Is the U-turn worth it? Yes, as long as the new path offers better and faster results!
Let’s first admit it: Toner products help you achieve a shinier, healthier, more natural-looking shade by neutralizing unwanted brassy tones.
But should those results cost the looks and health of your delicate hair? Never. Despite appearing as quick fixes, toners likely cause harm to your hair, as with any chemical you apply to your hair. Moreover, toners can be very drying to the hair. So if your hair is already damaged, using a toner can worsen the problem.
Fortunately, there are ways to prevent and overcome brassy hair without toner. And this step-by-step guide below will help you get there in less time and more efficiently! We chose some natural items as part of the guide, ensuring you stay safe through your journey.
So, here are the highlights of the guide:
- The top reasons – By knowing the underlying causes, you’re better off preventing and overcoming brassy tones in your hair quickly.
- How to prevent – This includes some dos and don’ts of the overcoming process, all before, during, and after you’ve colored your hair.
- Top tips on getting rid of brassiness – The main show! This consists of all the information and items you can use to fasten the brassiness-removing process. And with less or no harm at all! And;
- Why to always go natural – Some pros and cons of using natural methods to remove brassiness.
So, are you ready to fight off unwanted hues forever?
Why Does Brassiness Occur?
Chemistry is the main culprit, as it happens with other chemical-based products. Let’s break it down briefly.
The hair Coloring process breaks down into two stages: Bleaching and color application.
Bleaching is lifting your hair to make it ready to apply the color and sustain it for longer. Here, ammonia and peroxide are the crucial components of the equation. When hair is bleached, the melanin (a dark brown to black pigment our body produces naturally) dilutes in oxidation.
The next step post-bleaching is color application. The color deposits on your locks and removes some of your hair’s natural color.
As you start enjoying the new hair color, here’s what has been and is happening behind the scenes:
1. When bleaching or lifting fails to remove the underlying pigment altogether, it allows warm tones to reveal themselves.
The underlying pigment can differ based on the hair color type. When the brassiness starts creeping up, think of it as your natural hair telling you, “Hey, remember us?”
2. Your hair dye comprises three pigments: yellow, red, and blue. Blue pigment molecules are prone to breaking down easily and quickly with each wash, leaving warm tones behind.
Yep, blue is such a loser!
Also Read: A Complete Guide to Choosing the Best Low EMF Hair Dryer
So, How to Mitigate the Reasons Above?
In the former case above, there’s less chance for brassiness to appear as long as you do the bleaching/lifting correctly.
In the latter, the only way to remove brassiness is to use something that neutralizes the brassy, orange tones. And in this case, it is the color blue.
Some Other Reasons Why Brassy Tones May Appear in Hair
- Repeated exposure to shampoo can cause brassiness in naturally lighter hair.
- Washing your hair may result in a build-up of minerals (found in water) in your hair follicles, leaving you with brassy hair.
- Excessive dying
Also Read: How to Keep Hair Damage Free While Swimming in a Chlorine Pool
Well, Preventing is Easier Than Getting Rid Of!
Heat is the Main Culprit
This includes the following three don’ts that are supposed to be never done:
1. Avoid Heat Styling
Heating tools are a direct source of harsh heat, not only for your gorgeous locks but also for your scalp. This double-sided treatment becomes one of the biggest reasons for brassiness.
At its root, the heat of styling tools makes your hair dull and weaker over time, leaving room for brassy hair to show up quickly and more often.
Also Read: Can I Tan in A Tanning Bed with Wet Hair?
2. Avoid Sun Exposure
In the cold winter days? Never! Well, we can feel you, but you’ll have to do it to prevent brassiness and your hair color to last longer.
If it still seems impossible, you have two other options: cover your hair with some accessories or use an SPF hair mask.
If we had to choose, we would have jumped straight for the latter. And then jumped to such an SPF Hair Mask that offers complete protection on the most intense days in the sun!
3. Avoid Hot Water
Nope, we never want this winter to be the hardest of your life. We do care for you.
We mean lukewarm water instead of a cold one.
When you wash your hair with high-temperature water, it opens up the outer cuticles of your hair, causing the color particles to leave the locks quickly. The result is yellow-toned strands all around your head. So, the best idea is to wash your hair with lukewarm water after a shower.
Also Read: How to Get Epoxy Out of Hair?
4. Avoid Chlorinated Pools
Well, we understand how tempting swimming in summer can be for you. But the key to making brassiness stay away from hair is to stay away from the chlorinated water of pools.
Chlorine in swimming pools can strip your hair dry, leaving it dull and damage-prone. Unsurprisingly, the more damaged your hair becomes, the more prone to brassy tones it’ll become.
Okay, you can’t live without swimming in the pool. Check out our post on how to keep your hair dry when swimming, including all the tips, tricks, and tools to do the job efficiently!
5. Avoid Using Harsh Hair Products
Avoiding certain things can keep your strands brighter for longer between hair color and highlighting sessions. Exteriorizing Some chemicals from your skincare kit and limiting hair appointments that contain chemical treatments is one of the keys to hair color longevity. Over-processed hair is prone to dryness, frizz, and unwanted tones, so space out hair sessions accordingly.
But you should only partially discount most of the products from your skincare regimen. Always use conditioner and apply weekly or monthly hair masks to sustain the health of your hair.
Also Read: Can I Straighten My Hair After Dying it?
6. Wash Your Hair With Sulfate-Free Shampoo
Sulfates in regular shampoos may strip away color and moisture from hair, leaving hair and scalp dry and possibly damaging it.
