Is Biolage Shampoo Good for Your Hair? | Our No-B.S. Take

Salon brand Biolage has a positive reputation for getting hair clean and smelling great, but is Biolage shampoo good for your hair? What do professionals and picky consumers say about it? Check out our in-depth review of this hair care brand’s shampoo for all hair types to find out.

Is Biolage Shampoo Good for Your Hair?

• Biolage is one of the top-rated salon brands worldwide
• Biolage makes a range of shampoo formulas suitable for all hair types
• 100% vegan, certified cruelty-free formulas with 100% recycled bottles

As a quick answer, yes, Biolage is good for your hair. However, you’ll want to pick the right product line to match your specific hair type.

Biolage is a professional hair care brand (salon brand) that has been around since 1990. The company makes a range of hair care and styling products, but they’re probably most famous for their line of shampoos. 

Biolage shampoos target different hair types and issues and characteristics like dryness, dandruff, thinning hair, damaged hair, color-treated hair, flat/limp strands, oily hair, and frizz.

All formulas are made with the brand’s signature AromaScience™ fragrance, which includes floral, spicy, and fruity notes. Biolage shampoos are 100% vegan (no animal derivatives in the formulas) and are Leaping Bunny certified cruelty-free. 

For those interested in brands that prioritize sustainability and eco-friendly packaging, you’ll appreciate that Biolage uses 100% recycled bottles to keep excess plastic out of landfills. This change is pretty recent – as of 2022, the new recycled bottles will save over 30 tons of virgin plastic each year.  

You’ll find SLS-free (sodium lauryl sulfate) and paraben-free shampoos, low pH formulas, botanical extracts, and natural plant oils in different Biolage formulas.

Read Next: 10 Ingredients in Shampoo to Avoid in 2024

Biolage Shampoo Product List and Key Ingredients

Take a look at some of the different shampoo formulas the company currently makes, then check out the details and key ingredients for each next:

• All-In-One Shampoo Scrub (shampoo scrub for buildup)
• Clean Reset Normalizing Shampoo (deep clean for all hair types)
• Color Last Shampoo (for color-treated hair)
• Color Last Purple Shampoo (for toning brassy blonde)
• Hydra Source and Ultra Hydra Source (for dry hair)
• ScalpSync Cooling Mint Shampoo (for oily hair)
• ScalpSync Anti-Dandruff Shampoo (for flakes and dandruff)
• Smooth Proof Shampoo (for frizzy hair)
• Strength Recovery Shampoo (for damaged hair)
• Volume Bloom Shampoo (for fine/flat hair)

All-in-One Shampoo Scrub

The Bioliage All-In-One Shampoo Scrub is a little different from the brand’s other shampoo products. It’s made with gentle exfoliants like colloidal oatmeal and orange peel to lift away product buildup, dirt, and oil that leave hair looking and feeling dull. 

The lightweight scrub formula is SLS-free (sodium lauryl sulfate) and paraben free. Scalp-purifying salicylic acid is in the mix as well, along with castor and jojoba oils for smooth, moisturized strands. This scrub can be used on all hair types (from straight 1A to kinky 4C).

Clean Reset Normalizing Shampoo

Biolage Clean Reset Normalizing Shampoo is made with botanical extracts that nourish and cleanse the hair and scalp, including lemongrass, sage, cucumber, and German chamomile extracts. It does contain sulfates, which deliver a deeper clean that removes dulling buildup. 

The Clean Reset Shampoo formula works for all hair types and thicknesses, from fine to coarse and straight to kinky. Purifying salicylic acid is in the formula to leave the scalp detoxified and squeaky-clean without drying out strands.  

Color Last Shampoo

Biolage Color Last Shampoo is a gentle formula designed for color-treated hair. This shampoo prevents premature color fading, repairs damage from dying, and helps keep hair color vibrant for up to 9 weeks.

It works for all hair types, from fine and straight to coarse and coily. This is a low pH shampoo, which is ideal for color-treated hair that suffered a little damage during the dying process.

The gentle formula cleanses without stripping or fading color thanks to orchid extract and moisturizing ingredients. It’s made with no SLS (sodium lauryl sulfate) or parabens for the purest, color-preserving clean.

Read Next: What Is SLS in Shampoo?

Color Last Purple Shampoo With Fig & Orchid

Biolage Color Last Purple Shampoo With Fig & Orchid is a toning shampoo for cool blonde hair. It contains violet pigments that help tone cool blonde color to neutralize brassiness (yellow-orange tones).

Botanical extracts (orchid and fig) along with rich castor and soybean oils nourish and moisturize hair for smooth, frizz-free results.

While there are a ton of purple shampoos on the market, this formula contains more nourishing natural ingredients and vibrant purple pigment. Biolage also found that using this shampoo results in 3 times less breakage and 2.5 times smoother hair. It works for all hair types. 

