What Is A Hair Toner?
Hair toning sprays and treatments are 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 hair 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 will be the best toner for blonde hair.
Things To Know About Toners
How long you leave a toner in your hair determines how your final hair tone looks. We have elaborated on this aspect in the following section. Take a look.
How Long Can You Leave A Toner In Your Hair?
Here’s what you need to keep in mind to better understand the leave-in time of a hair toner.
Always follow the package instructions for the exact leave-in time. Check the processing time in the recipe if you are using a DIY toner. Healthy hair requires longer processing time when compared to compromised or damaged hair (that may absorb color faster and need less leave-in time). The longer you keep the toner on, the more intense the results will be. Monitor your hair as your toner is processing and rinse it out when you achieve your desired result.
Let us now look at some easy DIY hair toner recipes to get perfectly toned hair at home.
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
2. Apple Cider Vinegar Rinse
Apple cider vinegar is mildly acidic (2). Dull hair has a higher pH, and ACV can help lower the pH and restore balance to hair. Hence, it can help in getting rid of orange/yellow tones. It also acts as a deep cleanser to remove product build-up. However, there is no research to verify its efficacy. Process Angel Stykemain, a vlogger, experimented with an apple cider vinegar mixture to remove yellow tones from her white and gray hair. She sprayed the mixture on her hair, wrapped it in plastic wrap, and let it sit for 30-45 minutes. After washing and drying her hair, she says, “It’s still a little bit brassy, but it made my hair so soft and bouncy (i).”
3. Hollyhock Herbal Toner
Hollyhock, like apple cider vinegar, can help remove unwanted warm tones from your hair. Process
4. Lemon For Toning
Anecdotal evidence suggests that lemon can help in bleaching hair. Honey has humectanti A substance that pulls the moisture from the surrounding environment to help keep your hair hydrated. and emollienti An ingredient or agent that creates a thin barrier on the surface of the hair which helps soften and smoothen the hair. properties, which can help condition your hair (3). Using this mixture a couple of times can tone your hair to make it at least a couple of shades lighter. Process Lemon might dry your skin so you can try oiling your hair with coconut oil, olive oil, or avocado oil as well. The vitamin C in lemon can affect hair texture. Hence, oiling is essential to retain moisture. And if you are not a fan of oil, try aloe vera juice.
5. Green Tea For Toning
Green tea was shown to promote hair growth in the dermal papillai Thin upper layer of the dermis (inner layer of the skin) that provides nutrients to the epidermis (upper layer of the skin). cells of the scalp (4). Its green color is not too strong, which makes it a good toner. Depending on the color of your hair, you can try black or oolong tea as well. Process
6. Virgin Olive Oil
A study shows that olive oil can not only aid hair growth and prevent hair damage but also enhance the hair color (5). If you had slightly darker hair before bleaching or coloring your hair, olive oil could help darken your hair pigments to balance brassy tones. Process
7. Indigo For Toning
The dark indigo color is obtained from the indican substances from the indigofera tinctoria plant. Indigo can enhance the color and shine of your hair (6). This color will help even out brassy orange tones. Process
Hair Dye Boxes And Food Coloring
1. Ash Blonde Box Dye
Ash-toned box dyes help remove yellow/orange tones. They do this by neutralizing the warm tones with cool ones. Process
2. Purple Dye
Purple and blue are the best color correction toners to tone yellow/orange hair. They are on the opposite end of the color spectrum and help neutralize the warm tones. Process
3. Green Dye
Green dyes are effective in neutralizing the red and orange tones of colored hair. This toner especially helps remove brassy tones from brown hair or dark tresses. Process
Why Opt For Homemade Hair Toner Solutions?
These toning shampoos and solutions are not likely to get rid of strong orange tones. In such a situation, you can always get a professional to tone your hair. But light yellow tones are easy to tone out without the added expense of getting a salon treatment. Subtle changes in your hair care routine, such as switching to a sulfate-free shampoo, and regularly using clarifying treatments, go a long way when it comes to keeping warm tones out of your hair. Most of these hair toning masks and treatments are also not as harsh as a chemical toning session would be. Keeping the warm tones out of your hair takes a bit of work, but the gorgeous color you get at the end of the day makes all the efforts worth it. There are certain tips that one can keep in mind as well when it comes to using hair toners. Scroll down to learn further.
Tips For Effectively Using Hair Toners
Here are some tips that are bound to come in handy when applying hair toners. Check them out!
Select a toner that complements your hair color like purple for neutralizing yellow tones or blue for orange tones. Consider your hair’s porosity and condition to choose the most suitable toner and application method. Apply toner with a color brush for precise application, ensuring all areas receive even treatment. Apply toner on towel-dried, damp hair to help the product distribute for even coverage and absorb better. Always follow toning with a moisturizing conditioner to restore hydration and protect your hair’s health.
How can I tone my yellow hair to ash? Yes. Use a purple or violet toner to remove yellow brassy hues and make your hair a cooler-toned ash color. You can also use natural ingredients like green tea or olive oil for the same. How do I get my yellow hair white? You can use a purple toner to turn your yellow hair white. How do I get my hair ash blonde from gold? You can use a purple shampoo or toner to remove warm gold tones and make your hair a cooler-toned ash color. How do you get snow white hair? Baking soda or apple cider vinegar are effective in removing brassy hues from gray hair, making your strands white.