“For those with color-treated hair, sulfates can also strip and dull your hair color,” says Jennifer Korab, a professional hairstylist.
Along with steering clear of sulfate shampoos, you also need to wash your hair less often. Overwashing can cause your hair color to fade faster while making it dry by draining out the natural oil in the scalp. Ideally, stick to 2-3 times a week, depending on your hair type.
7. Maintain the Health of Your Hair
Though all the tips above boil down to maintaining overall health, here we mean not lacking discipline in your hair care routine. Whichever hair care regimen you’re following,counter-verify whether it’s worth it. Once confirmed, stick to it.
Also Read: How to Wash Hair After Microblading
Let’s Get Rid Of Brassy Hair Without Toner Now
1. Use Purple Shampoo
It’s precisely what it sounds like – a shampoo that contains purple pigment.
Remember what the blue pigment in the dye does? The point of purple shampoo is to neutralize brassy and yellow tones on lighter hair by refilling that drained blue pigment.
“The main reason it is purple is that on the color wheel, it is the direct opposite color of yellow, which means purple and yellow will cancel one another out,” explains Richy Kandasamy, a professional colorist and the co-founder of Rokoko Beauty.
2. Use Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) On Hair
Apple cider vinegar may help pull out the brassy tones by helping maintain your hair’s pH balance. Use it this way:
- Dilute 2 cups ACV with the same amount of water.
- Apply it on the hair after shampooing with a sulfate-free shampoo. Be sure to do that in a basin to prevent the scalp from touching the mixture.
- Let it sit there for a minute or two.
- Rinse out thoroughly and condition your hair as usual.
Caution: ACV is very acidic and, when used undiluted and too often or too heavily, can damage the hair.
3. Rub Pure Virgin Olive Oil Into the Hair
The hair growth and nourishment benefits of the oil are appreciated; olive oil is an effective remedy to pull the chemical-induced color out of your hair, whether it comes from a dye or some natural items.
Method to Use:
- Heat some amount of the oil depending on the length of your hair.
- As it cools down, massage it through your hair and scalp and let it settle for an hour or so.
- Complete the process by washing it out with a sulfate-free shampoo
4. Must Give Chamomile Tea Wash a Try
How could tea do the trick? Well, it can!
Your hair soaks up some of the golden yellow colors in the chamomile tea and thereby looks brassiness-free.
In addition, chamomile is rich in a flavonoid called quercetin, which inhibits the tyrosine hormone. This hormone is responsible for the production of melanin in the body, allowing it to balance the color pigment in the hair.
Although it works best on blonde hair to reduce brassiness and enhance shine, your results will vary depending on your hair color. For lighter shades of brown hair, for example, it lends an attractive multi-tonal dimension to existing natural highlights.
Besides helping reduce brassy hair, chamomile tea also has a calming effect on the scalp and conditions hair for a softer, shinier look.
Method to Use:
- Take three bags of pure, high-quality chamomile tea and brew a strong tea in hot water. Remember, the stronger the tea, the better the results.
- Then, take the bags out of the pot and let the tea cool down.
- Apply it to your hair and let it sit for 30 minutes.
- Rinse it out and wash your hair with a sulfate-free shampoo.
5. Try Lemon Juice Mask
Like AVC, Lemon juice is a natural bleaching agent and can help lighten your hair to eliminate brassiness.
It does so by chemically reducing melanin. When exposed to the sun, the citric acid in lemon juice accelerates the bleaching process. So remember to soak up a few rays after applying lemon juice to your hair.
The lightening effects of lemon juice work best for lighter hair colors like blonde and light brown.
Method to Use:
- First things first – dilution is a must. Mix lemon juice and water and apply them to your hair with a cotton ball.
- Leave it on for 30-40 minutes.
- Rinse it out with lukewarm water.
Also Read: How to Stop Hair from Tangling at Nape of Neck
6. Use A Box Dye To Neutralize Brassiness
We’re stressing on ‘neutralizing,’ not on reducing in particular. Sometimes the best way to reduce the appearance of brassy tones in your hair is to dye it over again using a box dye to balance things up.
But you’ll need to be careful when choosing the color of the dye. If you’ve bleached your hair to a platinum shade, for example, then dyeing it with a platinum blonde dye won’t work at all. And even if it does, it won’t last for longer, causing the color to fade faster and the brassiness to appear again.
So, the best way is to use an ash-colored blonde dye with green undertones, making it easy to cover up those orange tints in your hair.
Apply the dye as per the instructions on the box, and then shampoo and condition it as usual.
7. Use A Conditioning Treatment
This tip is more about ‘prevention’ than getting rid of the brassy tones in your hair. You must regularly pamper your hair with deep conditioning treatments to help your color-treated hair look smooth, shiny, and vibrant. Consistently, you can preserve your blonde and other bleached hair colors and keep your mane from turning brassy.
Using Natural Methods to Get Rid of Brassy Tones: Pros & Cons
Pros
- They’re mostly less inexpensive than toner or other chemical-based brassiness treatments.
- You don’t have to worry about any side effects as they’re entirely natural
- You can easily find most items in your kitchen or refrigerator
Cons
- Natural methods likely take longer to show results than toners
- Yes, they may harm your hair or scalp if not used with caution
Conclusion
That was all we could do to help you eliminate and prevent brassiness in your hair. Maybe the first hack you try doesn’t work, but keep pushing the different things listed above. We hope you’ll get the solution soon. Till then, we wish you the best of luck!
Also Read: How to Dry Your Hair When Camping?