Some of South Africa's biggest retailers have removed products made by TRESemmé following a row over an advert that has been condemned as racist.

The original advert for a TRESemmé product that was promoted by retailer Clicks had pictures of African hair labelled dry, dull and damaged, while an example of white hair was described as fine and flat.

Clicks responded to protests by apologising, pulling the advert and removing TRESemmé products and now other companies have joined in.

Woolworths said it had taken all TRESemmé products from its shelves with immediate effect.

"As a company, we are deeply aware of our responsibility to confront racial prejudice and disparities when they are identified. We do not support the racial biases expressed in the TRESemmé campaign," Woolworths said in a statement.

Pick n Pay confirmed that it had also removed all TRESemmé products from its shelves after the outrage.

The Shoprite Group, which owns stores such as Checkers, Checkers Hyper, Shoprite and the U-Save brands, also said it had engaged its supplier and removed all TRESemmé products.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party called for protests on Monday and demanded that those behind the advert be named and dismissed.

The company's senior executive resigned and Clicks said other employees involved had been suspended.

Clicks executives are now due to meet EFF leader Julius Malema over the advert.