11 Best Shampoos for Gray Hair to Tone Down Brassiness

There are endless hair products dedicated to concealing grays, but the best shampoos for gray hair cater to those who want to keep their gray hair—or even dye their hair to get the silver-toned look earlier than scheduled. Similar to shampoos for blondes, these formulations have brass-busting qualities to tone down warmth as they cleanse your scalp and strands. The results: a shinier, cooler-toned head of gray hair. Ready to embrace your silver-fox era? Below, take a look at the most nourishing toning shampoos that make going gray a total breeze—and deliver your best hair yet.

Our Top Picks

• Best Shampoo for Gray Hair Overall: Sachajuan Silver Shampoo, $33
• Best for Gray Hair Maintenance: Clairol Professional Shimmer Lights Shampoo, $16 $13
• Best for Brittle Hair: R+Co Bleu De Luxe Reparative Shampoo, $49
• Best for Dry Hair: Oribe Silverati Shampoo, $49
• Best for Platinum Hair: Davines Alchemic Shampoo Silver, $34
• Best for Medium to Thick Hair: Kérastase Blond Absolu Anti-Brass Purple Shampoo, $42
• Best for Thin Hair: Better Not Younger Silver Lining Purple Brightening Shampoo, $29

Frequently Asked Questions

• What type of shampoo is best for gray hair?
• Tips for maintaining gray hair
• How we test and review products
• Our staff and testers
• Meet the experts

Best Shampoo for Gray Hair Overall: Sachajuan Silver Shampoo

Why it's worth it: Sachajuan's ultraviolet Silver Shampoo is such a deep aubergine purple that it almost looks black, and there's a reason for that. Its dark violet pigment was developed specifically for white, gray, and silver hair colors to counteract brassiness for an icy-cool, vibrant finish. This deep purple shampoo is formulated with Sachajuan's proprietary ocean silk technology (comprised of various algae) to elevate shine and make styling a breeze. Don't immediately rinse this shampoo once you're done lathering—Sachajuan recommends leaving this tinted formula on your hair for up to two minutes to get the best results.

Key ingredients: ocean silk technology (rhodophycea and chondrus crispus algae), glycerin, citric acid | Who it's for: everyone, but especially those who need an intensive brass-reducing wash

Best for Gray Hair Maintenance: Clairol Professional Shimmer Lights Shampoo

Why it's worth it: New York City-based hairstylist Valerie Vanessa calls Clairol's Professional Shimmer Lights Shampoo a drugstore classic for its brass-busting formulation. This shampoo balances cool undertones with purple pigments to diminish brassiness while its formula, enriched with hydrolyzed vegetable proteins, fortifies and protects delicate hair against breakage. This shampoo deserves a shoutout for its foamy formula that washes away excess sebum and product buildup without over-stripping hair of its much-needed moisture, making hair feel effectively cleansed without dryness.

Editor's tip: It works well if you're embracing new grays since the hue can tone down brassy colors in both blondes and brunettes.

Key ingredients: hydrolyzed vegetable protein | Who it's for: everyone with gray or graying hair

Best for Brittle Hair: R+Co Bleu De Luxe Reparative Shampoo

Why it's worth it: If your main focus is less on color-toning and more on damage control, allow us to introduce you to R+Co Bleu's De Luxe Reparative Shampoo. According to Los Angeles-based hairstylist Glenn Ellis, it's a go-to for damaged hair since it's infused with a blend of moisture-retaining tananu, maracuja, and argan oils to condition damaged and brittle hair for a smoother, softer, and shinier finish after every wash. "It's super moisturizing for gray hair and helps restore hydration while tackling dullness," says Ellis, making it an excellent choice for dry hair. Since it boosts elasticity, it can help deliver bouncy, defined curls and waves.

Key ingredients: maracuja oil, argan oil, primrose extract | Who it's for: people with dry, brittle hair

Best for Dry Hair: Oribe Silverati Shampoo

Why it's worth it: Surprisingly, Oribe's Silverati Shampoo doesn't contain purple pigments. As you lather its formula on your hair, it neutralizes orange and yellow tones with a mixture of blue and silver pigments (despite dispensing white straight out of the bottle), creating a cooler and shinier result. Since naturally graying strands can become more prone to breakage and thinning, this shampoo is infused with gentle coconut- and corn-derived cleansing agents, which are gentler on your hair and scalp in comparison to synthetic surfactants.

As with all Oribe products, this shampoo also contains the brand's Signature Complex, a blend of antioxidant-rich watermelon, lychee, and edelweiss flower extracts that support hair elasticity and shine. Follow this shampoo with Oribe's Silverati Conditioner for a one-two brassiness-targeting punch.

