PRO:VOKE Touch of Silver Shampoo Review 2026: Worth Buying?

Brassy blonde hair ruins a good salon visit fast. One week you leave with cool ash tones. Three washes later, yellow creeps back in. That is the exact problem PRO:VOKE built Touch of Silver to fix, and it has been doing it on a drugstore budget since the early 2000s.

I used this purple shampoo for four weeks on bleached blonde hair with faded ash toner. I tracked the colour shift, the texture change, and the smell. I also noted where it let me down, because no five dollar shampoo is perfect.

This review covers the real results, the ingredient list, the mistakes that stain your hair purple, and three strong alternatives. By the end you will know whether this bottle belongs in your shower or not.

In a Nutshell:

• It tones fast and hard. The violet and blue pigment mix neutralises yellow and orange within one five minute wash. Most people see a visible difference after the first use, which is rare at this price point.
• It is a treatment, not a daily shampoo. PRO:VOKE says twice a week maximum. Many reviewers, myself included, found once a week works better. Daily use dries out the hair shaft quickly.
• Dryness is the main complaint. The cleansing base uses sodium C14 16 olefin sulfonate, a strong surfactant. Fine or porous hair can feel squeaky and rough without a conditioner afterwards.
• The scent splits opinion. It smells sweet and powdery, a little like old school salon products. Some people love it. Others find it heavy and artificial.
• Value is excellent. You get salon level toning for roughly the cost of two coffees. Compared to Fanola or Olaplex, the savings add up over a year of use.
• Patch test if your hair is pale. Platinum, white, and silver hair can grab the pigment and turn lilac if you leave it on too long. Start with two minutes.

PRO:VOKE Touch of Silver Brightening Shampoo

Last update on 2026-10-05 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that at no additional cost to you, I earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. I only recommend products and services that I believe will add value to my readers. Thank you for your support!

This is the original formula and the one most people mean when they say Touch of Silver. The bottle holds 200ml in the standard size, with 150ml and 400ml versions also sold. The pigment load sits high for a drugstore product, which is why it works in a single wash.

PRO:VOKE markets it for blonde, bleached, silver, grey, and brown highlighted hair. The brown highlighted claim is real. Brunettes with balayage or foils use it to kill orange without touching the base colour.

The formula pairs violet and blue dyes with optical brighteners. Acid Violet 43 does the yellow cancelling. HC Blue No. 2 handles the orange. Disodium distyrylbiphenyl disulfonate is the optical brightener that makes hair look more reflective, similar to the agent in laundry detergent for white shirts.

Provitamin B5 and oat seed extract sit in the mix for softness. They help, but they do not fully offset the strong cleansing base.

Unboxing Experience and First Impressions

There is no fancy packaging here, and that is fine. The bottle arrived in a plain cardboard mailer with no box, no tissue paper, and no insert. You get the shampoo and nothing else.

The bottle itself is silver and purple with a flip top cap. It feels light and slightly flimsy in hand, the kind of plastic that dents if you squeeze it hard. The cap clicks shut properly though, which matters in a wet shower.

Pop the lid and the colour surprises you. This is not pastel lavender. It is deep, inky, almost black violet. It looks closer to ink than shampoo.

The texture pours thin. Thinner than most shampoos, so it runs off your palm if you are slow. Tip the bottle carefully.

Printed instructions sit on the back label in small type. The five minute wait time and the twice weekly limit are both there, but the font is easy to miss. Read it before your first wash.

What the Formula Actually Contains

The ingredient list tells you a lot about how this shampoo behaves. Water leads, followed by sodium C14 16 olefin sulfonate, a sulfate style surfactant that strips oil efficiently. This is the reason the formula cleans so well and the reason it can feel drying.

Two gentler cleansers follow: sodium cocoyl methyl isethionate and sodium cocoamphoacetate. Cocamidopropyl betaine adds foam stability. Glycerin brings a little humectant moisture.

The toning work comes from three pigments. Acid Violet 43 cancels yellow. HC Blue No. 2 targets orange. Mica and titanium dioxide add light reflection so strands look brighter rather than flat.

Panthenol, better known as provitamin B5, supports softness. Avena strigosa seed extract contributes mild soothing properties. Benzophenone 4 guards the dye molecules against light fade.

Fragrance sits fairly high in the list, with linalool and hexyl cinnamal declared as allergens. Anyone with a sensitive scalp should keep that in mind.

Top 3 Alternative for PRO:VOKE Touch of Silver Brightening Shampoo

Last update on 2026-06-11 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that at no additional cost to you, I earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. I only recommend products and services that I believe will add value to my readers. Thank you for your support!

Fanola No Yellow Purple Shampoo

Last update on 2026-09-21 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that at no additional cost to you, I earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. I only recommend products and services that I believe will add value to my readers. Thank you for your support!

