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How To Use Purple Shampoo, According To Top Hair Stylists
It’s the best friend of anyone with bleached hair — the P word. Yes, we’re talking purple shampoo. The hair treatment is an absolute godsend when you’re weeks into your new dye job, and the professional hair toner is starting to wear off. In creep those awful brassy tones, giving your complexion a sickly hue and your strands a yellowing tint. Not so chic.
Good thing for hair science, which has brought us the joy of purple shampoo. But what exactly is it? And is there a specific way that we should be using it? Some experts say that you can actually use it too much, which can dull the shine and add the appearance of flatness to your colour — a big no-no when it comes to blonde hair. And with lighter tones proving to be some of the biggest hair trends for 2026, it’s a good idea to learn how to take care of blonde hair.
To clear things up, we chatted to some of the biggest names in hair styling, who gave us the ins and outs of all things purple shampoo. Here’s what you need to know.
What is purple shampoo?
The name’s pretty self-explanatory, tbh — it’s shampoo that’s purple. But the purple has a specific function. “Purple shampoos are great for maintaining blondes in between colour services, helping to banish unwanted yellow tones as well as enhancing natural grey or white hair,” explains Paul Mitchell stylist, Laura Van Flute.
Think of a colour wheel, what’s opposite orange and yellow? You guessed it… purple. When we apply purple to yellow tones on our hair, it can help cancel them out. It’s colour science.
How to use purple shampoo
It’s not quite as simple as just washing your hair with normal shampoo. Frequency, how long you leave the product on and strength of the shampoo all factor in. Gary Donnelly, KEVIN.MURPHY Educator, recommends, “My top tip would be to leave KEVIN.MURPHY BLONDE.ANGEL in your hair for 10-15 minutes — besides neutralising unwanted tones, this routine also brightens blondes without making it look dull.”
You don’t need to use it every wash, rather as a top-up every few washes to help keep colour looking fresh and bright. “Use it as a treatment once per week as opposed to every hair wash”, explains Gary.
How often should you use purple shampoo?
Like we’ve explained, once a week should work well — but if you have grey or very light blonde, it can be beneficial to use purple shampoo every wash. “For a more dramatic, light, bright blonde result, the Paul Mitchell Platinum Plus can be used every hair wash,” says Natalie Ashworth, Paul Mitchell stylist. “For a more subtle result, it can be used every second or third wash.”
Some stylists say you can use it even less frequently to get results: “I’d recommend using deep violet-toned shampoos only every two weeks, to keep brassy tones at bay and revitalise the colour,” explains Harriet Barber, a Paul Mitchell stylist. “But for natural white and grey hair, using this product every wash will give the hair brilliance and shine, and really make the white hair pop.”
They say that blondes have more fun, but that’s maybe aside from the time they spend taking meticulous care of their lightened hair — because anyone with bleached styles will know that it’s a lot of work to take care of. Whether you’ve got newly lightened hair or have been a blonde bombshell forever, purple shampoo should be one of the main tools in your hair kit for keeping colour looking fresh, shiny and altogether gorgeous — along with regular trims, gentle colour touch-ups and daily and weekly conditioning and treatment habits.
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