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Redken makes an impressive line of shampoos, but which one is designed for your hair type? Read on to see the top-rated Redken shampoos, what’s in each, and which one will work best for your hair.
Redken Shampoo: Salon Quality-Hair
Redken was founded in 1960 by beauty enthusiast Paula Kent and chemist Jehri Redding. He developed special low-pH hair products formulated to be gentle on Paula’s sensitive hair. The brand name is a combination of their surnames.
Today, the company is owned by L’Oreal and offers a wide range of hair care products and tools. For many, the name Redken is synonymous with professional quality. Your stylist has probably used Redken products on your hair at the salon!
To get the same salon-quality results at home, you can start with Redken shampoo.
While reviews show that most of their products are highly rated, using the right Redken product line for your hair type is essential. Just like co-founder Jehri Redding did for Paula back in the 60s, Redken is still formulating shampoos and products that specifically cater to certain hair types and concerns.
Today, you’ll find various shampoos they make for common hair types (curly, fine, etc.) and concerns like frizz, dandruff, damage, or color-treated hair.
They’re a little on the pricey side, so you’ll want to make sure you get the right shampoo for your hair. See which of their shampoos is made for your hair type below.
Which Redken Shampoo Works for Your Hair Type?
Every head of hair is unique, so the same shampoo won’t work for everyone. But there’s a good chance Redken makes a shampoo that is designed specifically for your hair type.
They focus on both proven and cutting-edge formulas that target our most common hair woes and concerns while providing all the nourishment each hair type needs. There are so many Redken shampoo options out there, but we narrowed it down to the top 7 formulas for our guide.
Below, you’ll see our recommendations for:
- Blonde/bleached hair
- Color-treated hair
- Dandruff
- Damaged hair
- Fine/thinning hair
- Coarse/curly hair
- Frizzy hair
Keep reading to learn about each of Redken’s best shampoos. You’ll learn how each one is formulated to target your hair type’s most common needs. The result is hair that looks and feels healthy, nourished, and soft.
1. Best for Blonde Hair: Redken Color Extend Blondage Purple Shampoo
While you’re out there having more fun than the rest of us, you need to pick up a bottle of Redken’s Color Extend Blondage Color Depositing Purple Shampoo to keep the good times rolling.
This shampoo tones, neutralizes, and moisturizes bleached blonde hair for more even color that doesn’t turn brassy. If you have cool, ash-blonde tones, this shampoo is your new best friend. It deposits violet tones onto strands to neutralize the dreaded brassy tones that peek out over time.
Blonde hair and high maintenance go hand in hand, but this heavenly-scented shampoo makes it much easier to keep your color on point between salon visits.
On Amazon, more than 3,500 customers give it 4.6 out of 5 stars. It’s easily one of the highest-rated shampoos for blonde hair.
2. Best for Color Treated Hair: Redken Color Extend Shampoo
Once you’ve dropped serious cash and spent time in the salon to get your perfect hair color, the last thing you want is to accelerate fading with the wrong shampoo.
Enter Redken’s Color Extend Shampoo, the holy grail for color-treated hair. This shampoo is made with Color Care Complex, which is Redken’s proprietary color-protecting formula.
It’s designed to increase shine, make color more vibrant, and stand up to the most common color-fading foes: Minerals, environmental factors, damaged hair cuticles, and hard water.
And since dying the hair does damage it a bit, this shampoo formula is built to strengthen and rebuild hair from the inside out to further protect color and your hair’s overall health.
You’ll notice less breakage, more shine, and more vibrant color when you use it. Plus, it smells amazing (like all of Redken’s shampoos).
On Amazon, more than 3,700 customers rate it 4.7 out of 5 stars overall. It’s hard to get a rating that high! Run, don’t walk, to get this shampoo if you have color-treated hair.
3. Best for Dandruff: Redken Scalp Relief Dandruff Control Shampoo
If you’re struggling with dandruff, we feel your frustration. You need a shampoo that pulls double duty: Stops the flakes and leaves hair feeling soft and clean.
Redken’s Scalp Relief Dandruff Control Shampoo With Pyrithione Zinc is just what the doctor ordered.
This shampoo is formulated with 1% pyrithione zinc. That’s a powerful zinc-based substance that is proven to kill bacteria, fungus, and microorganisms that cause seborrheic dermatitis – the scientific name for dandruff.
It’s even effective on acne and psoriasis. You can use it twice a week for good results, but it’s gentle enough for everyday use to get the best results. Users give it 4.5 out of 5 stars, saying it’s the best dandruff shampoo they’ve tried.
Several reviewers remark that it’s one of the only shampoos that doesn’t bother their sensitive scalp. If you’ve been fighting with flakes, Redken’s Scalp Relief shampoo is the solution you need.
4. Best for Damaged Hair: Redken Acidic Bonding Concentrate Shampoo
Hair can be damaged by a laundry list of things: Bleach, color, UV rays, aggressive brushing, and even wind. If your hair is showing signs of damage, Redken Acidic Bonding Concentrate Shampoo for Damaged Hair is the shampoo for you.
