Best shampoo for oily color treated hair with dandruff

Top reviews from other countries

4.0 out of 5 stars Does the job really well

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 26 July 2018

Verified Purchase

It is good at reducing oil but it is prone to leave the hair quite dry. I used Tecna Teabase before and it is as effective with the oil and the hair looks healthier.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great deep cleaning shampoo

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 27 August 2018

Verified Purchase

I get sore spots on my scalp from time to time, though I don't have dandruff. This shampoo seems to settle my scalp down very nicely. Very happy with this product, though it could do with a more appealing name.

Rogelio Alejandro Agis Garcia

5.0 out of 5 stars Buenisimo

Reviewed in Mexico 🇲🇽 on 9 January 2020

Verified Purchase

Saca mucha espuma por lo tanto dura más y funciona muy bien para desengrasar el cabello

5.0 out of 5 stars Addressing the Review Controversy + My Own Personal Hair Journey

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 29 June 2019

Verified Purchase

I'm pretty sure this is my first amazon review, and I've held off on writing it for forever, mostly because of the "biased reviews" controversy but also because I'm lazy and couldn't be bothered to take the time before. Yes, the bottles you buy come with free product offers. I've even gotten them in the mail somehow. There's nothing that actually states you have to leave a 'positive' review but that's neither here nor there. Are there people who would write reviews just to get free products regardless of whether they actually liked it? Probably, if they're cheap and just don't care about what they use.

In the next couple paragraphs I go on [and on] about my personal hair care journey, but if you just want to skip to where I start talking about Maple Holistics I made a footnote in caps down below.

I started dyeing my hair at 13 and kept it continuously dyed until I was... 22-ish? Mostly in the brown/red spectrum. When I was younger I didn't really give much thought to hair care and cosmetics and for years just used generic-y shampoos and conditioners. (I stuck with Garnier for color treated hair for years.)

(If you don't wanna read in-depth about my skin problems you can skip this part.) ;)
As an important side-note, I've had eczema all my life. I'm not talking about "dry skin" that people like to umbrella label as eczema. I'm talking, red, uncontrollably itchy rashes that do not just 'go away.' Over the course of my life it's affected me more in different areas. As a kid, it mainly manifested on my arms. In high school I would get it on my face and in college, dyshidrotic eczema on my hands. Scientists aren't exactly sure what the underlying causes of eczema are, but are sometimes known to have allergic triggers. I've taken a patch test and besides seasonal environmental causes I found I was allergic to formaldehyde, which if you aren't familiar, can be found in almost... anything. Why am I mentioning this? because 6-7 years ago I started getting seborrhoeic dermatitis on my scalp. It didn't cause hair loss, and it's not something that's really visible, but it is horrible. I would scratch my scalp til it bled, and skin pick the thick patches of scales off. (For those asking about prescription creams and whatnot, I had a bad experience with steroidal creams when I was younger so I try not to use them now if I can.)

tldr;
So now that I have eczema on my scalp I started researching non-clinical solutions. I ended up finding Lush's Squeaky Green. (I think this was right around the time Lush got big in the states.) It was one of their solid soap bars, and it really really helped. I'm pretty sure it still had sulfates if I'm not mistaken, but for those interested the main ingredients were: rosemary, nettle, tea tree powder, peppermint, rose absolute, chamomile blue oil, and vanilla absolute. I used that shampoo for about two years before it was discontinued (I'm still not over it.) I wrote down the ingredients while its page was still up on their website so I could keep an eye out later. I've also used Lush's Big shampoo, which I liked but did nothing for my scalp issues- (Salt on open wounds is no bueno.) as well as Seanik, Godiva, and Soak and Float, no change.

After some more research I stumbled upon the whole 'no sulfates' revolution. I ended up with DermOrganics shampoo and conditioner, which you can still find on amazon (I think the price went up though.) At the time I was paying $25 for their 33oz bottles. I used DermOrganics for about 3.5 years, from 2013-2016. From what I remember, it improved the condition of my hair and 'helped' my eczema, but it wasn't as good as the Lush bar. I am also of the opinion that they changed their formula over time because towards the end there, the quality of my hair dipped which led me to look elsewhere.

