Tips To Treat And Prevent Brassy Hair From Award Winning Beauty Blogger, Barbie’s Beauty Bits
Brassy and sassy. Hell no! On the list of bad hair days, brassiness is high on the list. Brassy hair rears its scary arrival, significantly when tresses are lightened at home.
While brassy hair can and does happen at a salon, when done at home, you are now faced with how the heck can I fix this ASAP?
Help, Why Did My Brown Hair Turn A Brassy Orange
Before we get into how to fix brassy-ass hair, let me briefly explain the reasons for brassiness.
The brass effect results from an overabundance of unwanted warm tones and pigments in your hair—turning the highlights to a reddish-gold or orange in brown hair. (you know that copper penny color).
You see, a person with darker hair tends to have brassy hair when trying to lighten. Why? Because dark hair has many natural underlying pigments that give it depth and dimension. You can end up with an unflattering brassy yellow-orange or red tone if you don’t remove enough of those natural pigments.
Other factors play a part in color, especially if you are trying to bleach your hair at home, and it’s like a Russian Roulette on your hair.
For example, is your hair colored treated, the hair products you’ve used, not using a good shampoo for color-treated hair, even the water you are washing. The single-colored process, which is what most home coloring offers, is so hard to determine the outcome.
Choose The Best Color For You To Prevent Your Hair From Becoming Brassy
Instead of using a single-process all-over color like a box color, go to a salon and have a colorist work in highlights and lowlights.
As a result, there is less chance of having a whole head of brassiness. Remember that the closer your final color is to your natural hair color, the less chance it has of turning brassy.
A gradual process and, more than likely, will require a double-color process if you intend to lighten your hair beyond two shades of your natural color, which we will explain below in more detail.
Double Process Vs. Single Process When Going A Few Shades Lighter
Truthfully, the double process, a two-step process, is ideal for those with darker hair when trying to go much lighter. First, the hair is bleached to remove all the color, and then a new color is deposited to create the desired color.
Double-processed is best when you want to go a few shades lighter than your actual hair color. Purchasing a single process over the counter to lighten the hair more than a few shades is a sure ticket to the brassy hair train. Hence, go to a salon when trying to lighten your hair.
Ways To Prevent Your Hair From Turning Brassy
Wash Your Hair With Cool Water To Prevent Fading
While
the thought of a cold shower is not the best, hair color fades away
when your rinse your hair with hot water. And when the color fades, it
can start to appear brassy.
Therefore, the optimum temperature
to cleanse your hair is lukewarm to cool water. Not only with this
preserve the color it will lock in the moisture and seal the cuticle
resulting in shining, healthy hair.
Invest In A Shower Filter To Prevent Your Hair From Turning Brassy
I
can attest to this one moving to another state with mineral-rich water.
But the truth is these minerals can turn your hair brassy. Hence
investing in a shower filter that sifts out the hard water and other
chemicals wreaking havoc on your hair is a must.
Color-Correcting Purple Shampoo For Brassy Hair
Because yellow and violet are opposite colors on the color wheel, purple cancels out warm, brassy tones. Invest in a neutralizing purple shampoo and conditioner to help crush brassy tones for a cooler, brighter color.
Use A Toner To Neutralize Brassy Hair
Toners are the go-to for treating brassy hair as they deposit color on it like a color shampoo to neutralize unwanted tones. The key, again, is knowing the correct color. Again think of the color wheel. For example:
- Violet toners to neutralize yellow tones
- Blue toners to balance orange
- Blue-violet to neutralize gold
Protect Your Hair From UV Rays
UV rays of the sun are the biggest culprit in making your brown hair brassy. While you may love the sun, it doesn’t love your hair back.
Besides drying your hair out, excessive sun exposure can fade your color. When your hair is exposed to oxygen and UV rays, its warm tones are revealed, resulting in, you guessed it, brassiness.
If you can’t avoid the sun, wear a hat to protect your locks or apply UV-protectant spray to prevent brassiness.
Use The Right Products To Keep Your Hair Hydrated
Using the right products to keep your hair hydrated and healthy is essential. Highlighting, even lifting a darker shade lighter, can be a very harsh process, taking away many oils and nutrients that it has sealed within the hair’s cuticle.
These processes can cause dry, stretchy, brittle hair. I recommend investing in a high-quality leave-in conditioner and/or deep repair mask to ensure your hair looks its healthiest.
Some Ways To Correct Brassy Hair
Use Apple Cider Vinegar To Help With Brassy Hair
Due to its immense hair benefits and comprehensive medicinal properties, ACV is considered a post-shampoo hair treatment.
As a result, the scalp pH is balanced, and the hair is given a natural shine. It is also used to maintain and preserve the color of hair.
Use Baking Soda To Tone Brassy Hair
It is known that baking soda lightens hair, which is why it helps remove brassy tones.
Consult With A Hair Stylist To Help With Your Brassy Hair
While preventing your hair from turning brassy can be fixed at home, some remedies above may not correct it. Hence you need to seek professional help.
Dealing with brassy hair can be frustrating. But the key is prevention, and hopefully, with the information in this article and the correct products for your colored treated hair, not only can you prevent but also neutralize those brassy tones to unlock the best color ever.