Editor’s tip: Moringa oil, one of the key ingredients, can strengthen the hair and moisturize the scalp.
Key ingredients: milk proteins, moringa oil, sunflower-seed antioxidant complex | Who it’s for: dark blonde, light brown, and brown hair
Best for Shine: Eva NYC Brass to Sass Brunette Shampoo
Why we love it: Designed to enhance and tone hair color while adding shine, Eva NYC Brass to Sass Brunette Shampoo relies on a lineup of botanical ingredients. Blue tansy oil helps balance brassy hues, while spirulina strengthens the hair and adds shine. Another key ingredient, juniper berry, is packed with antioxidants that protect the hair from free-radical damage that can cause dryness, brittleness, or frizz. It’s also suitable to use on keratin-treated hair.
Editor’s tip: Sulfate-free shampoos are recommended for keratin-treated hair since sulfates can strip the keratin treatment off the hair.
Key ingredients: blue tansy, spirulina, juniper berry | Who it’s for: brunettes
Frequently Asked Questions
Which blue shampoos work best?
Look for blue shampoos that pair the pigment with a blend of reparative, moisturizing, or protective ingredients. For a shine-inducing, deeply nourishing pick, Cavalcante prefers dpHue’s silk protein-infused shampoo. Meanwhile, Allure editors have long relied on Virtue’s ColorKick to bring hair color back to life (even back when the pigment was only available in salons).
Do blue shampoos really work?
According to Cavalcante, blue shampoos deliver on their promise of balancing out hair color. “The blue tint in these shampoos neutralizes the warmth from faded-out brown hair dye,” he says, adding that the shampoos can be used to maintain and preserve hair color between salon appointments. However, it’s important to manage your expectations. “Blue shampoos do work, but they aren’t magic,” Hamilton says. “Don’t expect blue shampoo to completely eliminate orange tones; it just helps reduce any brassiness left in the hair color.”
What is the difference between blue shampoos and purple shampoos?
Purple shampoos are ideal for balancing the yellow tones that appear in blonde and gray hair, where blue shampoos are better for darker shades, like brunettes, who feel like they have an orange or red tone. “In a color wheel, blue complements orange, and purple complements yellow,” Cavalcante says. “In hair, purple and blue work by neutralizing their complementary shades.”
How do you get the best results from a blue shampoo?
To best cut through brassiness, you should only use it once a week. “Blue shampoos are very helpful, but you need to be careful,” says Hamilton. “Overusing them can make hair look muddy and dull, regardless of the brand.” Also, he says, don’t leave them on for longer than three minutes, since that “can create muddy, ashy tones, leading to a dull appearance.”
Meet the Experts
How we test and review products
We always enlist a range of testers for our makeup vertical, but hair-care products and tools are another story. While there are certainly products that can be used across different hair textures, lengths, curl patterns, thicknesses, colors (natural and unnatural), and needs, hair products are often created with specific consumers in mind. Many are created in order to address a concern (dandruff, breakage, brittleness) or to work most effectively for a specific hair type (4C curls, wavy hair, gray hair). You wouldn’t want to pick up a purple shampoo that’s only been reviewed by someone with, say, auburn hair, or a diffuser that’s never been tested by anyone with curls—right?