Hydra Source and Ultra Hydra Source Shampoo

Biolage Hydra Source and Ultra Hydra Source shampoos are deep-conditioning, frizz-fighting formulas designed to moisturize, soften, and smooth dry hair. Hydra Source offers hydration for dry hair, while Ultra Hydra Source doubles up on moisturizing ingredients and cuts out potentially-drying SLS (sodium lauryl sulfate). 

The botanical ingredients get most of the credit, including aloe vera extract and cupuacu butter to deliver moisture deep into strands with apricot kernel oil to seal the moisture in. You’ll retain up to 15 times more moisture after one use of Hydra Source Shampoo. 

These are heavier shampoo formulas, so we don’t recommend either for fine hair or hair that tends to get oily fast.

Hydra Source Shampoo is best for wavy or curly hair with a medium thickness, while Ultra Hydra Source is ideal for coarse, coily, or kinky hair that struggles to take in enough moisture. 

ScalpSync Cooling Mint Shampoo

Biolage ScalpSync Cooling Mint Shampoo is a lightweight formula designed specifically for oily hair. The formula contains brisk, cooling mint, strengthening kola nut, protective camellia leaf, and mallow plant extracts to cleanse, purify, and soothe oily scalps. 

Mint has been shown to be antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral, making it a nice inclusion in the formula.

It delivers a tingly, cooling sensation during use which soothes an oily scalp with buildup. This formula works for all hair types that struggle with excess oil – that’s typically fine, medium, straight, and wavy. 

ScalpSync Anti-Dandruff Shampoo

Biolage ScalpSync Anti-Dandruff Shampoo contains the same refreshing ingredients as the Cooling Mint formula with the addition of pyrithione zinc to target dandruff.

While mint acts as an antibacterial, antifungal treatment, zinc boosts the anti-dandruff effects and is a proven effective treatment for flaky, itchy, irritated scalps. Biolage’s dandruff shampoo doesn’t contain SLS (sodium lauryl sulfate), so it’s ultra-gentle on irritated scalps.

It helps remove visible scalp flakes, relieve irritation and itching, and soothe the scalp to prevent future flaking when used regularly. It works for all hair types that struggle with dandruff or scalp itching and irritation. 

Smooth Proof Shampoo

Biolage Smooth Proof Shampoo is a unique formula designed to encapsulate strands with a lightweight, durable matrix of humidity-resistant botanical oils. Camellia oil in the formula smoothes the hair shaft to reduce frizz and protect hair from humidity and moisture that lead to frizz. 

The result is smoother, sleeker, silkier strands that are easy to mold and style without frizz. This formula has been shown to control frizz in up to 97% humidity for 72 hours of smooth, frizz-free tresses. It works best for medium to coarse hair with straight, wavy, curly, or coily texture. 

Strength Recovery Shampoo

Biolage Strength Recovery Shampoo is a damage-repairing formula designed to rebuild the hair’s protein bonds and reduce breakage. It’s made with vegan squalane (never from animal sources, unlike other salon brands) and shea butter that protects strands, moisturizes, and helps repair damage. 

This is a heavier shampoo with lots of moisturizing power, so it’s best for medium to coarse hair textures and wavy, curly, or coily hair types.

The results are impressive from Biolage studies, making hair 3 times stronger with 73% less breakage after a single use. It can be used on color-treated hair because it’s SLS-free and paraben free. 

Volume Bloom Shampoo

Biolage Volume Bloom Shampoo is a lightweight formula that adds body and volume to fine, limp, or flat hair. The secret is the strand-plumping cotton extract and hydrolyzed (small molecule) soy protein.

These ingredients help lift and plump the hair strands for more volume and lift at the root all the way through the ends. Biolage found that one use of Volume Bloom shampoo gave users 70% more volume, which is impressive.

The addition of purifying salicylic acid helps deep-clean the scalp to remove buildup for lightweight strands with lots of lift. The formula is also paraben free.

Biolage Shampoo Pros and Cons

Reviewing the different shampoos, their purposes, and key ingredients is a lot to take in! It’s helpful to back up a bit and take a broad overview of what we’ve learned about Biolage shampoos so far.

Let’s take a look at the pros and cons to get closer to a concrete answer to the question, “Is Biolage shampoo good for hair?”

Pros

Biolage shampoo has a lot of benefits for users who want the best products for their strands. Here are the benefits of using Biolage shampoo. 

