How to Keep Blonde Hair From Going Brassy

With another cool blonde Karen who writes for www.UneFemme.net

I was asked the other day how I manage to keep my new blonde hair from going warm and brassy (never a good thing when you have cool colouring like I do).  So here are a few tips I’ve picked up from my hairdresser Karleigh at Anthony Nitson Hair who is a color specialist.

1. Use a purple shampoo – I use L’Oreal Silver shampoo (which is actually purple in color – cos purple is the complementary color to yellow on the color wheel and it cancels out that brassy yellow colour).   There are lots of these violet shampoos available on the market, see the pic below for a good range.  Want an extra boost of that lovely violet?  Put the shampoo on 10 minutes before you have a shower and wash it out.

Turn on your JavaScript to view content

2. Don’t wash too often.  The chlorine in the water will wash out the toner (which you had put in after you coloured your blonde locks) which keeps it from looking brassy.  The blue pigments that are in hair color are the smallest, so wash out first, leaving the red and yellow ones behind (and these are exposed by the peroxide in your hair dye).

3. Use a dry shampoo in between, so you don’t have to wash so often but your hair will look fresh. keep away from the ends stick to the root area.

4. Avoid shampoos with sulfates and parabens which strip hair color.  Use shampoos specifically made for coloured hair.

5. Get an extra toner treatment in between colouring if it’s gone too brassy.

6. Use a great quality conditioner for coloured hair to keep it in the best condition possible.  The more damaged and porous your hair, the faster the brass comes back!

7. Get a Revlon Colorball, which is a conditioning treatment with color pigment in it. I use a 1002 which is to cancel out the gold tones. I leave it on for 5mins in the shower as conditioner and it leaves the hair feeling nourished.

The reality is, the darker your hair is to start with the more red or red/orange pigments it has, which will be exposed by the peroxide in hair dye.  So it’s much harder to keep the brassiness out when you’re changing your hair color radically.  My hair which is around 80% gray still has some dark hairs left, which is why those ones go brassy easily.