Q: For folks who don't want ashy hair color, is it hard to fix? A: It's super easy to fix. When formulating your shade, your colorist will likely use a copper or golden tone to counteract the ash.
Yes, purple coloring can help tone ash blonde hair, especially if you're trying to neutralize unwanted yellow or brassy tones. Purple is opposite yellow on the color wheel, so it effectively cancels out those warm hues.
If your highlights are feeling too cool-toned, silvery, or ashy compared to the rest of your hair, you'll want to add warm tones to your highlighted areas.
Ash blonde hair will gradually fade into a lighter or even brighter blonde. However, the cool undertones (blue, ash, violet) in ash blonde hair tend to fade the quickest over time, and when that happens, your ash blonde hair may start looking warm, yellow, or brassy.
Highlighted hair is often porous and can take on ash tones heavily – the hair then appears greyish or sometimes even silver. When you say your blonde highlights look grey, it is often because they take on a grey-blue tone, sometimes all over and sometimes in patches.
“If you want to go lighter, stay within two shades of your natural color to get the most flattering tone,” says Papanikolas. “Also look for ash-based colors (blue or green) to neutralize the underlying red/orange pigments that everyone has.”
A green cast usually results because hair is over-porous, causing it to grab too much of the green-based ash tones. The green should be neutralized with the color that is opposite it on the color wheel—red. This type of color correction should be done by your stylist who will choose the correct red or red-orange base.
Add warmth. This can be done in a salon by adding a gloss or toner onto the hair. But if you're looking to solve your ashy issue at home, reach for a color-correcting treatment, like the Better Natured Color Refreshing Crème in Rose Gold.
Orange hair to light brown: Try using a medium ash blonde hair dye, as it can help neutralize the orange tone and achieve a cool light brown hue. Another option is to wait for the orange tones to fade and apply a light brown hair dye over it, making sure to choose a shade with ash undertones to neutralize the orange.
Both brass and ash are two polar-opposite tones in hair color.
Dyeing dark brown hair purple
We'll get the bad out of the way first; unlike our blonde and redhead sisters, chestnut shades are typically more stubborn to shift in colour. This means you'll have to lighten your hair a lot if a pastel lilac shade is your desired look.
For ash blonde hair, the single most important rule is to always use a shampoo and conditioner set that's designed to maintain light tones. Thanks to the innovations of hair science, stylists have come up with a solution to keep brassy, yellow shades from ruining your perfect platinum.
You can get rid of ashy skin by using moisturizing products, opting for natural skincare products instead of harsh chemical-based products and changing some bathing habits. If the skin condition is causing too much discomfort and irritation, immediately consult your doctor.
A blue shampoo or conditioning gloss can help to banish brassy tones and keep your ash brown hair smoky and cool. Like with any dyed hair, you should use a gentle, color-safe shampoo to avoid stripping the color from your strands.
Clarifying Shampoo
Most toners are not permanent, therefore eventually, after several washes, the 'cool' tones will fade. If you want that toner gone quicker, 2-3 washes with a clarifying shampoo will start to remove the blue, grey or purple stains.
Massage a generous amount of clarifying shampoo into wet hair hair. Wet your hair with warm water in the shower. Apply a palmful of clarifying shampoo to your hair and massage it in, paying special attention to the parts of your hair that are the most ashy. Rinse out the clarifying shampoo thoroughly with warm water.
Our favorite color-depositing conditioner is the dpHue Gloss+ thanks to its wide range of shades, easy application, and ability to soften and hydrate hair. For a clear gloss that adds shine to any hair color, we recommend the Pureology Color Fanatic Top Coat + Sheer.
If you have little or no heat in your hair, an ash shade can make it look green. An ash shade contains a little blue pigment that counteracts the heat in the hair. If you have little or no warm pigments in your hair, the ash colour can give your hair a green tint.
By looking at color theory and choosing the opposite color of your hair in the color wheel, such as purple or blue shades, you can neutralize the yellow and orange.
If you were a blonde to start with and you've ended up with orange hair after bleaching, it could be due to a build-up of chemicals or minerals in your hair. Brassiness can also happen if you've been in the sea or a chlorinated pool frequently.
Blonde blends better with grey
Grey hair in blonde hair or grey roots in blonde hair blends better than with darker hair. So blonde is a good choice if you want to make your grey hair or grey roots less noticeable.
Green (also known as ash) is the opposite to red. Use green and ash to cancel red. These mix tones are best combined with base colors to achieve the hair color results that you desire. However, instead of using pure colors to neutralize, you can also use pre-mixed toners.