• Multiple shampoo lines to target different needs. We like that Biolage makes several lines/collections to target a range of hair care needs and concerns. From ultra-hydrating and volume-boosting to frizz-fighting and color-preserving formulas, there’s a Biolage line for almost every hair care need. 
• Botanical extracts, plant oils, and nourishing ingredients. Each of Biolage’s shampoo lines is made with a different blend of botanical extracts, oils, and nourishing ingredients found in nature. Peppermint, aloe, chamomile, cucumber, and kola nut extracts, camellia, jojoba, and castor oils, and soy proteins, vegan squalane, and cotton extracts can all be found in a range of Biolage formulas. 
• Formulas for all hair types and textures. Biolage makes shampoos for all hair types and textures, from fine and straight to coarse and kinky. There are formulas designed specifically for some hair types – like UItra Hydra Source for curly and coily hair, or Volume Bloom for fine hair – but many of their shampoos are suitable for all hair types. This makes it simple to choose a Biolage formula that’ll work well for you. 
• Professional salon brand with excellent reputation. Biolage has been around and well-respected in the professional cosmetology industry since 1990. With over 30 years of experience in the field, so many salon professionals trust, use, and recommend Biolage shampoo. Their formulas also get great reviews online from regular users. That gives us a pretty solid indicator that it’s a good brand that gives users above average results. 
• Higher ingredient quality and concentrations. Biolage shampoo formulas contain higher quality ingredients than drugstore shampoo brands and include those ingredients in higher concentrations for more effective formulas. This means you can use less Biolage shampoo than a brand like Herbal Essences or Suave while getting better results. 
• Proven, highly-reviewed results. Biolage does a lot of testing with consumers to see how effective their shampoos are. For example, the Volume Bloom shampoo was found to boost volume by 70% in users after just one use. The Strength Recovery shampoo was found to reduce breakage by 73% and make hair 3 times stronger. Customer reviews echo these results, with overwhelmingly positive 4-5-star reviews on every shampoo they make. 
• Vegan, cruelty-free, and 100% recycled bottles. All Biolage products are now 100% vegan and Leaping Bunny certified cruelty-free. This means they don’t contain any animal products or derivatives and are never tested on animals. The shampoos are packaged in 100% recycled bottles, which saves over 30 tons of plastic from going into the landfill each year. 

Cons

There are lots of benefits, but every beauty brand has a few downsides as well. Here’s what we found wasn’t so great about Biolage shampoo. 

• More concentrated, quality ingredients = higher cost. While Biolage shampoos do have better ingredient quality and higher ingredient concentrations than drugstore shampoos, they also cost more. Most don’t consider Biolage shampoo “cheap” ($21-$30 for large bottles), but most customers agree the higher price is mediated because the more-concentrated formulas mean you can use less shampoo for each wash. 
• Some formulas contain SLS. Sodium lauryl sulfate, or SLS, is an often-demonized shampoo ingredient that some prefer to avoid. A few Biolage shampoo formulas contain this ingredient, which is used primarily for deep cleaning and delivering a sudsy lather. Sulfates can be irritating in high concentrations or when they’re in contact with the scalp for long periods, but brief shampooing shouldn’t lead to issues and is proven safe for people without skin conditions. 
• Some formulas contain sodium hydroxide. Sodium hydroxide – AKA lye – is used to adjust shampoo pH and make the formula less acidic to avoid damaging the hair. It’s proven to be effective and safe at the concentrations used in shampoo, which are much lower than amounts used in lye relaxers. But if you’re avoiding specific ingredients in shampoo, the inclusion of lye in some Biolage shampoos can be a real bummer. 
• Not Curly Girl Method approved. Biolage formulas aren’t approved for use with the popular Curly Girl Method (CGM) because they contain alcohols and sulfates. The CGM is designed for people with curly or coily hair, but if you’re not 100% committed to the method, you may get better results using Biolage products for curly/coily types like Hydra Source or Ultra Hydra Source Shampoo. 

So, Is Biolage Shampoo Good for Your Hair?

We’ve looked at the brand’s background and reputation, the different shampoo formulas and key ingredients, and overall pros and cons. So, what’s the conclusion – is Biolage shampoo good for your hair? And is it worth the price?

We say yes on both counts. Biolage shampoo does a superior job cleansing hair thanks to the highly-concentrated ingredients that are sourced with the highest quality.

That’s why Biolage shampoos are used in salons across the world – professionals know that their clients will leave with excellent results when they use Biolage to cleanse and prep the hair before styling. 

The different Biolage formulas are also packed with effective, botanical ingredients that nourish strands and target some of the most frustrating hair issues.

Dandruff, dryness, frizz, faded color, oiliness, general damage, and flat, limp strands are no match for the powerful Biolage shampoos that are formulated to correct the root cause of these issues. 

No wonder Biolage shampoo has made it onto several of our “Best Of” shampoo lists for different hair types! While Biolage shampoo is a good choice for all hair types, it may not be the ideal choice for everyone.

If you’re on a tight budget for your hair care, Biolage shampoo may be a little pricey to purchase regularly. Likewise, if you’re avoiding all sulfates, sodium hydroxide, or alcohols (as with the Curly Girl Method), you’ll need to look at other shampoo brands since Biolage does make use of these effective ingredients. 

But if you want deeply-cleansed, balanced, moisturized, healthy hair with volume and smoothness that makes you feel like you just came from the salon, you’re going to love what Biolage shampoo does for you.

Just make sure to choose the formula that best targets your main hair concerns and is suitable for your hair type. So what are you waiting for — head to the store and get some Biolage shampoo today!