TLDR; START HERE FOR THE DEGREASER SHAMPOO!
At this point I already knew what to look for, so it was just a matter of shopping around. I somehow stumbled on Maple Holistics. (I actually ordered their Silk18 conditioner first, probably because I still had some old shampoo left.) I then decided on their degreaser shampoo. You might ask why I didn't go for the tea tree shampoo instead because of my scalp issues. I don't really remember but I can think of two reasons. One reason would be the rosemary ingredient, which was in my favorite Lush shampoo. But also because my hair does get very oily.

I mentioned in the beginning that I used to have color-treated hair. Well I stopped dyeing it, maybe 7 years ago, and it's mostly grown out by now. I have... a LOT of hair, of all different thicknesses. Thin fine hairs, thick coarse hairs, and everything in between. If I make a bun it's about 5" across, in a ponytail it's maybe 2". My hair's down to my waist so I'd say it'd probably be around the 2' mark. It's also wavy. I don't use heat on my hair and let it air dry.

I started using this shampoo exclusively a little over two years ago. (2017-present) I included my order history to prove that. It's been too long to effectively compare this to my favorite [Lush] shampoo but I'm not looking to switch any time soon. This keeps my oily scalp and my eczema at bay. If I'm active (working out/running) I'll shampoo every other day, otherwise maybe twice a week. Although I do notice my eczema creep up if I hold off shampooing for too long. I feel like this should go without saying but I fear some people still don't know how to properly wash their hair. You shampoo your scalp and condition your hair. The shampoo runoff will cleanse the rest of your hair, and you don't scrub with your nails... I shampoo twice and condition once. (I'm still not sold on the curly girl hair method so I'm not gonna go there but I did try a round of DevaCurl products at one point and...meh) And for people who complain that it doesn't lather... It's sulfate-free, it's not supposed to lather, that's the POINT. Same goes for body washes. What makes your soaps lather, is what's bad for youuuu.

So ya. I love this shampoo and will continue to use it. My hair is very healthy and looks fabulous. I hope I've put some skeptics minds at ease with this review. It's a great shampoo that doesn't deserve the weird hate its been getting.

I could include a photo of my hair if people want, but I don't have a before photo so I don't know how that would help.

5.0 out of 5 stars Addressing the Review Controversy + My Own Personal Hair Journey
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 29 June 2019

I'm pretty sure this is my first amazon review, and I've held off on writing it for forever, mostly because of the "biased reviews" controversy but also because I'm lazy and couldn't be bothered to take the time before. Yes, the bottles you buy come with free product offers. I've even gotten them in the mail somehow. There's nothing that actually states you have to leave a 'positive' review but that's neither here nor there. Are there people who would write reviews just to get free products regardless of whether they actually liked it? Probably, if they're cheap and just don't care about what they use.

In the next couple paragraphs I go on [and on] about my personal hair care journey, but if you just want to skip to where I start talking about Maple Holistics I made a footnote in caps down below.

I started dyeing my hair at 13 and kept it continuously dyed until I was... 22-ish? Mostly in the brown/red spectrum. When I was younger I didn't really give much thought to hair care and cosmetics and for years just used generic-y shampoos and conditioners. (I stuck with Garnier for color treated hair for years.)

