The key to fixing orange hair is usually to neutralise the orange with its opposite colour – blue. Here are some tried and trusted tips we've curated to banish your orange strands at home.
To cancel out brassy orange hair, you should use a blue toner or hair dye. In color theory, blue is opposite orange on the color wheel, which means it can neutralize the unwanted brassy tones.
Toning to balance out the warm tones
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.
Actually blue Dawn dish soap will pull the majority of the color out. Red (and therefore orange since it's red+yellow) fades the fastest of any color, so don't worry it'll come out. Dawn will make your hair dry as hell but will do no damage.
Purple shampoo can help neutralize the orange tones. Look for a high-quality purple shampoo and use it a few times a week. Leave it in for a few minutes before rinsing to let the purple pigments work. Consider applying a toner specifically designed for blonde hair.
If your hair is orange, you'll need a blue toner. Try a blue shampoo to tone the brassiness and get rid of the orange. This color toner is commonly needed for darker hair.
The most powerful toner against orange tones is the Wella Colour Charm Toner in 050 Cooling Violet. Used alone on blonde hair this gives a steel grey result. Used alone on orange hair this will really reduce the orange tones and leave you with an ashy dark blonde/light brown result.
Blue toning formulas can help counteract orange tones in the hair. The reasoning goes back to basic color theory: Shades positioned opposite on the color wheel are complementary and effectively cancel each other out when combined.
In the case of orange hair, a touch of blue pigment will cool and calm too-warm locks, while a hint of violet is also helpful for yellow/orange strands on a level 7.
Dark ash blonde doesn't cover brassy hair, per se. Instead, using those cool-toned toners can help to neutralize any overly-warm red or orange hues by effectively 'cancelling them out'.
Use Purple or Blue Shampoos
It's a simple matter of color theory, relying on the complementary colors of a color wheel to cancel out unwanted tones. 3 "Using a color-correcting purple shampoo will undoubtedly cancel out the overly warm, orange tones and keep that cooler, brighter blonde you desire," says Cunningham.
If you have any orange left in your hair, T14 is probably the best for your hair over T18. T18 is only effective if your hair is a level 10 or higher (purely yellow). Putting the wrong toner in your hair won't necessarily harm it, but it likely won't affect the color at all.
If you want to go to a darker brown, your stylist can find a color that will have cool, blue tones (you won't see any blue in your hair, however), that will give you the deep brown look you're going for, and cover up the orange.
For a contrasting look, go to the complementary colors to orange, which are blues or greens. Complementary colors are found on the opposite side of the color wheel.
For the natural redheads who simply want a switch-up, brown dye is a straightforward solution.
When blue dye is directly applied to orange hair, the colors might mix, resulting in an uneven, muddy shade that doesn't truly neutralize the orange. Moreover, the underlying orange undertones can still shine through, leading to a suboptimal outcome.
The key to fixing orange hair is usually to neutralise the orange with its opposite colour – blue.
The Wella Color Charm T28 Natural Blonde Hair Toner mimics a perfect sunkissed shade, looks completely natural and reduces brassy yellow and orange tones.
It all goes back to the basic principles of the color wheel; blue and green fall directly opposite from red and orange, which means that the cooler blue and green tones will neutralize and counteract the warmer ones, says Dupuis.
Using a purple dye on your orange hair works best to conceal the brassy orange tones. It produces a light purple or bluish tone that looks...
To avoid it going ginger or red then you must check what shade you are using. For example if the colour says golden, chocolate, mahogany, red, warm brown etc, these will all look 'ginger'. To achieve a rich colour, a basic shade must be added to create the depth (how dark it is).
The Wella T14 Toner has a violet - blue base, meaning that it will target golden orange and yellow brassiness. I would recommend this toner if you have quite light hair that is more golden orange. It will give you a really cool toned result if your hair is light enough.
Decolour Orange Remover will permanently remedy this issue. Just colour your hair as usual. Wait 48 hours (for the permanent colour to bed in), then apply Decolour Orange Remover throughout. After use, you will notice the hair will be void of all orange and red hues and have a cool neutral tone.
Neutralizes orange yellow tones and achieve a cool neutral blonde hair.