People often come to us and ask us: "Why is my hair orange and brassy?"
"What can I do to get rid of it?"
In this blog, we will try and explain why hair turns orange and brassy in the first place.
And what you can do to fix it.
Read on...
How to get rid of orange and brassy hair: watch video:
The number 1 cause for orange and brassy hair is this
The number one cause is really very simple...you did not lighten the hair enough.
As you start lifting hair, you start getting an undercoat, or secondary reflect.
Depending on the level to which you have lifted the hair, this secondary reflect is red, orange or yellow.
And none of these colors is typically what your customer wants!
Take a look at this chart of hair color levels and check it against your client's hair:
If your client's hair is orange or yellowish orange it means that it is level 6/7 or darker.
Which means that you did not lift it enough.
You will need to lift the hair further to eliminate brassy and orange.
Then tone.
The number 1 solution for orange hair
The number one solution to lighten the hair really well using a good quality bleach, all the way up to level 10.
Do that, and all your orange and brassy hair problems will melt away literally into thin air.
Then all you will need to do is a quick tone to finish your hair and you will be done.
I bleached the hair but it still turned orange. Why?
Almost certainly you made one or more of these mistakes.
1. You avoided using bleach altogether
Just look at this hair. Only bleach will lift out the orange!
Hairstylists sometimes try to avoid using bleach and try and use high lift color.
Or worse, they try to pump up developer strength and they use 40 Vol developer to try to "boost" the lift.
But here's the problem: when hair is level 6/7 and darker, bleaching is the only appropriate lifting technique.
Otherwise you will just end up being left with orange. And damaged hair as well.
2. You used the wrong bleach
All bleaches are not created equal. In fact, different brands have different lifting properties.
Poor quality beauty store bleaches typically require much longer development times, stronger strength developer.
Sometimes even with the above they still don't lift.
We so suggest that you Brilliant Blondexx. It has Bond Protect built in which guarantees hair integrity.
Plus it has excellent lifting capabilities.
You will be surprised to see how much you can lift using just 20 Vol and 30 Vol.
The mix is creamy and white, and is comfortable on a near-root application.
So it can be applied to the near root area without concern.
Brilliant Blondexx with Bond Protect
3. You used the bleach incorrectly
Sometimes mix is the issue.
We always recommend a relatively wet mix - 1 part bleach to 2 parts developer is good.
That way you get great product saturation on the hair.
Application technique is another issue.
Some stylists are too tentative with their bleach applications and do a balayage-type application by jabbing or poking bleach on to the hair.
Don't be like that!
For lifting out orange and yellow and brassy, you need to be fearless.
Whack your wet bleach mixture on so that the hair is literally soaking in it.
This is what a 1 +2 bleach mix will look like - creamy and quite wet, with the consistency of gravy
4. You rinsed off the bleach too soon
Sometimes stylists do all the above correctly - and then they rinse off too soon when the hair is still brassy.
You need to keep checking the hair.
Only rinse when it is the color that you see below.
Only rinse off the hair when it is truly pale yellow. This is a picture taken at the backwash by one of our stylists.
Hair by Ashley Betancourt
What should I Do After Bleaching?
Once you have bleached correctly, you will need to tone.
We have pre-selected some very popular purple based and blue based toners to be used after bleaching.
And, just in case you did not manage to bleach all the way, we have also included some
Use the chart below to guide you.
You can choose between Ugly Duckling's cream based toner for full blonde transformation and lift.
and Blondify liquid gloss toners, for no-ammonia gloss toning.
You will find that both ranges of toners are very well pigmented with purple and blue pigments, and will do the job of taking your client's hair to a nice white blonde, pearl blonde or ash blonde result.
If (as we hope) you have successfully bleached all the way to level 9 or 10, you can choose between Ugly Duckling's no-lift cream toners and Blondify Natural Violet Blonde.
If the hair is level 7 or level 8, in other words it is still brassy in spire of everything, then use Ugly Duckling's intense cream toners and Blondify Natural Ash Blonde.
How to use Blondify Liquid Toners to Tone Away Brassy hair: Watch Video
Blondify Gloss Toners will Eliminate brassiness. But make sure the hair is level 7 at the least.
