Gone are the days when finding your first grey hairs means you need to reach for the hair dye. So many women are embracing their grey hair - and there are so many great shampoos and other products out there to help silver hair look shiny and healthy and feel strong that you really don’t need to cover it up.
Silver-haired content creator and beauty writer Julie Kneafsey wholeheartedly agrees. “Embracing grey hair is a healthy choice and a big step towards reducing the chemical burden we place on our bodies.” she says. "It’s not widely known but hair dye contains potentially health-damaging chemicals, some of which are even used in industrial processes. They may cause allergic responses, dermatitis, and have been linked to certain types of cancer. Transitioning to grey hair is a smart move, and one I wish I had taken long before I did.”
- Best budget buy: Faith in Nature Lavender and Geranium Balancing Shampoo
- The luxury option: Innersense Hydrating Cream Hairbath Shampoo
- The sustainable grey shampoo: Rahua Color Full Shampoo
- Best for damaged hair: Olaplex Blonde Enhancer Toning Shampoo
- Best for brightening: John Frieda Shimmering Shampoo for Dull Grey or White Hair
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Julie dyed her hair to cover her greys every six weeks over a period of 20 years, starting in her 30s, but quit when she realised the permanent hair dye was making her ill. “Eventually, aged 51, I was having bad headaches, nausea, a sore scalp, a worryingly heavy heartbeat, and feeling washed out - basically I was poisoning myself,” she says. “I finally gave up the dye in 2018. It took me two and a half years to grow out those dry, dyed blonde ends but it was one of the best things I’ve ever done. With every inch, I learnt to be me and to not care what society thinks. I found myself along the way.”
What should I look for in a good shampoo for grey hair?
Julie says: "A great grey hair shampoo is one that contains nourishing and gentle ingredients, especially as grey hair can have a different texture from before. Mine became curlier and stronger, but drier, so I opt for a moisturising shampoo, but others will need to assess how their greys come through and adjust accordingly.
"I love ‘clean’ shampoos – those that don’t contain sulphates (SLS) or silicones, synthetic perfume or petroleum-based chemicals. These are better for our scalps, hair and bodies."
© ShutterstockWhat does purple shampoo do for grey hair?
"Purple shampoo is useful in that it contains a purple dye which tones down brassiness or yellowing in grey hair. It can make the whiter shades of your greys seem brighter, but isn’t a long-lasting effect so needs to be used every two weeks or so. It can also dry out your hair so infrequent use is recommended, and don’t leave it on too long as it can temporarily dye your hair a lovely lavender shade!
"I don’t use purple shampoos as I react to them in the same way as with hair dye, but I know many who use them successfully."
How we chose the best shampoos for grey hair
- Expert opinion: We spoke to silver hair expert and beauty writer Julie Kneafsey - scroll down for more info on Julie and why you should trust her - to get her recommendations and advice on what to look for in a good shampoo for grey hair. You'll find her recommendations in this article
- Price: We wanted to cater to all budgets in this round-up - so there's a shampoo to suit, whether you've got a bit more to spend, or you're looking for a bargain.
- Reviews: We always recommend brands and products that the HELLO! team know and love, but in the instances where we haven't tried the product ourselves, we only included shampoos with a high volume of positive reviews from verified shoppers.
Best shampoos for healthy, shiny silver hair
Faith in Nature Lavender and Geranium Balancing Shampoo
© Faith in Nature- Fragrance: Lavender & Geranium
- Active ingredients: Lavender, Orange Peel Oil, Sea Salt, Eucalyptus Globulus Leaf Oil.
- Paraben free, Silcone free and SLS free
- Suitable for Vegans
Silver-haired content creator and beauty writer Julie Kneafsey says: “A regular of mine has been Faith in Nature Lavender and Geranium Balancing Shampoo – simple great daily cleansing at a great price, and it’s available on the high street.”
John Frieda Shimmering Shampoo for Dull Grey or White Hair
© John Frieda- Fragrance: Unscented
- Active Ingredients: Coco-Glucoside, Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Morinda Citrifolia Fruit Extract
- Suitable for Vegans
Shoppers really rate John Frieda’s shampoo for use with natural grey hair, saying it brightens up silver beautifully and leaves hair feeling really soft. It’s rated for being extra nourishing and praised because a little goes a long way.
