Jun 9, 2010

Hairdresser Notes; Fighting The Brassy Blonde



The combat continues with the ever present brassy tones on blonde hair and it is true that bleached or lightened hair is more prone to having any impurities or stains show up, and can become brittle due to the chemical change. Since hair coloring goes through several stages it is essential to leave enough or even more time for the dye to have its full effect. I feel we need to process today’s blondes longer, adding 10 minutes more can make a huge difference in riding that unseen warmth that everyone hates and most hairdressers are too eager to wash the color off when it comes to blondes because they either feel that their timer is telling them to or "we think we see i'ts done" and of course the fear of breakage.

To eliminate this challenge it is more important to get that tone of blonde right the first time, not camouflaging it with toners which to me always come back dull and sometimes looking worse, think of it this way if the hair is open and porous and still contains warmth applying your toner acts like a temporary band-aid only. When the brassiness occurs a few weeks after the hair color has been done it might be attributed to the water, residues like iron and copper found in plumbing or the hair color has oxidized and absorbed as I mentioned impurities (environmental, smoke, medicines). And fighting this is easier with all the colored shampoos and conditioner available to us today. So before we are ready to wash off and tone a blonde push the color a little longer then apply the toner if you choose too, the blondes will all be happier for it.

23 comments:

  1. In my 10 year career as a hairstylist I have always toned blonde hair, truth is they have always come back dull, I will try processing them longer and maybe this way will work better thanks.

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  2. Yet another great idea love it....

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  3. Push the color longer makes sense to me as long as the hair is strong and can take 10 more minutes

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  4. Great post and info as always,

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  5. We use toners mostly to conceal the unwanted brass, but it always comes through eventually.

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  6. Someone brilliant taught me if I need to tone hair always use a 10N, it’s worked wonders for me xo

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  7. You are right HCC, we are to scarred and remove the color off when we think it’s done, what the naked eye sees isn’t always the best end results

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  8. love your approach, it is a lot easier then what we are taught in school ;-]

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  9. Every time I tone hair with violet it ends up muddy, toners actually scare me

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  10. I love reading your posts, there is always something a learn

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  11. I was taught to use a cocktail shampoo at the sink after rinsing the color off, and leave it for about 5 minutes, it works but I always have to use a toner afterwards.

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  12. Love your way’s HCC always simple approaches

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  13. If you use a blue or violet based toner on yellow you end up with flat matte color, processing slightly longer to ensure that the toner you use will do the job is brilliant!!!!

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  14. Love it! and forsure I will give it a go xx

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  15. you have to get the color slightly lighter to have a toner work, it always has made a huge difference for me.

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  16. Love it!!!! Love it,, you are a genius xoxo

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  17. HCC you make things sound so simple, can I come work with you hehehe.....

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  18. I hate toners and try to avoid them if I can, but the 10N you taught me ALWAYS works ;=)

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  19. I like to use glosses as toners, but I always push my colors a bit longer thx to you +)

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  20. Love the post & your info

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  21. anything you have to say I'm going for it, you haven't disappointed me so far -)~

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  22. you are so right we wash off blonde tones fast, pushing it longer seems to make a lot of sense regarding toners afterwards TY.

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  23. Fantastic approaches, I love your style

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