Key ingredients: Oribe signature complex (watermelon extract, lychee extract, edelweiss flower extract) blue and silver pigments, European silver fir extract, coconut acid, salicylic acid | Who it's for: all hair types, especially dry, thinning hair

Best for Platinum Hair: Davines Alchemic Shampoo Silver

Why it's worth it: Having icy-gray or platinum-blonde hair (be it naturally or from a bottle of bleach) is not for the faint of heart in terms of maintenance due to its constant need for toning, but it's nothing Davines Alchemic Shampoo Silver can't handle. This purple shampoo has a slightly bluer undertone than other brass-neutralizing formulations to intensify the cool-toned color of your strands. To prevent dryness, this shampoo is enriched with vitamin B. As the Alchemic Shampoo Silver is free of silicones, so it's an ideal pick for anyone with fine, easily-weighed-down hair.

Key ingredients: vitamin B, glycerin | Who it's for: those with platinum-blonde or thin, fine hair

Best for Medium to Thick Hair: Kérastase Blond Absolu Anti-Brass Purple Shampoo

Why it's worth it: Kérastase's Blond Absolu Anti-Brass Purple Shampoo is spiked with hydrating hyaluronic acid to bind water onto the surface of the hair cuticle, making it shinier and softer than when you stepped in the shower. For more intensive neutralization, skip the conditioner and use the hair mask instead.

Key ingredients: hyaluronic acid, edelweiss flower | Who it's for: people with dry or damaged hair

Best for Thin Hair: Better Not Younger Silver Lining Purple Brightening Shampoo

Why it's worth it: Some shampoos can leave hair falling flat, but that's not the case with Better Not Younger's Silver Lining Purple Brightening Shampoo. It pairs the requisite violet pigments with a unique blend of biotin and antioxidant-rich extracts from hops and burdock root to strengthen hair and leave it looking thicker. Once you rinse and condition, hair looks fuller and has more lift at the roots—giving life back to thinning or fine hair.

Editor's tip: Support gray hair at the scalp by pairing this with the brand's Better Not Younger Superpower Fortifying Hair & Scalp Serum.

Key ingredients: argan oil, hops extract, burdock root extract | Who it's for: anyone in need of volume and lift

Best for Dull Hair: Philip Kingsley Pure Blonde/Silver Brightening Daily Shampoo

Why it's worth it: Dullness be damned: Philip Kingsley's Pure Blonde/Silver Brightening Daily Shampoo will boost glossiness and shine in as little as one wash. This gentle yet effective formula can be used daily to tone hair as ethylhexylglycerin, a derivative of hydrating glycerin, replenishes moisture for high shine and smoothness. It uses a gentle, coconut-based cleanser to gently clean the scalp, making it helpful for those with a sensitive scalp.

Key ingredients: lavender oil, wheat protein | Who it's for: people seeking shine or scalp health

Best for Color-Treated Gray Hair: Pureology Strength Cure Sulfate-Free Shampoo

Why it's worth it: Pureology's Strength Cure Sulfate-Free Shampoo formula impressed the entire Allure team so much that it won a 2022 Best of Beauty Award, so trust us when we say it's great for damaged or color-treated hair. As it washes away excess oil and product buildup, the antioxidant-fueled shampoo moisturizes hair and protects hair from environmental damage. The formula is concentrated so you can get more than 75 washes out of a single bottle.

Key ingredients: keravis, astaxanthin | Who it's for: those who want to strengthen hair sans sulfates

Best for Damaged Gray Hair: Redken Blondage Color Depositing Purple Shampoo

Why it's worth it: The not-so-secret ingredient that makes the Redken Blondage Color Depositing Purple Shampoo such a great choice for damaged hair types is citric acid. This active ingredient is a popular additive in hair care products since it balances the pH of hair, tames frizz, enhances shine, and reduces hair breakage by reinforcing damaged bonds.

Key ingredients: citric acid, protein complex | Who it's for: people with damaged or breakage-prone hair

Best for Product Buildup: Klorane Anti-Yellowing Shampoo

Why it's worth it: Banish brass and buildup with Klorane's Anti-Yellowing Shampoo, an ultra-purple formula that tones while cleansing hair of excess product and oil. This shampoo neutralizes brassy tones in gray, silver, and blonde hair as its buildup-removing formula washes sweat, oil, and product residue down the drain with decyl glucoside, a glucose-based surfactant. Though it contains cleansing agents, the Anti-Yellowing Shampoo is gentle enough to use daily without drying out your hair or scalp, thanks to an ingredient known as coconut acid, a mixture of hair-conditioning fatty acids derived from coconut oil.

Editor's tip: Instead of synthetic pigments, this uses herbal centaury water to give the formula its purple hue.

