The fact is, color fades and everyone's natural hair color has brassy undertones to some degree. As your hair color begins to fade, the brass will eventually start to show through.
Brassy tones in dyed or bleached hair can fade over time, but they often persist as the underlying warm natural pigments re-emerge with the fading of the dye or toning treatments.
If you're someone with a darker hair color and have chosen a permanent color that is more than two shades lighter than your natural color, chances are that your hair will come out with a brassy orange color – and there's science behind it.
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.
If you're past the point of prevention and need a remedy, using a toner for orange hair is one of the best ways to kick brass to the curb. But the best toner for orange hair depends on whether your brassiness leans more yellow or it's purely orange.
With the undertones remaining, chances are, you'll end up with a brassy/orangey shade. Brassiness can also occur if you live in a hard water area high in iron content. Iron in water acts as an oxidizer, causing orange/red tones in darker hair. Additionally, UV rays can expedite the oxidation process too.
There's two reasons why your hair is still brassy after toning or colouring. Either the undertone of the toner/colour is wrong, or the product is too light for you.
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.
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.
Brass usually shows up as yellow or orange tones in blonde hair and orange or red tones in brunette hair. Brassy hair is caused by an overabundance of warm pigments in your hair, usually caused by bleaching and the hair coloring process.
The more you wash your hair, the faster the color will fade, and the higher the chance for brassy tones to creep in. Wash your hair a maximum of every other day (every three to five days is optimal) to keep your color vibrant and avoid brassiness.
The level system is made up of 10 numbers which help determine the depth level of your natural hair. 1 is black, 5 is light brown, 6 is dark blonde, 7 is blonde and 10 is the lightest blonde.
Blue shampoos contain blue or violet pigments; when you wash your hair with blue shampoo, these pigments are deposited onto your hair strands, and help to counteract brassy tones. Use our Blue Crush Shampoo and Blue Crush Conditioner to get rid of those orangey, reddy hues, and reveal cooler-toned brown hair.
If you want to re-tone your hair, wait at least 2 weeks. The more you shampoo, the sooner the toner will fade. If you don't wash your hair frequently, you can go back after 8 to do some tress maintenance, and you'll be right back to being your perfect shade of blonde.
With my hair, I usually like to leave around 20-30min. Usually depends on how brassy yellow my bleached hair is before putting on. I like to make sure the toner gets dark enough to where I see no more yellow or orangey brassiness from the bleach. It's usually around 30min but I've left up to 45min.
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).
For those who might not be familiar, toner is a hair product that stylists use on recently bleached hair in order to neutralize brassy tones and create a cooler color. Applying a toning gloss with purple and blue hues will counteract the natural yellow and orange pigmentation in the hair strands.
If you are unhappy with the look of your toner, the good news is that toner fades all on its own. The even better news is that you can speed this process along. Start by washing your hair with a strong clarifying product, such as clarifying shampoo, dandruff shampoo, baking soda, or dish soap.
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 an apple cider vinegar toning rinse
Rinse thoroughly afterwards. You can repeat this process every two weeks to help tone down the brassiness in your hair.
In-salon toners will last on average 3-4 weeks while at-home toners will need to be refreshed once a week, but the answer really depends on the amount of pigments in your chosen toner and how often you wash your hair. Factors that affect how long your toner lasts include: Sun exposure.
Some other factors that contribute to hair colour turning brassy are Hard Water and Chlorine: Hard water or Chlorinated water deposits minerals on the hair, that when exposed to heat styling or the sun will make the colour go brassy.