If you’ve asked members of the this in the salon, you already know I have a love/hate relationship with purple shampoo. When used properly and for the right reason, purple shampoo can be a great tool to have in your shower. When used incorrectly, it can dull your blonde, and make your highlight sessions a little more complicated. Read on to learn how to properly use purple shampoo and find out if you should even use it at all.

Do you need purple shampoo?

If your hair looks like this

Dark and rich, with some lighter dimension throughout. You should not be using purple shampoo. Is it going to cause any damage or do something drastic to your hair? No, that’s just the thing. It’s going to do absolutely nothing for you and you’re wasting your money if you buy it.

If you have dark hair and your highlights are turning brassy, or maybe your highlights were immediately brassy after getting them done. It’s time to schedule an appointment for a tone refresh. Whether you need a darker toner, or a different toner than what you received. Purple shampoo won’t be strong enough to neutralize the brass in your color.

If your hair looks like this

While you’re going to need to be strategic about how often you use it, yes. Purple shampoo can help you maintain your already ashy, cool toned hair. Cool tones on hair this light is not usually seen as “natural” therefore it’s often one of the fastest fading tones out there. Using a purple shampoo once or twice a month will help to maintain the cooler tones in your hair between your appointments but you will still see better, longer lasting results from an in salon toning treatment.

This is where you’re going to have to be strategic. In order to achieve these tones your hair has to be lifted to an extremely high level. This will cause your hair to become more porous, enabling your hair to soak up way more pigment. Therefore using purple shampoo too often, will cause your hair to turn purple or dull. No longer bright, and shiny. Once you get to that point, the only thing that can resolve the issue and remove the purple is a salon visit. Purple shampoo will NOT make your hair lighter. If you continue to use it, after your hair is already tinted purple, it will only become more purple.

Tip - Keep the purple shampoo at your roots as best as possible. Do not directly apply it to your ends. While rinsing out your hair, the purple shampoo will run down into the ends. This is enough to eliminate warmth on the ends without over doing it.

If your hair looks like this and it’s supposed to look like this

Your hair is warm toned, softer, and brighter. No, you shouldn’t be using purple shampoo. Purple shampoo will dull your warmth. Will unevenly neutralize your color, causing it to look splotchy and “off”. If you want warm tones, purple shampoo is your nemesis.

Hopefully this was helpful, and you now know whether or not you should use purple shampoo. If you’re still questioning. Opt for the answer to be no. If your hair is properly highlighted and toned during your salon visit and you’re visiting the salon as often as you’re supposed to, purple shampoo should not be a necessity.