The key to fixing orange hair is usually to neutralise the orange with its opposite colour – blue.
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.
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.
Using dark ash blonde or dark ash grey dye can help neutralize brassy, orange, or yellow tones in your hair, as the ash tones contain green and blue pigments that counteract warm hues. Here are some tips to consider:
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.
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.
If you think of the color wheel, blue and purple are located directly opposite yellow and orange, which is why blue and purple-pigmented shampoo helps to correct color and remove brassy tones from the hair.
Pink + yellow/orange = peach. Just as red + yellow = orange…..but you can do a VERY vibrant pink and if the yellow/orange is pale that will give you a result that leans much more pink. If you goal is more peach, you would just use a peachy shade to begin with.
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.
Cool shades of blue or green can also add contrast that will calm down the warmth of orange.
The best colors to cover up icky orange hair color are those with a purple, rich red, black or blue base. Blue and purple pigments counteract red and brassy orange tones as they are opposite colors so cancel each other 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.
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.
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'.
The key to fixing orange hair is usually to neutralise the orange with its opposite colour – blue.
To combat orange tones you need blue to neutralize. On the color wheel, blue sits across from orange, which means it will balance out and neutralize unwanted warmth or brassiness in the hair. Purple shampoo works best for those with yellow tones, while blue shampoo is ideal for orange or even reddish hues.
When looking at the color wheel, true orange tones are cancelled by a cool-toned lighter color that looks similar to ash blonde hair color. Using top-quality professional hair color, stylists can cover unwanted brassy orange tones by applying a shade of ash blonde to the client's hair.
Cool Brown and Light Beige are best for brown and dark blonde hair that's too red or orange, while Platinum Blonde will work best for very light hair that's too yellow.
Remove orange and yellow tones simply by applying two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar mixed with water, using a cotton ball. After 30 minutes, wash your hair with cool water.
Wella Colour Charm Toner T14 Pale Ash Blonde
This toner can also be mixed with the Wella 050 Cooling Violet Toner on more orange hair. Adding in the Wella 050 Toner will give you a boost of really strong Ash tones so the combination of both should help to turn that orange brassiness into an ashy tone.
Select a cool haircolor, like one with the word “ash” in the name, since it's less likely to turn brassy than one that's warm. If you gravitate toward warmer shades, don't worry; there are plenty of lighter haircolors, such as greige blonde, that provide a nice balance of warm and cool tones.
Darker hair colors like deep black, espresso brown, and blue-black tend to fade the slowest.