The Best Products To Keep Your New Hair Colour From Going Brassy

They say that blonds have more fun, but the constant battle to keep brassiness at bay can feel like more of a chore. (Yet it’s so worth it!) So, let’s start by talking about why brassy hair happens to begin with. Deep tones have to be lifted with peroxide and ammonia to turn them blond. During bleaching, melanin is broken down; if some of that pigment remains, warmth eventually begins to show through. If you started out with dark blond hair, you might notice a yellowish tint; if you started out with really dark hair, the tint could be orangey-red. Either way, not fun!

So, what’s a girl to do? Well, first you need to assess the damage. If you’re a brand-new blond, some level of brassiness might be expected as one phase of your colour journey. But if you’re embarrassed by how “off” your hair colour appears, or you notice areas of patchiness, you may have experienced a hair-colouring flub that requires professional repair. When it comes to how to fix brassy hair colour mistakes, it’s best to go back to your salon and ask them to apply a toner for brassy hair. Toner is a translucent deposit of hair colour, also known as a glaze or gloss. It usually contains a touch of pigment that can help correct excess warmth and has the side benefit of boosting shine for up to four weeks.

If you’ve been DIY-ing the whole process, you might be wondering how to get rid of brassy hair with vinegar at home. This involves mixing two parts apple cider vinegar with one part water and allowing the acidic mixture to sit on your hair for 15 minutes before rinsing. One potential drawback? This level of deep-cleansing can be drying—and bottle blonds are already contending with a noticeable difference in hair texture after major chemical processing.

The most effective advice on how to get rid of brassy hair while improving dry texture is to seek out colour-correcting shampoos and conditioners that add moisture at the same time. To counter yellow tones, you need to look to the opposite end of the colour wheel: violet. The best purple shampoo for brassy hair shouldn’t contain any harsh sulphates, salts or surfactants that can strip hair colour. From the L’Oréal Paris EverPure Blonde collection, you can use L’Oréal Paris EverPure Blonde Shampoo and L’Oréal Paris EverPure Blonde Conditioner biweekly, and swap in L’Oréal Paris EverPure Blonde Shade Reviving Treatment for extra nourishment on weekends. Remember: You’ll find that you don’t need to wash processed, dyed hair as often.

Of course, blonds aren’t the only ones who suffer! Too much yellow, orange or red in your beautiful brunette mane? There are steps to follow that are similar to those mentioned above if you want to know how to remove brassy tones from brown hair. You can even seek out a glossing kit like L’Oréal Paris Casting Créme Gloss if you are less about the salon and more about how to tone brassy brown hair at home. If you’re colouring your own hair, lean toward cool or neutral shades of brown, such as ash brown.

A few parting tips! Whether you’re all-over blond or have highlights over a deeper base, you’ll want to protect freshly coloured hair from oxidation in order to prevent brassy blond hair. That means coating hair with a UV-protective spray to counteract sun damage—especially when hair colour is fresh. Rinsing hair with cool water also helps to close the hair cuticle so that minerals from shower water don’t enter the shaft. Be mindful of swimming in chlorine-filled pools, too, since the chemicals strip hair of precious colour and cause damage that makes colour more apt to turning brassy. We’re not saying don’t go for a swim—just be sure to wash your hair with a gentle shampoo and conditioner as soon as you get out of the pool.