Innersense Hydrating Cream Hairbath Shampoo
© Innersense- Active ingredients: Salvia and Tamanu essential oils
- Paraben free, Silicone free and SLS free
- Suitable for Vegans
Silver-haired content creator and beauty writer Julie Kneafsey says: “I cannot recommend Innersense enough – their products are super clean and organic. For me, the Innersense Hydrating Cream Hairbath is my top pick. The price point is quite high but the mixture is creamy, and you need use only a small amount and lather it up in your hand before applying. Using it in this way means it lasts for ages and it leaves my hair in the softest most hydrated condition – love it!”
L’Oréal Professionnel Shampoo Silver
- Fragrance: Unscented
- Active ingredients: Magnesium & Anti yellowing agents
Several shoppers say this purple shampoo is a step above all the other ones on the market for brightening grey and white hair and eliminating brassy tones. It’s rich and creamy and leaves hair soft and shiny.
Rahua Color Full Shampoo
© Rahua- Fragrance: Lavender & Gardenia Enfleurage
- Active ingredients: Rainforest-grown oils, enriching mineral pigments
- Paraben free, Silicone free and SLS free
- Suitable for Vegans
Silver-haired content creator and beauty writer Julie Kneafsey says: “Rahua Color Full Shampoo is made with gorgeous natural sustainable rainforest ingredients. It helps to keep your grey hair looking bright without the purple dye as it contains naturally derived ingredients which help to reduce any brassiness. It leaves your hair feeling soft and smelling amazing!”
Charles Worthington, Colourplex Glowing Grey Shampoo
© Charles Worthington- Fragrance: Rosemary
- Active ingredients: Plex repair system helps strengthen the core of the hair
- Suitable for Vegans
Charles Worthington’s grey hair shampoo is enriched with salon-strength pigments and is a popular choice because it leaves no residue after rinsing. It’s a purple shampoo (although it's actually deep blue with a hint of turquoise) which naturally enhances grey hair, giving it a sparkling silver shine.
Olaplex Blonde Enhancer Toning Shampoo
© Olaplex- Fragrance: Unscented
- Active ingredients: Patented Olaplex Bond Building technology
- Sulphate free
Olaplex is a brand loved by blondes who want to remove the brassy tones from their hair - and this is their purple shampoo, which repairs, hydrates and brightens grey. It’s sulphate-free, and it’s specially designed to noticeably repair extreme damage - turning dry brittle hair into soft, shiny and more resilient hair.
More tips for caring for grey hair
Wear a hat! My biggest tip would be to keep your grey hair out of direct sun. Grey hair is prone to yellowing as it has less or no pigment so is more easily damaged by UV rays. This is called photo-yellowing. Hats are also terrific fun, and great to protect your skin too.
Second tip – stay away from heated devices as much as possible. Heat from straighteners, tongs or hot air is damaging to any hair but could also turn your lovely new grey hair yellow – eek! Use them infrequently, keep your hairdryer on a low heat and air dry or use no-heat curling methods where possible to keep your hair looking its best. If you have to tong or straighten, be sure to use a heat-protecting spray beforehand.
A final word on embracing your grey
Julie says: "From an emotional perspective, embracing grey hair signals that you are in control of how you are represented societally. Youth, which is a beautiful thing, should not be the only life period that is revered. Ditching the dye is a sassy silvery hair flick to society which has designated us as old and shameful if we allow ourselves to age visibly.
"It’s a glorious hurrah to ageing and a wonderful journey of acceptance. It’s also the most brilliant of colours and suits everyone – what’s not to love?"
Meet the expert
© Julie KneafseyJulie Kneafsey, aka The Fiftyist online, is a silver-haired content creator and pro-age campaigner who is having an absolute blast on social media. She worked in education for 17 years, leaving to write, create and have more fun. Since then, Julie has built wonderful communities on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. She’s launching a YouTube channel and a lifestyle website in early October to focus on her insatiable quest to stack the health odds in her favour: a journey which started when she was diagnosed with a second breast cancer after 20 years.
Julie researches and writes about clean beauty, healthy living and pro-ageing and has created content with well-known beauty brands. She is writing an ‘almost finished’ non-fiction book, scribing articles for her website, guest blogs, magazines Somerset Life and Tangled Silver, and appearing on podcasts to talk about menopause, breast cancer and life as a 57-year-old who is living her dream. She’d love you to come and say hi!