Key ingredients: centaurea flower water, citric acid | Who it's for: people with scalp irritation

Frequently Asked Questions

Silver hair, natural or not, is similar to blonde in that it needs more TLC than darker hair tones to look its brightest and shiniest. Whether you naturally have icy-white hair or sat in the salon chair to get the look, the best shampoos for gray hair are essential for creating a dullness-defying hair-care routine that your cool-toned hair color will benefit from.

One of the most common concerns about going gray is keeping brassiness at bay. "The goal is to keep that hair bright and sparkly and not brassy or yellowish," says Los Angeles-based hair colorist Clariss Rubenstein. Usually, purple shampoos are used to neutralize any yellowness in cool-toned blondes and gray hair, but Rubenstein says finding a shampoo that not only neutralizes brassy tones but also nourishes hair and replenishes moisture is key to keeping gray strands in tip-top shape.

Yes, counteracting yellow tones to minimize brassiness is one concern for those with gray hair, but New York City-based board-certified dermatologist Joshua Zeichner, MD, previously told Allure that gray hair can also change and become thinner, coarser, and drier since your oil glands produce less sebum as you get older, leading to drier hair follicles. "It is unclear why, but the biological process that affects the color of the hair likely also affects the structure of the hair being produced as well," he said.

To keep your grays looking bright and silver, Rubenstein recommends having a purple shampoo and a regular shampoo catered to your hair concerns. "Do you need volume? Moisture? Choose the right fit of shampoo and conditioner then choose a purple shampoo you like," she says. There are tons of nutrient-rich purple shampoos on the market, but for a deeper treatment that checks multiple boxes off your strand care list, Rubenstein recommends mixing your usual shampoo and a purple shampoo every time you wash. "The ratio I like is three-fourths regular shampoo and one-fourth purple shampoo; then follow with conditioner," she says. "About once a month do a full shampoo with purple just to tone."

As we all know, shampoo's main purpose is to cleanse. To remove buildup without sacrificing tone, New York City-based hair colorist Clara Purvis suggests using a clarifying shampoo or apple cider vinegar treatment to remove buildup. She also recommends using moisture-replenishing conditioners to offset any dryness or brittle texture. "Grey hair tends to be more on the dry side which happens generally as we age and our body starts to lose moisture, that's why we recommend using highly moisturizing conditioners and styling products to help prevent dryness and dull, frizzy texture," she says. "Additionally, regular oil treatments and hair masks are great ways to increase moisture."

We always enlist a range of testers for any review, but hair-care products are another story. While some can be used across different hair textures, lengths, curl patterns, thicknesses, colors (natural and unnatural), and concerns, many are created with specific consumers and their needs in mind. We guarantee that these factors are considered when determining whether a hair-care product is worthy of a recommendation.

For our review of the best shampoos for gray hair, we enlisted the help of multiple editors, writers, contributors, and hairstylists we've interviewed for the piece—who all have different hair concerns and types, desired outcomes (i.e., want shinier hair), and whether one product was tested across multiple hair types. Testers considered performance across two primary categories: efficacy and value. For more on what's involved in our reporting, check out our complete reviews process and methodology page.

A beauty product is a personal purchase. You might be searching for a face cream to address persistent dryness or a new nail product to add to your Sunday self-care routine; you may simply be browsing around for the latest launches to hit the hair market. No matter what you seek or your individual needs and concerns, Allure wants to ensure that you love anything we recommend in our stories. We believe that having a diverse team of writers and editors—in addition to the wide range of outside testers and industry experts we regularly call upon—is essential to reaching that goal.

After all, can we really say a skin-care product is the "best" for people over 50 if the only testers we’ve solicited opinions from folks who have yet to hit 30? Can we honestly deem a high-end diffuser worthy of your hard-earned cash if it’s never been tested on curls? We're proud that our staff spans a wide range of ages, skin tones, hair textures, genders, and backgrounds, which means that we are able to fairly assess any beauty product that comes into the beauty closet.

• Joshua Zeichner, MD, a board-certified dermatologist based in New York City; Associate Professor of Dermatology, and the Director of Cosmetic & Clinical Research in Dermatology at Mount Sinai Hospital
• Glenn Ellis, a hairstylist at Andy Lecompte Salon in Los Angeles and Marie Robinson Salon in New York City
• Valerie Vanessa, a New York City-based hairstylist
• Clariss Rubenstein, a Los Angeles-based hair colorist
• Clara Purvis, a New York City-based hair colorist and founder of Noordwyk Salon

Read more about our favorite, Allure staff-approved hair care products:

• 13 Best Shampoos for Colored Hair to Preserve Shine & Vibrancy
• 15 Best Shampoos for Thinning Hair to Turn the Volume All the Way Up
• 10 Best Blow-Dryer Brushes for Fast and Simple Styling
• 15 Best Air-Dry Creams to Perfect Your Heatless Styles

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