osmo .jpg
  • Best: For super-lightened hair
  • Size: 300ml
  • Sulfate-free: Yes
  • Suitable for: Super-lightened, grey or bleached hair
  • Why we love it
    • Great for those going for the super bleach blonde look
  • Take note
    • Shouldn’t be used everyday

We hadn’t toned our hair for a while before using this shampoo and we’re glad we didn’t. The shampoo contains extreme super-violet pigments and clearly states on the bottle that it’s for professional use only. We therefore used it with caution and decided that a few moments was enough for our hair. This is a great shampoo for those with super-lightened bleached hair, or those who are going from dark to light and who need to blast away brassy undertones before adding another colour on top. It’s great, but not for everyday usage. Another shampoo with a gorgeous scent, too.

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L’Oreal Elvive Colour Protect anti-brassiness purple shampoo

best purple shampoo
  • Best: For a good cleanse
  • Size: 200ml
  • Sulfate-free: No
  • Suitable for: Blonde, highlighted, and silver hair
  • Why we love it
    • Feels like a shampoo rather then an intense treatment
    • Great lather for a clean feel

This was the product that felt the most like ‘shampoo’ to us, rather than a ‘treatment’ for our coloured hair. It lathered really well and felt like it cleaned our hair the way a traditional shampoo would. We enjoyed the scent and felt like this was the product we’d pick up cheaply to have on hand if we wanted to give our hair a quick refresh. It’s no frills and no dramatic results, but it works as it says – a good product for a great price.

  1.  £6 from Boots.com
Prices may vary
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Purple shampoo FAQs

What does purple shampoo do?

Purple shampoo uses purple pigments within the product to neutralise and cancel out unwanted brassy and yellow tones in blonde, silver or grey hair. Over time dyed hair of these colours will naturally pick up orangey tones from pollution, heat damage and even too much sun, so this is where purple shampoo comes in to help.

How do I use purple shampoo and how long to leave purple shampoo in?

Each different shampoo is likely to have its own individual set of instructions, but they generally tend to follow the same pattern. Lather up the product as you would a normal shampoo, making sure that all strands are covered. Then leave it to sit for two or so minutes before rinsing, this is where it’s important to follow the instructions on the bottle as stronger products work quicker and could impact your colour drastically. But, always consult the packaging of the product that you’re using.

How often should you use purple shampoo?

Instructions for different shampoos will vary but it is important to know that a purple shampoo shouldn’t replace your regular one. Instead, try using the product every other hair wash or once a week.

The verdict: Purple shampoos

We loved the Olaplex No.4P purple shampoo because we felt completely salon fresh, with toned hair and the added bonus of the infused bonding technology protecting our coloured hair. We think Pro:Voke’s touch of silver is a brilliant product for such a low price – something to always have in the bathroom cupboard. For a less intense but consistent tone, try the violet toning shampoo from Fudge.

Give your locks a helping hand with our round-up of the best hair vitamins

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