Learn ways to fade your hair hue easily and protect your locks with some DIY hair solutions.

A hair dye job gone wrong can be the cause of great stress. But, fret not. Try using a DIY hair toner to get rid of the brassy hue before trying extreme measures such as chopping your hair or dyeing it in an unflattering box black color. Commercially available toners are expensive and can damage your hair. On the other hand, homemade toners are gentle on the skin and help fade the hair color effectively. Keep reading to learn how to say goodbye to those ugly, jarring yellow and orange hues with different DIY toners to suit your hair needs. Scroll down!

What Is A Hair Toner?

A hair toner is used to normalize or personalize a hair color by changing its undertone. You can use it to correct an unwanted warm or cool tone or add some pop to your hair color. It is mostly used with bleaching or highlighting to achieve the desired shade.

Toners are often used when people want to try out cool-toned hair colors like platinum blonde, gray, or blue. They are also used to attain colors like ash brown and ash blonde.

How Does A Toner Remove Unwanted Warm Tones?

People with dark hair tend to have warm natural pigments, and people with light hair tend to pick up warm yellow tones with the regular use of sulfate shampoos, hair dyes, mineral deposits from water, and product build-up. A toner removes these pigments by using tones on the opposite end of the color spectrum to neutralize the warmth.

• Brassy orange hair would require a blue toner and vice versa.
• Brassy yellow hair would require a purple toner and vice versa.

If you have light blonde hair that has been picking up yellow tones, a clarifying treatment that removes product and mineral deposits would be sufficient to tone your hair.

Things To Know About Toners

1. Toners change the undertone of the colored hair without lifting the color.
2. They are primarily used on bleached and blonde hair.
3. They make the hair look cool-toned and can also add a tint of pop (pink or purple) to the hair color.
4. A toner can also be used to add dimension to hair color.
5. Don’t wash your hair immediately after toning it.
6. You’ll need to retone your hair every 2-8 weeks, depending on your hair texture.
7. The more you wash your hair, the more you have to use a toner to define the hair color.
8. There are three main hair toner products: purple and silver shampoo, hair dye, and ammonia toners.
9. Once you have toned your hair, protect it from the sun to prevent fading of color.
10. Limit the usage of styling products on bleached and toned hair.
11. Bleaching makes your hair thin and dry. Use leave-in conditioners and hair masks to moisturize your hair.

5 Side Effects Of Hair Smoothing

7 Side Effects Of Hair Dyeing

How To Make DIY Hair Toners At Home

Precaution: Please do a patch test to make sure your skin doesn’t feel irritated or itchy. If it turns red, itchy, or irritated, please consult a doctor before proceeding. Irritation could be an allergic reaction.

Use Ingredients From Your Kitchen

1. Baking Soda Shampoo

Baking soda shampoo makes an excellent clarifying hair treatment. This, in combination with the food color, is reported to remove product and mineral build-up while neutralizing the natural warm tones present in your hair. However, there is no scientific evidence to back this up.

In fact, research shows that products with high pH (like baking soda) can increase the risk of hair breakage, cuticle damage, and frizz (1). Hence, avoid repeated use of this ingredient.

Process

1. You will need sulfate-free shampoo, two drops of blue and purple food color each, and 1 teaspoon of baking soda.
2. In a jug, combine the ingredients with a few tablespoons of water. Set it aside and proceed to rinse your hair.
3. After you have rinsed your hair with water, use the shampoo mixture you set aside to wash your hair.
4. Leave the shampoo in your hair for 5-10 minutes before rinsing it out.
5. Follow this up with conditioner (you can add a couple of drops of food color to your conditioner for extra toning).
6. Do not use this shampoo mixture more than once a week as it can dry your hair. On the other days of the week, you can use a regular sulfate-free shampoo with a few drops of purple and blue food color.