This is an article on how to tone down blonde hair.
I have naturally very dark hair. It’s not the most exciting hair color there is. And as much as I love my natural hair the way it is, I find the dark natural color boring at times. This is why I enjoy hair coloring and dyeing. I don’t do it that often as it can be drying on my textured hair but I have fun with it.
I’ve done my fair share of at-home hair coloring to know for a fact that not all store-bought hair coloring kits turn out the way it’s pictured or how you expect it to be. This can be caused by many factors – prior hair color and how the color processed and reacted with your hair, to name a few. And sometimes, it comes out brighter than you’ve anticipated. I know this can be annoying and disappointing, especially after spending hours coloring your hair.
If you have blonde hair – whether natural or bleached – and would want to tone down your final hair color, you’re in for a treat!
What Causes Too Bright Blonde Hair?
It’s pretty common for hair color to turn out too bright when you decide to color your hair with a new shade. This is pretty common in blonde and bleached hair.
One common cause why your new hair color appears too bright is because it doesn’t match your skin tone. Check your skin tone and undertones. Make sure that the blonde shade you’re picking matches well with your skin tone. Otherwise, it may appear too bright on you with too many yellow tones and you might not be too happy with the result.
Another reason why hair color turns out too bright is because you’ve got the wrong hair color. Sometimes, and as annoying it can be, hair dyes don’t turn out like how they were pictured and advertised.
Your prior hair color and current shade before dyeing with a new color would also affect the new hair color. If you’re going from a dark color to a lighter blonde shade and vice versa, the resulting hair color might not meet your expectations.
A toner is a hair product used to change and personalize your hair’s tone. It’s a most commonly used product for blonde hair. For blonde hair, it helps remove brassy and orange tones that can appear after bleaching. It also corrects color so your new blonde hair can appear more natural. If you’ve recently gone blonde and find the end results too bright for your liking, it may mean you haven’t toned enough or haven’t included this optional last step at all.
It’s pretty disappointing for the hair color turnout to be different than what you’re expecting but it actually happens. The good thing is, there are very easy steps and remedies to take to solve this issue.
How to Tone Down Blonde Hair
1. Tone hair
As mentioned above, a toner is a hair product used to change and personalize the hair’s tone and color. For blond hair shades, it effectively removes any unwanted orangey tones and brassiness. It also works to tone down too blonde or bright hair. It can darken hair color and can offer you a more natural look.
A toner is usually an optional last step when bleaching hair and going blonde. To ensure that you get the right toner color for your needs, be sure to check on the color wheel and apply the basics of color theory.
A toner is also a good choice if you want to make drastic changes on your hair color’s tone.
2. Blue or purple shampoo
A blue or purple shampoo essentially works the same way a toner does. They eliminate unwanted orangey tones, too yellow results, and brassiness from blonde and colored hair. It also offers you a way to personalize your hair’s color and tone down blonde hair that’s too bright for your liking.
Though a purple or blue shampoo helps color correct, it isn’t much of a drastic change as one would expect from a toner. And the same way a toner works, you can rely on the color wheel and color theory to determine what shampoo color cancels out the undertones you’re trying to eliminate.
Use a purple or blue shampoo like any other regular shampoo. Replace your regular shampoo with it and use it once or twice a week to effectively tone down blonde hair.
3. Dye to a darker hair color
If you’ve recently gone blonde and weren’t entirely satisfied with how bright it turned out, you can bring out an at-home box dye kit and color your hair without losing any of the blonde base. To tone down too bright blonde hair, go for a shade that’s up to 3 shades darker than your current hair color.
This gives you the option of a darker hair color without losing any of the blonde. Mix and apply the darker dye as instructed by the manufacturer.
Alternatively, consider shades referred to as “light brown” because sometimes there is overlap between dark blonde and light brown.
4. Coffee dyeing
The methods above involve products, processes, and chemicals. If you don’t want to apply chemicals on your hair for the time being and would prefer something more natural, try using coffee as a semi-permanent color for your hair.
Coffee dyeing brings too bright hair a couple shades darker. Though effective, results are only temporary and would last for about 3 weeks only. This means you would have to repeat the process every few weeks if you go along with this method.
To do this, you have to brew coffee, in any way or method you prefer. Once that’s done, let the coffee just sit and cool to a comfortable cool temperature.
You can either soak your hair into a bowl with the coffee in it and let it sit or pour the coffee over your head, whichever is more comfortable for you. Repeat the process, whichever you choose, a few times before rinsing everything from your hair.
As this is a more natural method for a semi-permanent color, expect almost zero to zero damages on hair.
Conclusion
Whether you have natural blonde hair or have recently decided to go blonde, blonde hair can sometimes end up too bright or even green. If you don’t like how it looks on you, you can always choose to tone it down.
The simplest way to tone down hair that’s too bright is with a toner. A toner is a product you can use to change and personalize your hair’s color. Its color correcting properties are a great way to eliminate orangey tones and brassiness. It can darken too bright hair color and will instead leave you with a more natural look.
A blue or purple shampoo works the same way as a toner. It helps eliminate unwanted undertones and brassiness. Just like with a toner, use the color theory to know which color cancels out the undertone you’re looking to remove.
If your hair is too bright for your liking, you can always dye it a darker color that’s up to 3 shades darker than your current hair color. This is a sure way to tone down the brightness without losing any of the blonde.
And if all else fails, try coffee dyeing. Just brew, soak, and wash – simple as that. It’s a temporary solution and results last up to 3 weeks at a time. Repeat the process as much as your hair needs it without much processing, chemicals, and damage.
With these tips and tricks to tone down blonde hair, we hope it brings you one step closer to your desired hair color and result!