Matrix So Silver Purple Shampoo

Last update on 2026-10-05 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that at no additional cost to you, I earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. I only recommend products and services that I believe will add value to my readers. Thank you for your support!

Joico Color Balance Purple Shampoo

How to Use It Without Turning Your Hair Purple

Technique matters more than the product here. Most horror stories come from misuse, not from the formula.

Start with wet hair, not damp hair. Soaking wet hair dilutes the pigment and gives you more control. Squeeze out a coin sized amount for short hair, slightly more for long hair.

Massage it through the mid lengths and ends first. Save the roots for last, since roots are usually less porous and less brassy. Work it into a light lather.

Then wait. PRO:VOKE recommends five minutes and no longer. Set a timer on your phone, because standing in a shower makes three minutes feel like ten.

Rinse until the water runs clear. Follow with a conditioner or mask every single time. Skipping this step is the fastest route to straw texture.

For pale platinum or white hair, cut the first wait time to two minutes. Build up from there once you know how your hair reacts.

My Results After Four Weeks

Week one delivered the biggest change. My hair sat at a dull level nine with yellow pulling through the ends. After a single five minute wash, the yellow dropped noticeably and the overall tone read cooler under bathroom light.

Week two confirmed it. I washed once with Touch of Silver and twice with a regular sulfate free shampoo. The brass stayed away the entire week, which my old toner never managed.

Week three showed the downside. I used it twice in five days and my ends felt rough and tangly. A deep conditioning mask fixed it, but the lesson stuck.

Week four settled into a rhythm. One Touch of Silver wash per week plus a rich conditioner kept the tone cool and the texture soft.

No purple staining happened on my hair. A friend with platinum ends did get a faint lilac cast after a ten minute soak. Timing is everything.

Scent, Texture, and Lather

The smell is the most divisive thing about this shampoo. It is sweet, floral, and powdery with a slight synthetic edge. Think classic salon perfume rather than fresh fruit.

I liked it. My partner described it as “like a nineties hair salon”, which is accurate. Plenty of online reviewers say the opposite and find it cloying.

The scent does not linger much after drying. By the next morning it fades to almost nothing.

Lather builds quickly and generously. Two pumps cover shoulder length hair with easy spread, so the bottle lasts longer than the thin texture suggests.

Rinsing is clean and fast. No slippery residue, no film. The squeaky feel afterwards is the clue that your hair needs conditioner.

The pigment washes off skin without staining. It does mark grout and light coloured towels, so rinse the shower floor after use.

What It Does Not Do Well

Honest reviews list the failures, so here they are.

It dries out hair. The olefin sulfonate base cleans aggressively. Fine, bleached, or high porosity hair feels stripped if you use it without a conditioner. This is the single most common complaint across review sites.

It does not repair damage. There are no bond builders in this formula. If your hair is chemically fried, this shampoo will tone it and nothing more.

It can over tone pale hair. White, silver, and platinum shades grab violet fast. Leave it on too long and you get a lilac tint that takes a few washes to fade.

The bottle design is basic. Thin plastic, no pump, and small print instructions.

It is also not a toner replacement. It maintains cool tones between salon visits. It will not fix a botched bleach job or lift orange roots to ash.

Who Should Buy It

This shampoo suits a specific type of person very well.

Budget conscious blondes get the most value. If you top up your toner every six weeks at a salon, this stretches the gap between appointments and saves real money.

Grey and silver hair owners benefit too. Natural grey often yellows from heat, minerals, and pollution. One weekly wash keeps it bright and clean looking.

Brunettes with highlights are a quietly happy group. The formula knocks orange out of foils and balayage without dulling the darker base.

Anyone with coarse or low porosity hair will tolerate the strong cleansing base more easily. Thick hair handles it comfortably.

Travellers will like the 150ml size. It fits most cabin bag liquid limits and lasts several weeks.

If you want visible toning for very little money, this is a sensible buy.

Who Should Skip It

Not everyone should reach for this bottle.

Very dry or badly damaged hair needs something gentler. The cleansing base will make brittleness worse. Look at a sulfate free toning conditioner or mask instead.

People with sensitive scalps should be cautious. The fragrance load is high and includes declared allergens like linalool and hexyl cinnamal.

Freshly bleached platinum clients should wait. PRO:VOKE advises leaving at least two weeks after a colour service before using it.

Anyone wanting a bond repair shampoo should look elsewhere. This formula tones. It does not rebuild.

Curly and coily hair types may also find the formula too stripping without a strong conditioning follow up.

Price and Value for Money

Touch of Silver sits firmly in the drugstore price bracket. Expect to pay single digits for the 150ml or 200ml bottle in most markets.