(If you don't wanna read in-depth about my skin problems you can skip this part.) ;)
As an important side-note, I've had eczema all my life. I'm not talking about "dry skin" that people like to umbrella label as eczema. I'm talking, red, uncontrollably itchy rashes that do not just 'go away.' Over the course of my life it's affected me more in different areas. As a kid, it mainly manifested on my arms. In high school I would get it on my face and in college, dyshidrotic eczema on my hands. Scientists aren't exactly sure what the underlying causes of eczema are, but are sometimes known to have allergic triggers. I've taken a patch test and besides seasonal environmental causes I found I was allergic to formaldehyde, which if you aren't familiar, can be found in almost... anything. Why am I mentioning this? because 6-7 years ago I started getting seborrhoeic dermatitis on my scalp. It didn't cause hair loss, and it's not something that's really visible, but it is horrible. I would scratch my scalp til it bled, and skin pick the thick patches of scales off. (For those asking about prescription creams and whatnot, I had a bad experience with steroidal creams when I was younger so I try not to use them now if I can.)

tldr;
So now that I have eczema on my scalp I started researching non-clinical solutions. I ended up finding Lush's Squeaky Green. (I think this was right around the time Lush got big in the states.) It was one of their solid soap bars, and it really really helped. I'm pretty sure it still had sulfates if I'm not mistaken, but for those interested the main ingredients were: rosemary, nettle, tea tree powder, peppermint, rose absolute, chamomile blue oil, and vanilla absolute. I used that shampoo for about two years before it was discontinued (I'm still not over it.) I wrote down the ingredients while its page was still up on their website so I could keep an eye out later. I've also used Lush's Big shampoo, which I liked but did nothing for my scalp issues- (Salt on open wounds is no bueno.) as well as Seanik, Godiva, and Soak and Float, no change.

After some more research I stumbled upon the whole 'no sulfates' revolution. I ended up with DermOrganics shampoo and conditioner, which you can still find on amazon (I think the price went up though.) At the time I was paying $25 for their 33oz bottles. I used DermOrganics for about 3.5 years, from 2013-2016. From what I remember, it improved the condition of my hair and 'helped' my eczema, but it wasn't as good as the Lush bar. I am also of the opinion that they changed their formula over time because towards the end there, the quality of my hair dipped which led me to look elsewhere.

TLDR; START HERE FOR THE DEGREASER SHAMPOO!
At this point I already knew what to look for, so it was just a matter of shopping around. I somehow stumbled on Maple Holistics. (I actually ordered their Silk18 conditioner first, probably because I still had some old shampoo left.) I then decided on their degreaser shampoo. You might ask why I didn't go for the tea tree shampoo instead because of my scalp issues. I don't really remember but I can think of two reasons. One reason would be the rosemary ingredient, which was in my favorite Lush shampoo. But also because my hair does get very oily.

I mentioned in the beginning that I used to have color-treated hair. Well I stopped dyeing it, maybe 7 years ago, and it's mostly grown out by now. I have... a LOT of hair, of all different thicknesses. Thin fine hairs, thick coarse hairs, and everything in between. If I make a bun it's about 5" across, in a ponytail it's maybe 2". My hair's down to my waist so I'd say it'd probably be around the 2' mark. It's also wavy. I don't use heat on my hair and let it air dry.

I started using this shampoo exclusively a little over two years ago. (2017-present) I included my order history to prove that. It's been too long to effectively compare this to my favorite [Lush] shampoo but I'm not looking to switch any time soon. This keeps my oily scalp and my eczema at bay. If I'm active (working out/running) I'll shampoo every other day, otherwise maybe twice a week. Although I do notice my eczema creep up if I hold off shampooing for too long. I feel like this should go without saying but I fear some people still don't know how to properly wash their hair. You shampoo your scalp and condition your hair. The shampoo runoff will cleanse the rest of your hair, and you don't scrub with your nails... I shampoo twice and condition once. (I'm still not sold on the curly girl hair method so I'm not gonna go there but I did try a round of DevaCurl products at one point and...meh) And for people who complain that it doesn't lather... It's sulfate-free, it's not supposed to lather, that's the POINT. Same goes for body washes. What makes your soaps lather, is what's bad for youuuu.

So ya. I love this shampoo and will continue to use it. My hair is very healthy and looks fabulous. I hope I've put some skeptics minds at ease with this review. It's a great shampoo that doesn't deserve the weird hate its been getting.

I could include a photo of my hair if people want, but I don't have a before photo so I don't know how that would help.

Images in this review