Purple neutralizes yellow. My brassy hair tends to be on the orange-y yellow side, so anything with a blue or purple base ends up neutralizing the brass. Demi permanent hair colors that are labeled “ash” usually are a blue/violet base and are perfect for toning brassy hair.
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.
To neutralize brassy tones in hair, especially blonde or highlighted hair, look for toners that contain purple or blue pigments. Here are some popular options: Wella Color Charm T18 - This is a popular choice for achieving a cool, ash blonde. It's a light ash blonde toner that helps eliminate yellow tones.
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:
Blue (silver) toned shampoos will cancel out copper brassiness. This works because blue and purple are opposite orange and yellow on the color wheel, effectively counteracting the brassy tones. There is a wide variety of options, ranging from affordable drug store versions to pricey salon products.
Use a purple or blue shampoo
Blue and purple shampoos neutralise unwanted brassy tones to reveal a cooler blonde or light brown shade. Examine the colour of your hair currently, and find the colour that is exactly opposite it using a colour wheel.
Applying a hair dye or a hair toner for orange hair can neutralize some of this warmth, but only temporarily. As time passes, the cooler tones in your toner or dye will fade, and those warmer undertones will resurface.
Hair stylists often tone bleached or blonde hair to neutralize brassy yellow and orange tones on bleached hair with a purple color. Purple shampoo is a great at-home solution for toning hair and preventing brassiness.
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.
Sun Exposure + Color Fade
The sun's powerful UV rays can break down hair dye molecules, fading the cool tones faster than the warm tones. This can lead to the hair taking on a brassy, orange, or yellow tint.
In the case of brassiness, the tones are typically orange or yellow, so you must consult the wheel to see which colors sit opposite. These will cancel out excess warmth. So, if you want to know how to get rid of yellow hair, hints of /6 Violet (Cool) should be added to your formula.
Nexxus Blonde Assure Shampoo
Our top pick for this category is Nexxus Blonde Assure Purple Shampoo Color Care Shampoo because it not only includes keratin protein but also effectively neutralizes brassy tones while nourishing strands.
Ash brown hair is a cool-toned shade, which means it can turn brassy when it's not maintained properly. A blue shampoo or conditioning gloss can help to banish brassy tones and keep your ash brown hair smoky and cool.
Ask Your Stylist to Use a Toner
Ask your colorist to apply a toner after the dye is washed out. A toner will literally "tone down the hair" to hide the warm undertones. When you don't do this, your highlights may look too blonde if you're a brunette," she says.
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.
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.
A: Counteracting brass means using the opposite tone on the color wheel to neutralize that shade, and get you the finish you want. For example, using blue or purple helps counteract brassy tones for blonde hair colors.
Use a hair toner
An easy way to neutralize brassy tones is with a hair toner. Blonde It Up Crystal Glow Toner is our top choice for color-treated blondes, bleached blondes and natural light blondes who are noticing yellow tones in their hair.
If you have brassy orange or even red tones, blue shampoo is your best bet. However, blue pigment won't help with yellow undertones. The reverse is true for yellow undertones. Purple shampoo is great for removing yellowness, but not effective for orange or red tones.
So, can you guess what the neutralizing color for orange is? You've got it: blue! Since red and yellow make orange, that means blue is the missing primary color. Blue and orange are complements on the color wheel, which means that blue will neutralize an orange hair color.
If you leave purple shampoo in your hair for 30 minutes, the risk of over-toning increases significantly. While purple shampoo is designed to neutralize brassy or yellow tones, leaving it on for an extended period can lead to overly cool or even purple-tinted hair, especially for those with light or porous hair.
A: Hello and thank you for your question! Yes, you can absolutely use the yellow to counteract purple hair dye.
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.
Purple toners are the best for brassy blonde hair! As a blonde, if you're seeing brass you're likely seeing unwanted yellow - and purple counteracts this.
Even though ash blonde might seem like a light and delicate color, it will indeed cancel out brassy tones and orange hues commonly left behind by hair lightener and other hair color.