Compare that to salon purple shampoos. Matrix So Silver, Joico, and Davines all cost three to six times more per bottle. Pureology and Olaplex cost even more.

Because you only use it once or twice a week, one bottle stretches a long way. My 200ml bottle lasted roughly ten weeks at one wash per week with shoulder length hair.

That works out to pennies per wash. The value here is genuinely hard to beat.

Multipacks offer better cost per millilitre. Keep an eye on the 400ml bottle if you have long or thick hair.

Touch of Silver Brightening vs Brighten and Repair

PRO:VOKE now sells more than one purple option, and the names confuse people.

The original Brightening Shampoo is the heavily pigmented classic. It tones hard in one wash. It is the version most reviews, including this one, refer to.

Brighten and Repair is the newer formula. It tones in one wash and adds bond repair technology for damaged hair. Provitamin B5 features here too.

There is also a Colour Care range with lighter pigment, built for regular use rather than weekly treatment.

Pick the original if brass is your main problem and your hair is healthy. Pick Brighten and Repair if your hair is bleached, fragile, and brassy at the same time.

Colour Care suits anyone who wants gentle maintenance between toning washes.

Pros and Cons

Here is the honest balance sheet after four weeks of testing.

Pros

• Strong violet and blue pigment mix neutralises yellow and orange in one five minute wash
• Very low price compared to salon purple shampoos with similar toning power
• Works on blonde, bleached, silver, grey, and brown highlighted hair
• Optical brighteners add visible shine and light reflection
• Lathers well, so a small amount covers a lot of hair
• Widely stocked and easy to repurchase online or in store
• Available in 150ml, 200ml, and 400ml sizes

Cons

• Cleansing base can leave hair dry, rough, and squeaky
• No bond repair in the original formula
• Heavy fragrance that some people dislike
• Risk of lilac staining on platinum or white hair if left on too long
• Thin bottle plastic with no pump
• Not suitable for daily washing
• Does not fix orange roots or correct a bad bleach job

Tips From Real Users

Long term users share a few tricks worth copying.

Alternate with a moisturising shampoo. Use Touch of Silver once a week and a hydrating formula the rest of the time. This keeps brass away without wrecking texture.

Apply it to the brassiest sections first. Ends usually need more time than roots.

Wear gloves if your hands stain easily. The pigment is strong.

Follow with the matching Touch of Silver conditioner or any rich mask. Several reviewers said the shampoo only felt good once they added a conditioner step.

Reduce the wait time in summer. Sun lightened hair is more porous and absorbs pigment faster.

Store the bottle away from direct shower spray so water does not seep past the cap and dilute the formula.

Final Verdict

Touch of Silver earns its long running popularity. It tones brassy blonde and grey hair quickly, cheaply, and reliably.

The score sits around four out of five for me. The toning power is excellent. The dryness is the only real flaw, and a conditioner solves most of it.

Last update on 2026-10-05 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that at no additional cost to you, I earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. I only recommend products and services that I believe will add value to my readers. Thank you for your support!

Buy it if you want a cheap, effective brass killer and you already use a good conditioner. Skip it if your hair is fragile and needs repair more than it needs toning.

For the price, nothing in the drugstore aisle tones better in a single wash.

FAQs

How often should I use PRO:VOKE Touch of Silver Shampoo?

Twice a week is the maximum PRO:VOKE recommends. Once a week suits most people better, especially if your hair feels dry. Never use it daily and never leave it on for more than five minutes.

Will it turn my hair purple?

It can if you leave it on too long or if your hair is very pale. Platinum, white, and silver hair absorbs violet pigment quickly. Start with two minutes, rinse, and judge the result before extending the time.

Does it work on brown hair?

Yes, on highlighted or lightened brown hair. It removes orange and yellow from foils and balayage without darkening the natural base. It will not change virgin brown hair that has never been lightened.

Can I use it right after bleaching?

No. PRO:VOKE advises waiting at least two weeks after a colour service. Freshly bleached hair is highly porous and will grab pigment unevenly.

Why does my hair feel dry after using it?

The formula uses a strong cleansing surfactant to remove build up so the pigment can deposit evenly. Always follow with a conditioner or weekly mask. If dryness continues, cut back to one wash every ten days.

Is it sulfate free?

No. It contains sodium C14 16 olefin sulfonate, which is a sulfate style cleanser. Anyone avoiding sulfates should look at a sulfate free toning conditioner instead.

How long does one bottle last?

A 200ml bottle lasted me about ten weeks with one wash per week on shoulder length hair. Long or thick hair will go through it faster, so the 400ml bottle is better value.

Does it replace a salon toner?

It does not. It maintains cool tones between appointments and slows brass return. Correcting uneven or badly lifted colour still needs a professional toner.