This sulfate-free shampoo is part of Redken’s most concentrated repair system. You only need a dime-sized amount, unlike other shampoos.
The gentle citric acid-based formula ensures hair is thoroughly cleansed while repairing weakened bonds in the hair, hydrating deep within strands, and preventing breakage by strengthening hair. It’s even safe for color-treated hair, so if that’s where your damage stems from, you can use it while protecting your color.
This formula works on all hair types, so if you’re noticing damage, this is the shampoo you need to try. Reviewers give it 4.4 out of 5 stars, saying they noticed a difference in the texture and softness of their hair after just one use.
5. Best for Fine or Thinning Hair: Redken Volume Injection Shampoo
If you’re finding it harder and harder to pump up the volume in your fine or thinning hair, you need to take another look at your shampoo. Redken’s Volume Injection Shampoo for Fine Hair is formulated with ingredients that build body and volume instantly.
Redken uses their patented Bodifying Complex with Filloxane in the Volume Injection shampoo. It’s effective at boosting volume and body in hair that is babyfine, thinning, or overly processed.
Basically, if your hair tends to lie limply at your shoulders, this is the miracle tonic that makes it look fuller and thicker by coating each strand with the Bodifying Complex and lifting hair right at the roots.
It’s a newer product, so it doesn’t have tons of reviews on Amazon just yet. But from initial reviews that are there, it gets a solid 4.4 out of 5-star rating.
One reviewer commented that while other volumizing shampoos tend to leave hair feeling fluffy or frizzy, this one manages to impart tons of volume while leaving hair silky and soft.
6. Best for Coarse or Curly Hair: Redken All Soft Mega Moisturizing Shampoo
What’s coarse, curly, and dry all over? Your hair, you say? Then Redken’s All Soft Mega Shampoo For Severely Dry Coarse Hair is the shampoo for you.
There’s an unbelievable amount of moisture and hydration in this formula.
It basically conditions your hair while you shampoo. And if you follow up with the matching conditioner from the All Soft line, you get 15 times more conditioning power. Redken added their Moisture Complex to introduce hydration and moisture deep into every strand, leaving hair feeling almost unnaturally soft and supple.
If that wasn’t enough, the formula also contains argan oil to seal that moisture in for longer-lasting results. Coarse, curly hair benefits from using this shampoo with more manageable and defined curls, softer hair texture, and easier detangling and styling.
Fewer tangles mean less breakage, so when you use this shampoo, you’re well on your way to healthier hair. More than 8,300 reviewers absolutely love this Redken shampoo and give it 4.8 out of 5 stars.
7. Best for Frizzy Hair: Redken Frizz Dismiss Shampoo
If you’ve ever looked at the weather forecast before deciding how to style your hair, the solution is Redken Frizz Dismiss Sodium Chloride-Free Shampoo. Using it can completely eliminate – err, dismiss – frizz without sacrificing your hair’s natural body and volume.
It works really well on curly, coarse hair, but any hair type that deals with frizz can benefit from using it. The special formulation is what sets it apart from other shampoos that claim to reduce frizz.
Sulfates can lift the hair cuticle, letting moisture from the air in and causing frizz. Sodium chloride – table salt – is another ingredient lurking in some shampoos and known to cause frizz.
No sulfates and no sodium chloride in Redken’s Dismiss mean this shampoo is gentle on the hair without lifting the cuticle or leaching moisture to cause frizz.
On Amazon, 1,700+ reviewers who have hair that tends to frizz say it’s a 4.6 out of 5-star product. If you deal with frizz, you’re probably skeptical that simply switching your shampoo could make such a big difference in the frizz factor.
But give it a try and you’ll see why so many women are dedicated users of Frizz Dismiss.
Is Redken Shampoo Worth the Price?
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It’s no secret that Redken shampoo costs more than drugstore brands. Is it really worth the price? We say yes, but let’s take a look at why. Redken is the OG of science-based hair care. They’re the ones who found out that protein can recondition, repair, and improve the texture of hair.
They’re also the brains behind pH-based hair care, after research and development showed them that low pH products improved the look, feel, and health of hair. Redken has become almost synonymous with professional quality over the years.
You can only buy their products from authorized retailers – often salons and beauty supply stores – though unauthorized retailers regularly sell it on Amazon and other sites. Oh, and Redken is part of L’Oreal, the world’s largest beauty company.
The Real Difference
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That alone gives Redken some clout, but their unheard-of focus on research and development (R&D) is what keeps the brand on top. From 2009 to 2020, the company put more than $1 billion into research and development.
These findings make their way into the formulas you see in Redken shampoos, from the Bodifying Complex in the Volume Injection shampoo to the Color Care Complex for color-treated hair.
So, is Redken shampoo more expensive than Suave shampoo? You bet. But their shampoos are a much higher quality, are backed by more research, contain patented effective formulas, and deliver infinitely better results.
Spending a little more on shampoo with the Redken name is never a waste. If you’ve got blonde, color-treated, fine, coarse, curly, damaged, frizzy, or flaky hair, choose the coordinating Redken product on our list. You’ll see why it’s worth it to splurge – and we bet your hair will look and feel better than ever.