Bring Out the Bubbly: The Best Shampoos of 2016
Overachievers of the Year!
We’re nearing the end of the year, which means it’s high time we reflect on all that 2016 has brought upon us. Pink hair, blue hair, pumpkin spice/glitter/curly hair… Trends in cut, color, accessories and even facial hair have come and gone (and stayed, for some) and made their mark this year on the industry, for better or worse. But perhaps one of the most distinct trend-markers of any year comes in the latest and most buzzed-about product innovations, which is why we’re kicking off our first year-end rundown with the best shampoos 2016 had to offer.
Read on for a list of the best shampoos that made our morning showers something to look forward to:
Now Trending: The Best Shampoos of 2016
Best for Volume: TRESemmé Beauty-Full Volume Shampoo
It’s only fitting that give kudos to the best shampoos with an industry gamechanger. TRESemmé Full Fiber Volume Shampoo flipped the script on your regular wash and care routine by bringing co-washing into the mainstream, and thus shifting the conversation on shampoo altogether. As a second step used after the Pre-Wash Conditioner, Beauty-Full Volume Shampoo removed excess weight on the strand post-rinse and left you with a light yet conditioned bounce. It became our first line of defense against everyday limpness, and for that we are forever grateful!
TRESemmé
TRESemmé Full Fiber Volume Shampoo
Best for Shine: Suave Professionals Moroccan Infusion Shine Shampoo
In a year full of trendy emotives and buzzy innovations, the Argan oil-infused line let the proof show through the pudding. Sleek, glossy, shiny—these were only a few words chosen to describe the end result from washing with the Suave Professionals Moroccan Infusion Shine Shampoo (and Suave Professionals Moroccan Infusion Conditioner)! We think the beauty lies in its straightforwardness—a miracle oil infused in the system’s formula to promise a whole day’s worth (literally 24 hours) of shine because hey, why not. The bonus, as if it needed one: all this, sans limpness or stringiness.
Best for Damage: Suave Professionals Coconut Oil Infusion Damage Repair Shampoo
Show me a year besotted with the most out-of-the box color jobs ever, and I’ll show you strands that have definitely seen better days. The solution, turns out, was in this overachiever of a bottle, which, together with the Suave Professionals Coconut Oil Infusion Damage Repair Conditioner, majorly delivers on its promise of visibly repairing damage in as little as three uses. The Suave Professionals Coconut Oil Infusion Damage Repair Shampoo is infused with another one of the year’s hottest ingredient trends, coconut oil, and offers it up in a practical yet effective formula to give relief to damaged, processed hair. The indulgent, yet elegantly restrained formula gently cleanses while moisturizing hair, leaving us fickle folk free to dye another day.
Best for Frizz: TRESemmé Keratin Smooth Keratin Infusing Shampoo
This year’s weather, being the crapshoot that it was (Summer of ’Sixteen, #neverforget) left most reaching for their hair ties and calling it a day. Everyone except those lucky enough to have had the TRESemmé Keratin Smooth Keratin Infusing Shampoo and TRESemmé Kertain Smooth Infusing Conditioner system in their arsenal, that is. The low-sulfate wonder system gave us back the control we once had over our hair, and showed us there was indeed a life beyond a high humidity index. Sleek, manageable, super-smooth strands that weren’t at the mercy of the weatherman? What a time to be alive.
TRESemmé
TRESemmé Keratin Smooth Shampoo
Best for a Waterless Clean: Dove Refresh+Care Volume & Fullness Dry Shampoo
Whether it was transitioning between seasons, colors, lengths or even routines, this year was definitely one rife with change. As more and more people revolutionized how they washed their hair by not washing it, the stakes rose in the realm of dry shampoos. Happy to report though, that we called it: Dove Refresh+Care Volume & Fullness Dry Shampoo, with its awesomely absorbent formula, is the quintessential secret weapon of any gal on the go. If it can refresh an uptown blowout after just coming from a yoga session, it’s worth top marks in our book.
Best for Colored Hair: Nexxus New York Salon Care Color Assure Shampoo
This incredibly formulated Nexxus New York Salon Care Color Assure Shampoo is, hands-down, the best shampoo for hair that’s been put through its paces with color, as it heads off any potential issues at the pass. Sulfate-free? Check. Silicone-free? Check. Infused with botanical oils? Check, check, check. The system has almond oil known to lock in moisture, Argan oil known for restoring shine and vibrancy and coconut oil, known for its softening and nourishing properties. Marvel at how the sulfate-free formula gently cleans without stripping us of our hard-earned pigments.
Nexxus
Nexxus Color Assure Shampoo
Best for Everyday Use: Dove Nutritive Solutions Daily Moisture Shampoo
There’s something so satisfying about a product that just ticks off all the boxes and leaves you off to do your thing. The purists in us can’t help but delight over the all-around silkiness and smoothness we get from Dove Daily Moisture Shampoo: It penetrates into the fiber and delivers moisture where the blowdryer, curling iron and perhaps a few hundred YouTube hair tutorials have kept us wanting. If you’ve accrued more than your fair share of daily wear and tear, look no further.
Best for Scalp Issues: Clear Total Care 24/7 Nourishing Shampoo
On the flipside of humidity lies its equally annoying cousin dryness, which, especially in the colder months, has left our heads in complete, discombobulated limbo. Sudden changes in temperature have made a rollercoaster out of our scalp’s delicate flora, of which Clear Total Care 24/7 Nourishing Shampoo has managed to calm down with just a few washes. It’s alleviated our winter-dry, tight or greasy scalps (sometimes all three, because we’re greedy like that) and, enriched with coconut milk and Omega 3s, it also doesn’t forego your strands.
Best for Dryness: Nexxus New York Salon Care Therappe Shampoo
It might be counterintuitive for us in the industry to say that beauty starts from the inside, but we’ve got a good case going with Nexxus New York Salon Care Therappe Shampoo. A miracle worker on dry hair, the deeply hydrating, silicone-free shampoo paired with its Nexxus New York Salon Care Humectress Conditioner penetrate the hair fiber to repair your strands’ protein structures. This system, with a cocktail of concentrated proteins—elastin, keratin and wheat—makes sure hair is strong from within, while enriched with a caviar complex (!) also ensures ensures maximum hydration and, we surmise as the name suggests, a silky, undeniably luxurious smoothness.
Nexxus
Nexxus Therappe Shampoo
Best Purple Shampoo: Bed Head by TIGI Dumb Blonde Shampoo
Between chlorinated pools, hard shower water and a much-deserved frolic on the beach, our blonde manes don’t stand a chance. Until we find ourselves on the decidedly less-fun range of the hair color spectrum, we’re panic-clutching Bed Head by TIGI Dumb Blonde Shampoo. The formula, which has special violet toners to counteract brassiness in blonde hair, helps keep us vibrating at our best and brightest frequencies yet. It also conditions and detangles, two majorly key components for après-sun.
Best for Men’s Hair: Axe Apollo 2-in-1 Shampoo + Conditioner
You know that proverbial fresh-out-of-the-shower scent popular in romance novels? Well, someone took it and bottled it with Axe Apollo 2-in-1 Shampoo + Conditioner, as we saw it fly off the shelves this past year. Let’s not forget the awesome, thorough yet supple-feeling clean, and the fact that it leaves strands soft and shiny, of course. Packaged in a one-two punch formula with conditioner, with that fresh, masculine scent to boot? Gentlemen, we have a winner.
Love this lineup of the best shampoos of the year? Check out our other editor-approved products in our What’s In My Hair Today series.