Purple shampoo is a toning shampoo used for all shades of blonde hair to help preserve its color and keep locks looking healthy and vibrant. The shampoo essentially acts as a color-correcting toner for your hair without you ever having to step foot in a salon.
Unless you have white hair or gray hair, you shouldn't leave the purple shampoo on for longer than 15 minutes at a time. If you're already leaving the shampoo on for less than 15 minutes and you're noticing a purple tone, then try leaving the product on for even less time.
Is purple shampoo a toner? Any product that dispenses pigment to adjust hair tone can be considered a toner, and that includes purple shampoo. Its pigments work to neutralize brass.
“So, if the hair has a little bit of a yellow tone, a pigmented purple shampoo is going to neutralize that warmth.” Because of this, violet hued shampoo can also neutralize those yellow, brassy tones in more than just blonde hair.
Zoe's answer: Leaving purple shampoo in your hair for longer than the recommended time is not always a good idea. The longer you leave it, the more pigments will be deposited on your hair and they could even stain it permanently.
The purple shampoo bottle will tell you to apply it to wet hair in the shower for 10 minutes, but the hack is to apply it to dry hair and leave it on for upwards of 15 minutes and then wash it out.
DON'T use purple shampoo before your colour appointment
As Anneliese said, it's important not to use purple shampoo in the run-up to your colouring appointment. “Stop using purple shampoo a week or so before you have your colour done,” advises Jimmy.
If your hair is on the yellowish, orange end of the spectrum, purple shampoo will fix it. Like blue shampoo, purple shampoo is another at-home option that's formulated to neutralize brassy yellow and orange tones in color-treated hair. It's primarily used to tone blonde (or lightened), color-treated hair.
Purple shampoo is purple colored shampoo that distributes purple pigment to neutralize brassy, yellow tones. Purple is used because, if you take a look at the color wheel, it is the direct opposite color of yellow. This means purple and yellow cancels one another out.
Because it does not contain an ingredient that will chemically change the color of your hair, purple shampoo cannot truly lighten hair. If anything, purple shampoo may make your hair temporarily slightly darker.
It's important to note that the pigment in purple shampoo isn't a lightener or hair dye but a gentle toner that works overtime. So it can't darken your hair or make it any lighter. For this reason, if your hair tone is too dark, it won't make it any brighter.
Depending on what shade of orange your hair is, a purple shampoo may help correct your color. If your hair has become more of a yellowy-orange tone after using bleach or dye, the purple shampoo might help remove brassy tones. The purple shampoo will correct yellow tones, but not necessarily orange.
“Purple shampoo does not cancel out orange so if the hair has any orange or yellow orange tones in it, the purple shampoo would actually make them warmer depositing red into the hair.”
Leaving purple shampoo in your hair for an hour or more can cause your hair to look dull and lifeless. To leave purple shampoo for more than 10 minutes is already too much.
Purple shampoo should be applied in the shower or during a hair wash. While your hair is wet, apply the shampoo and lather it onto your hair. The amount of shampoo that you use will vary depending on your choice of product and how brassy your hair is looking.
Things You Should Know
Let the shampoo sit on your hair for 2-3 minutes if you're a natural blonde or 15 minutes for brassy color-treated hair. For gray or platinum hair, wait 30 minutes.
Purple shampoo is for already bleached hair, so if you're hoping to lighten brown hair with purple shampoo, you'll be disappointed. This is all down to the fact that purple shampoo isn't lightening. Instead, it brightens blondes by canceling out yellow tones, which just happen to be opposite purple on the color wheel.
The purple shampoo can cause build up making the hair look dull and darker if overused." This makes the lightening process more difficult to create a seamless blend.
But can you use purple shampoo on brown hair? Yes, you can. These shampoos will tone your lightened hair strands and neutralize the brassy tones. They also help make your hair look fresh and healthy.
(As a refresher, purple shampoo is mostly used by blondes to remove the brassy color from their strands). It turns out that using this dry method can heighten the typical result of rinsing with purple shampoo or, if left in for long enough, can temporarily dye hair a violet color.
Tone With Blue Or Purple Shampoo
Toning neutralizes unwanted brassy tones to reveal a cooler blonde or light brown shade. The trick is figuring out which color toner to use, where the choice is usually between blue and purple depending on your hair color.
While the violet tones in purple shampoos can help bring blonde back to life, it does this by adding more toner; in effect, covering up the mineral coating on the hair cuticle. The more you shampoo with tone-correcting products, the more buildup you create — and the darker your blonde looks.
Boil 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, 2 tablespoons of hollyhock herb, and 1 cup of water until a thick liquid is achieved. Allow to cool, then apply to your hair for 30 minutes. Rinse, then follow with a conditioner.
Purple shampoo is the key to maintaining ash blonde hair. This is due to a little secret called color theory. Purple and yellow sit on opposite sides of the color wheel. This means violet hues counteract brassy tones.