1. What exactly is a hair toner?
A hair toner is a product that changes the color of the hair.
A hair toner gets rid of brassy, yellow and orange tones and gives the hair a more attractive reflect.
2. How do hair toners work?
Toners work in the same way as color. You mix them with developer.
The mix then penetrates inside the hair cuticle and then recolor melanin inside the hair.
WATCH A TONING PROCESS: TONE YOUR HAIR ASH BLONDE IN JUST 10 MINUTES
3. Is it possible to tone the hair at home to get a salon result?
Hair toners are professional products designed to be used in the salon by professional stylists.
That said, anyone at home with a good understanding of how color theory works, and some hair coloring experience can also go ahead and use a toner and get great results.
The important things that you need to get right are pre-lightening the hair with bleach to get the hair to the right level.
And making the correct choice of a evel-appropriate toner and reflect for your hair level.
4. How long does hair toner typically last?
If you use Ugly Duckling's cream based permanent toners, you can get results which last up to 10 weeks.
So long enough, in other words, to take your hair to your next coloring appointment in the salon.
5. What level does my hair need to be before I tone it?
If you are looking to get white blonde, platinum blonde and ash blonde results, you need to bleach your hair with a quality lightener all the way to either level 9 or level 10.
Your hair should look something like the visual below.
If you are looking to tone your hair medium ash blonde, or cover over brassiness, then you can get away with more yellow in the hair.
6. What ingredients should I look for in a good hair toner?
It all depends on 2 factors:
The level that your hair is after bleaching or pre-lightening.
And the color you want it to be.
Use the chart below to guide you.
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If your hair is at level 9 or 10:
For lifting and toning, you can use regular lifting toners such as Pearl Blonde 10V, Silver Blonde 10B, and also Extra Cold Ash Blonde 10.1b.
For softer toning, you can use Blondify 010V for a non-lifting toning and color correction.
If your hair is at level 7 or 8:
You would need to use intense toners. These have extra lift built in to them and will help get the hair up to level 9.
For softer toning, use Blondify 010A. This toner is made to counteract brassiness and get the hair to ash blonde.
If your hair is at level 5 or 6:
Either use bleach first to get the hair to where it needs to be, and then tone.
Or cover over (tone down in other words) using level 9 based Blondify toners.
7. How long should I leave toner in my hair?
Ugly Duckling toners can be left in the hair between 10 and 20 minutes.
8. Do hair toners lift the hair?
Some do and some don't.
In general, permanent toners will give you more lift than demi-permanent toners.
Use Ugly Duckling intense permanent toners if you are looking to lift the hair as well as to tone at the same time.
Use regular lifting permanant toners if you are looking to get rid of a lot of yellow and tone.
And use ammonia-free liquid-gel based demi-permanent toners if you are looking to refresh and tone the hair without lifting.
9. When and how do I use intense permanent toners?
When a lot of lift is required. For example, you bleached the hair but it is still bright yellow.
Ugly Duckling has 2 intense toners: intense pearl blonde and intense silver blonde.
Intense Pearl Blonde Toner 100V
Intense Silver Blonde Toner 100B
WATCH HOW TO TONE HAIR ULTRA WHITE BLONDE
10. When and how do I use regular lifting toners?
When the hair has been correctly lifted using bleach, but you still needs a strong toner, you should consider using a regular lifting toner.
Ugly Duckling has 3 such toners: Pearl Blonde 10V, Extra Light Cool Blonde 10V and Extra Light Cold Ash Blonde 10.1b.
These toners contain some lift (around 1 level).
At the same time, they are really strongly pigmented. In fact, more so than the intense toners.
And their coloring results are very precise.
They will neutralize the yellow in your hair and produce really cold blonde results.
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Extra Light Cold Ash Blonde 10.1b
11. When and how do I use ammonia-free toners?
Blondify ammonia-free toners are unique because they tone without ammonia and without lifting.
At the same time they are very strongly pigmented.
They tone in just 10 minutes and condition the hair at the same time.
The fact that they don't lift is really useful because you don't touch the base or lowlights.
So for example a woman with blonde highlights can tone her hair without lifting the color underneath.
Same for a women with smudge roots.
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Blondify Natural Ash Blonde 010A
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Blondify Natural Violet Blonde 010V
12. Can hair toner fix orange hair?
Orange tones are a common issue after bleaching, especially for those with darker hair.
Such women typically don't want or need to go ultra white blonde or platinum blonde.
They just need to tone over orange and produce a beautiful, consistent medium blonde result.
For such needs we would recommend you use Blondify level 9 toners.
These toners operate at a level 9 and contain the kind of pigments that neutralise orange hair really well.
Use Blondify 090B Blue Ash Blonde when there is a lot of orange in the hair and you want to go medium blonde
And use Blondify 090V Violet Blonde when there is a lot of yellow in the hair and you want to go medium blonde.
Orange hair before toning.
Hair processing with 090B
Orange hair toned with 090B
13. How soon after bleaching can I use a toner?
Straight away. First bleach, Then rinse. Towel-dry the hair to get rid of excess moisture.
Then tone.
14. What's the difference between a toner and a gloss?
Both function in the same way, but a gloss generally does not lift.
A gloss is used for quick refreshes and helps to tone the hair.
Blondify toners can be considered gloss toners.
Whereas our cream toners would be considered regular toners with more lift and stronger results.
15. What's the difference between purple shampoos, color depositing masks and hair toners?
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Purple Mask. Use this to tone blonde hair which is too yellow. It won't lift, but it will tone.
Purple shampoos, masks and color depositing conditioners do a great job at toning blonde hair thanks to the purple and blue pigments that they contain.
But because they only deposit color on the outside of the hair, they will only last a few days.
And their effects are less marked.
You will need to apply these every week at least to stop the hair from getting yellow.
16. How and when do I use purple shampoo and mask to tone?
There are two ways you can use color conditioning products, shampoos and masks.
One way is to use them during the bleaching process itself.
The other way is to use them after bleaching and toning, as a maintenance product and an enhancer.
When bleaching, just add some purple shampoo or mask to your bleach mix and apply to the hair and rub in.
After bleaching or toning, apply straight to the hair. Rub in thoroughly, then leave a few minutes. Then rinse.
When using as a maintenance product, substitute purple shampoo and mask in place of your regular shampoo at least once a week.
If time permits, let the mask sit on your hair for around 10 minutes under a plastic cap and apply gentle heat.
Then rinse.
Follow this routine once a week to keep blonde hair yellow-free.
WATCH VIDEO ON HOW TO USE PURPLE SHAMPOO:
Hair by Elona Taki
17. What's the best toner for blonde hair?
The best toner would be to use either intense permanent toners or regular lifting permanant toners
18. Can I use toner on brown hair?
You can use blue based ash blonde colors.
19. Can toner darken my hair?
It all depends on the level of your hair and the level of your toner.
If you have a lot of bright yellow, and you use a Blondify 090B or an Ugly Duckling 7.1b then yes in the process of getting rid of the orange you will be darkening your hair a little.
