As a colorist, I’m always getting clients who tell me their hair is red or yellow or brassy and they want to be a cool tone. Often times people don’t even know what cool tones are. I like to begin by referring to the Lighting Curve by Wella.

what are cool tones?

The lighting curve shows the hair’s natural underlying pigments when it is lightened. The numbers on the side and top of the lighting curve show the different levels of shades the hair is. Level 10 being lightest blonde, level 2 being natural black, and level 5 being most brunettes. Next, consider the color wheel on the bottom right of the chart. These are the main colors to consider when coloring hair. Warm tones are yellow, orange, and red. Cool tones are violet, blue, and green.

The hair naturally pulls warm toned. To neutralize unwanted warm tones, cool tones must be applied to the hair so it may be a neutral or cool tone. Refer back to the color wheel. Purple neutralizes yellow, blue neutralizes orange, and green neutralizes red. Different levels of lightness require different colors to neutralize such warm tones.

For example, natural blondes will lift to a yellow color; therefore, requiring a purple toned neutralizer. On naturally black hair or hair that has been colored dark brunette will pull red, so a green neutralizer is needed. Typically, this color is called “ash.” Finding the proper toned neutralizer should effectively take the hair from a warm, brassy tone to a cool tone.

what does all of this mean?

If you don’t like the brassy red or yellow tones in your hair, instead of picking up another box of permanent hair dye to pull through your already processed ends, try using a toner to cancel out those unwanted tones! As mentioned in the example above, I’m a natural blonde so I use violet toners to make my hair look more cool toned or ashy. When my clients with naturally black hair come in, I use a green/blue toner on them to make their brassy, red/orange hair a nice cool brown color.

Though these colors are NOT permanent. Even if they say “permanent color,” the cool tones WILL FADE. Let me say it a little louder for the people in the back, COOL TONES WILL FADE. If you want to keep your pretty pearl ash from looking like a golden copper, you MUST maintain your hair with toners!

how to get cool tones?

In full-service salons, they’ll typically put toners on immediately after any lightening service. This means that any balayage, ombre, or highlights you may have had done were probably toned and often without you even realizing because it is usually applied at the shampoo bowl. Anyone can go into a salon at anytime to get just a toner without having a highlight service. A toner service would cost about $20-$80 in a salon.

There are also other alternative at-home toners that can easily be applied to cancel those unwanted brassy tones. Most people are familiar with purple shampoos like Shimmer Lights sold at Sally’s Beauty Supply. Purple shampoos can be useful but most of the ones I’ve tried (and believe me, I’ve tried a lot!) are not very useful and kindof just slow down the fading time of the in-salon toner.

My current favorite at-home products that I feel like ACTUALLY WORK to cancel copper are the balance Tint Rinses by eSalon. I use the Blonde Neutralizer on my hair every time I shampoo my hair.

Per the instructions, I shampoo my hair first, then use the Tine Rinse by focusing it on the parts I feel need it the most. The directions say to leave it on for 2-3 minutes, though because I’ve played around with it some (by accidentally turning my hair purple then simply shampooing and scrubbing it out) I’ve learned that my hair likes 5 minutes. That’s the amount of time it takes me to wash my face and my body. Then I’ll rinse it out and follow it with my favorite conditioner.

This product keeps my pretty pearl from turning into a ghastly golden!

what about unwanted red tones?

For those with darker hair who tend to pull those orange and red tones, eSalon has toners for you too! The Soft Red Neutralizer and the Red Neutralizer are great for those with orange and red tones, respectively. Those are my GO-TO products when I’m toning clients in the studio. And my favorite part about it is that it only costs $15! So if the salon charges $40 for a toner, I could buy three Tint Rinses that will last WAY longer!

Everyone’s hair is different so everyone will need to use these products differently. Play around with it a bit. If you try it and it doesn’t do anything, try leaving it on for longer, or using more product to ensure the hair is fully saturated.

Use it as frequently as needed. I use Tint Rinse every time I shampoo, but maybe you only need it every other or every third time you shampoo. If you accidentally leave it on too long and your hair looks purple or green (oh my!), simply use shampoo in those over-toned areas and scrub the hair with your hands. By the time you wash it out, it should look like that beautiful cool ash tone you’ve been dye-ing for!

looking for something extra?

If you’re looking for a little bit more toning action to give a pretty pearl effect while adding moisture back into the hair, try the Blonde Neutralizing Toning Mask. This product is definitely one of my all-time favorites for toning. What I love about it? First, it gives a really pretty pearly color that to me seems like an iridescence. Most importantly?! It adds moisture back into the hair!

No matter what those other toners say about making the hair shinier and healthier, if they use developers which are opening the cuticle layer to allow the color to soak in, it’s not as healthy as simply using a deep conditioner. And that’s what the Toning Mask is! I like to describe it as a purple deep conditioner.

After shampooing, I like to towel dry my hair (though that’s not totally necessary). In the very least, wring the excess water out. This will allow the conditioner to soak in the hair better. Then I’ll apply the entire tube throughout my entire head (because my whole head is colored blonde). I’ll leave it on for 15 minutes every other week.

This really gives my hair that added moisture it’s been needing while taking my color back to a cool, silvery beige color. This product is a little bit more at $5 for a single-use tube of product, but let me tell you that it is SO WORTH IT!