Help! How To Get Rid Of Brassy Hair

Introduction

The purpose of coloring your hair blonde is to give it that blonde hue that you want. You are not alone as going blonde is desirable for a lot of people. However, as weeks progress after the coloring session, you notice that your hair becomes an unsightly yellow, red, or orange tone. That is known as brassy hair.

Whenever warm tones show up after dying your hair blonde, which is brassy hair, it makes the hair appear to be quite undesirable. What do you do in the case of brassy hair? Do you go and dye your hair blonde again weeks after the fact? No. Let’s talk more about what causes brassy hair and what to do about it.

What Causes Brassy Hair?

Any unwanted warm color that forms after dying your hair a light color doesn’t come out of thin air. And by the way, brassy hair does not always mean that those tones show up after dying your hair blonde. It can happen if your hair is dark and has platinum or light brown highlights. Why does that happen?

You must understand the process of dying your hair a lighter color to know why brassy hair can result from it. When you dye dark hair, it is essential to bleach your hair with an ammonia and peroxide mixture. That is because melanin, the pigment that causes the hair’s dark color, needs oxidation to dilute the color.

After the bleaching step, the application of the hair color dye comes next. The coloring adds the artificial pigment to the hair, so the hair has the desired color. For it to work correctly, the pigmentation of the natural hair color has to die down enough for the coloring to give the hair the desired appearance.

However, sometimes bleaching the hair doesn’t remove all of the natural pigmentations. When some of the natural hair colors present with the dye in place, that can cause those unwanted warm tones to emerge. That is the cause of brassy hair.

If your natural hair color is in the blonde shade and dyed your hair to a lighter blonde, the pigment underlying is yellow. If your natural hair color is brown to black hair and you dyed it to a lighter color, the natural pigment underlying is red to orange. When the brassiness emerges, that is your natural hair color surfacing, which clashes with the artificial pigmentation from the hair dye. That is why brassiness can be a huge problem. It becomes more complicated than that, as well.

Your hair dye has yellow, red, and blue molecules. The blue bits in color don’t last for very long. The absence of the blue molecules is the reason the warm tones stick around. The blue ones don’t last for very long because they are smaller than the other particles. Frequent washing and shampooing remove them quite fast. That is the reason it takes several weeks for your hair to become brassy. What can you do about preventing and fixing brassy hair? The fortunate thing there are methods to help make that happen.

How To Remove Or Fix Brassy Hair

Fortunately, there are methods to implement to lower the odds of developing brassy hair. One of those methods is by choosing a cool hair color. The thing to go for is choosing a hair color with the word ‘ash’ in the label. Cooler hair colors are not nearly as likely to become brassy. However, if you prefer a warmer shade, choose a shade with a balance of both cool and warm tones. That is your best bet to reduce the chances of your hair turning brassy.

Another idea to reduce the chances of brassy hair is by heading to the salon and grabbing a toner. A toner is an application of hair color that is translucent. It can alter the color of your hair without you having to commit to a coloring. Not to mention, it is an excellent solution for brassy hair. Other names for the toner are gloss, glaze, or the demi-permanent color, as it can correct the unwanted colors associated with brassy hair. In addition to that, a toner can make your hair shinier and appear more lively as a result. As you can see by reading this, you know that toner has many benefits instead of just one.

If neither of these options is appealing to you, then the good news is that there are other ways to get rid of brassy hair. You can always get a shampoo that neutralizes brassy tones. These shampoos are either blue or purple. If your hair is blonde, then go for the purple shampoo. If your hair is brown or darker, go for a blue-tinted one. Why is that? If you look at the color wheel, you’ll see that purple is opposite to yellow and blue is contrary to orange. That is a pretty smart tactic. But don’t use it too often, or else your hair could end up turning blue or purple, which is the last thing you would want to happen. Use that shampoo once a week.

Speaking of shampoo, you will want to also use a shampoo for color-treated hair for the remainder of the time. These shampoos are gentle and do not contain sulfates known to cause hair color to fade.

Another thing to do is to limit your time in the sun. That is because the sun’s UV rays will cause the hair color to fade and increase the chances of brassiness. If you anticipate that you will be spending a lot of time in the sun, keep your hair covered and wear sunscreen.

The sun is also associated with swimming. It would also be tempting to go swimming on a hot summer day but stay away from the pool. The chlorine in it will strip the hair dry and cause the hair to appear dull. Therefore, chlorine is damaging, and brassiness can result from it. You will also want to invest in a shower filter for that reason.

Not only are there minerals in unfiltered water such as iron and chlorine, which are bad for colored hair, but there are other chemicals as well. A shower filter will filter out those chemicals and minerals to help keep your hair color intact for a more extended period.

Conclusion

When you color your hair a lighter color tone, you only want your hair‘ to have that tone. However, unfortunately, warm tones can evolve into undesirable colors, which are known as brassy tones. That happens because of environmental factors. But that does not have to occur as brassy hair can be prevented and even fixed.

The list of methods to keep your hair from going brassy or reversing it will help keep your dyed hair intact. All you have to do is arm yourself with the knowledge you require to make sure your hair does not go brassy. You can enjoy your colored hair for a long time.