Are shampoo bars safe for coloured hair?

Whether you’ve just spent the best part of a day in the hairdresser or have partaken in a bit of DIY hair colouring at home, the last thing you probably want to happen is for your hair colour to fade rapidly.

Maintaining your hair colour is good for the health of your hair (and wallet) as it means fewer top-ups and trips to the salon. Not to mention more radiant-looking hair for longer.

For these reasons, it’s important to find the right shampoo to keep hair looking vibrant and feeling healthy.

Are shampoo bars safe for coloured hair?

Indeed, shampoo bars are safe for coloured hair. More specifically – sulphate free shampoo bars for coloured hair are very safe.

This is because they will perform a milder, but just as effective, cleansing of the hair.

The gentle surfactants (detergents) in shampoo bars are paired with nourishing ingredients, meaning that the colour isn’t stripped out with every wash.

Our sulphate free shampoo bars for coloured hair are made with more natural ingredients.

They don’t contain any colour-stripping ingredients such as sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), sodium laureth sulfate (SLES), parabens (methylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben), alcohols (ethanol or propanol) or sodium chloride (salt).

However, with that in mind, there aren’t any shampoos in actual existence that don’t remove some hair colour over a period of time.

Shampooing will always lead to colour fading, it’s more a matter of how much the shampoo will remove in each wash. In this case, using a shampoo bar that is milder will help slow down the fading process.

All of the shampoo bars in the Hairy Jayne range are equal in terms of mildness and how colour safe they are.

So we’d recommend choosing whichever shampoo bar for coloured hair sounds like the right scent for you – Floral, Citrus, Musk or Herbal.

If you're still in the process of figuring out what shampoo is right for your hair, why not take a look at all of our natural shampoo products. 

Which shampoo bars aren't safe for coloured hair?

Shampoos that contain sulphates aren’t as safe for coloured hair as shampoos that are sulphate free.

The surfactants (detergents) in sulphate free shampoos aren’t as harsh on the hair.

Sulphate containing shampoos not only strip the colour but also take away too much of the hair’s natural oil (sebum), making it dry, dull and brittle.

Clarifying shampoos can also be risky for coloured hair for the very same reason. Clarifying shampoos are formulated to perform a deeper cleanse than a regular shampoo or shampoo bar.

They’re designed to remove product build-up, excess dirt, oil and chlorine. If you ever want to speed up the process of removing an unwanted hair colour, use a clarifying shampoo!

Before reaching for a shampoo bar, read the label first to check that it’s not actually a soap bar.

Some soap manufacturers will make soaps with ‘hair-friendly’ ingredients and market the soap as a shampoo bar.

These types of products are indeed sulphate free, but they are the same pH level as soap and totally unsuitable for the hair, causing it to feel coated and waxy.

If the ingredients list has sodium cocoate, sodium olivate or sodium castorate in there, it’s actually technically a soap.

Find out more about the difference between shampoo bars and soap.

The best ways to stop coloured hair from fading

Although it’s impossible to completely stop coloured hair from fading, there are a few ways to slow things down. Using the wrong shampoo will cause too much fading, as will these other life choices and scenarios.

1. Rinse your hair with lukewarm or cool water to keep the colour in. Hot water will lift the hair’s cuticle (outer layer) and cause colour molecules to escape from the hair shaft. Cooler water will help to keep the cuticle flattened.
   
   
2. Don’t wash your hair daily to slow down the fade. If washing your hair daily has become a habit, it’s now time to break it! Frequent washing leads to a quicker fade and, over time, hair that’s dry.
   
   To break up your routine, read our blog post about how to get away with less hair washing.
   
   
3. Protect your hair when you swim and minimise the damage. Chlorine is bad for the health of your hair whether it’s coloured or not.
   
   Swimming in chlorine will definitely strip the colour from your hair, and worst-case scenario, it can turn it green. It can also be damaging, to a lesser extent, in fresh water.
   
   So if you’re an avid swimmer we recommend our Swimmers Hair Care bundle.
   
   
4. Keep your hair under a hat in the sun and replenish the lost protein. Sun damage on your hair not only leads to dryness and split ends.
   
   The sun will also change and even bleach hair with strong or prolonged exposure. The UV light wreaks havoc with hair colour, accelerates fade and causes damage.
   
   We recommend a moisturising protein boost after a day in the sun with our Treatment Conditioner.
   
   
5. Use natural hair oil to create a protective coating. Much like the cooler water tip above, a natural hair oil used as a leave-in product will help to keep the cuticle sealed.
   
   The protective coating of hair oil will keep colour molecules, protein and moisture from escaping from the hair shaft throughout the day.
   
   Use a tiny amount of our Natural Beauty Oil worked into the mid-lengths and ends of either dry or dampened hair to protect it.

[product=shampoo-bar|variants=Floral / Box,Floral / Tin,Citrus / Box,Citrus / Tin,Musk / Box,Musk / Tin,Floral / Naked,Citrus / Naked,Musk / Naked,Herbal / Box,Herbal / Tin,Herbal / Naked]
Suitable for all hair types with a choice of fragrance. Award winning shampoo bars formulated and made by a hairdresser with shampoo ingredients, not soap. Hairy Jayne sulphate free solid shampoo bars are pH balanced for healthy hair and scalp (so no need for an apple cider vinegar rinse afterwards).
[/product]

Conclusion

Looking after your coloured hair just requires the right shampoo and routine to keep it looking vibrant and feeling healthy.

Sulphate free shampoo bars for coloured hair are the way forward for keeping coloured hair fresh for longer.

For more hair care tips from a hairdresser, give us a follow on Instagram.

To find out more about shampoo bars and how they work, read our ultimate guide to shampoo bars article.