Toning Shampoo For Blondes - You Need This!

I just picked up some Schwarzkopf Bonacure Color Save Silver Shampoo 8.5oz from Amazon.com. Last night was the first time I'd used it and wanted to put a post up about the results. Because I'm floored.

First, why use a toning shampoo? Blonde hair, whether dyed or natural, will oxidize and yellow. Even women with blonde, grey or white hair will see a yellow tinge creep up. This can be due to factors like pollution or hair products, or even the water you use. It's the number one reason women hie their butts back to the salon for color-touch-ups. Nothing makes you look older than a yellow tinge to a blonde head of hair. 

So why did I buy a toning shampoo? I'm naturally a dark blonde. Over the summer, because of the sunshine and a botched highlight, my hair started to look like a psychodelic kaleidoscope of blonde. But my roots were growing as the days shortened and it just looked trailer park. About two weeks ago I bought a box of dark blonde and did the whole thing one color. It looked nice. And then a few days ago I went to brush my teeth before bedtime and my hair looked like the dirty side of a copper kettle. I was shocked, it happened so quickly and over my entire head. Brassiness, evils answer to angelic blonde.

Fast forward to last night when I climbed into the shower with Schwarzkopt's Color Save. It came out of the bottle like a deep blue pool of scary. The directions said to put it on and rinse it out immediately (or you can dye your hair purple). So I did, and carried on. Honestly, before I climbed into bed my hair was wet and I didn't think there was a huge amount of difference. This morning I got in front of the mirror and my jaw hit the floor. At least 80% of the brassiness is gone from my hair. It's still blonde, it's still beautiful. But now it looks - natural and healthy. I can't believe how effective this stuff was. So I wanted to know... how often should I use my purple shampoo?

TheBeautyDepartment.com has a great little article about it. The part I found the most helpful being...

"Purple shampoo pointers…

• When you first start using purple shampoo, use it every other time you shampoo and then adjust your useage from there. If you find that it’s still brassy, start using it every time you shampoo. If you see it starting to get just a touch too ashy, slow your usage. I have clients who use it once a week and some who use it every time they shampoo. It really depends on the type of hair you have (and the amount of yellow you’re trying to combat.)
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• If you’re all over blonde, apply a good amount of purple shampoo to the root and let it run out through the ends as you lather and rinse. Typically the top of your hair is more golden/brassy than the ends (if you’re blonde) so you’d want the most concentrated amount up top. The ends are more porous and will grab the color faster so it doesn’t need to stay on the ends as long. Just let it drizzle through the ends and they will catch the color.
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• If you’re not a blonde but have blonde or caramel highlights on hair that’s darker, you’ll want to only apply purple shampoo where you have lightened hair. You can always shampoo your hair with something else up top and then apply the purple toning shampoo to the lighter bits that tend to get brassy.
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• If your hair gets really yellow, let the purple shampoo sit on for 5 min. If you’re just fighting a minimal amount of brass,  a minute or two will be sufficient.
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• If you have a medicated scalp shampoo or just a shampoo that you can’t live without, you can always shampoo twice– once using your regular shampoo to get your hair clean or your scalp taken care of and then once with the purple to tone. I’ve always shampooed my (and my client’s hair) twice to get a super clean canvas for styling. So when I was blonde, I would shampoo once with a cleansing shampoo and then once with purple to tone. Typically purple shampoos aren’t known for their cleansing properties so if you need to get your scalp really clean, try using the two shampoo method.
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• Purple conditioners– not a fan. I would rather not tone the hair twice. It becomes too much and can lead to an ashy tone if you over do it with both shampoo and conditioner. Purple shampoo followed by a good condtioner is more than enough.
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• If, by chance, you ever over-do it and take it one purple shampoo too far, don’t worry. Just hop back in the shower and shampoo with a non-purple shampoo and it will fade off."

If you haven't checked out their site, do yourself the favor and do it. In the meantime I hope this information helps some of you blondes out there, who, like me, have walked through life with brassy yellow-tinged hair and not a clue there was a fix.

Thanks for reading, and stay beautiful! xoxox