HOW TO REMOVE BRASSY TONES FROM BROWN HAIR
You may have heard your blonde friends complain about their color fading or turning a dull yellow a few weeks after visiting the salon. But brassy hair can happen to brunettes too! Especially after adding highlights or a balayage to your brown locks.
Why does brassiness occur? From the lightest blonde to the darkest black hair colors, everyone has yellow, orange, and red undertones that combine to give hair its color. When you lighten or dye your hair, those brassy undertones can start to show through as the color fades.
So what do you do when coppery orange shows up in your gorgeous salon balayage? Here’s everything you need to know about how to remove brassy tones from brown hair and help you achieve cool, glossy hair.
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7 Tips for Fixing Brassiness in Brown Hair
1. Choose Your Color Wisely
If you’re a brunette with lots of naturally warm red or golden undertones, coloring your locks with a more neutral hue will help ward off brassiness. Think of a cool espresso brown dye or a dark chocolate brown dye.
2. Switch to Color-Safe Products
Preserve your color for longer by washing and conditioning with color-safe brunette shampoos, brunette conditioners, and hair masks. A weekly hair mask for color-treated hair can help prevent fading and give your color a more vibrant sheen.
3. Use Blue Shampoo and Conditioner
Orange is across from blue on the color wheel, which means the blue pigment in blue shampoos and conditioners can neutralize brassy orange tones in brunette hair. Specifically designed for brunettes, blue shampoo helps knock out brassy tones in brunette hair. Use a blue shampoo and conditioner duo like our Blue Crush line once or twice a week to keep your color cool and bright.
4. Try a Gloss Treatment
Restore and refresh your rich brunette color between visits to the salon with a brunette hair gloss. A gloss treatment eliminates warm, brassy red and orange tones by replenishing vibrant cooler tones.
5. Shield Your Locks from the Sun
Hair needs sun protection, too—especially color-treated hair. The sun’s intense rays can wreak havoc on your color. Wear a wide-brimmed hat to protect your hair—and your face!—if you plan to spend prolonged time outdoors.
6. Protect Your Hair When Heat Styling
Heat can damage all hair types, but this is especially true for color-treated hair. Bleaching and dying your hair dries it out, leaving your strands vulnerable to further damage. Blow-drying, flat-ironing, or curling your hair too often can dry it out even more, causing your color to fade and brassiness to show through.
Instead of using heat tools, embrace your hair’s natural texture and use hydrating products to style your hair instead. A styling spray can help you achieve a gorgeous, frizz-free look without the heat. If you must use heat tools, coat your locks generously with a heat-protecting spray first.
7. Visit Your Stylist
Sometimes hair color is best left to the pros. If you’re unhappy with your color or can’t seem to keep brassiness at bay, it’s probably time to take a trip to the salon. Your colorist can custom-mix your color to help prevent brassy tones from showing up in your brown hair.
Nip brassiness in the bud. Check out more of our hair care tips for brunettes.
