About 75% of women color their hair at some point in life. Those who choose to go blonde or brunette with highlights need purple and blue shampoos respectively. These products are different from regular shampoos for colored hair. Unlike those, the blue and purple tinted variations do not slow down the washout of the color. Instead, they neutralize the natural but ugly changes that come from using bleach. This helps you maintain your chosen color longer and thus reduces the frequency of treatments and damage to your locks.
What Is Purple Shampoo and Who Needs to Use It
Haircare products that contain a purple pigment are explicitly designed for bleached blonde hair. If you look at a color wheel, you will see that purple is the opposite of yellow. This is why this pigment is perfect for neutralizing the yellowing which unavoidably occurs with bleached locks.
There is no avoiding the yellowing regardless of the exact blonde color you choose because it occurs due to oxidation. Therefore, using a neutralizing pigment is the best way to stop this annoying process and retain your current color.
Note that while some warm shades of blonde might look perfectly normal when the yellowing starts, using a purple shampoo is a must for all shades of platinum, white, and silver blonde. Without these yellow-neutralizing pigment, such cold colors won’t last even a few weeks.
Bear in mind that purple shampoo works only for bleached locks. Therefore, it might not help you if you want to make your natural blonde a bit more silver than gold. You also need to watch the type of yellow your hair is turning to choose the shampoo with a suitable pigment concentration to neutralize it.
You should also know that it’s not only purple shampoo that you can use. There’s a huge Fanola range of products that both have the no-yellow effect and help restore hydrate, and nourish your hair at the same time. Use different combinations of those to maintain the color and health of your blonde locks.
Note that while purple shampoo is meant for bleached blondes, you can also use it to make black hair look stunning. The pigment won’t lighten it even a little, but it will add depth and shine to the color.
When Should You Be Using Blue Shampoo?
If you get back to the color wheel mentioned above, you’ll see that blue is the opposite of orange. Therefore, the default purpose of this shampoo is to neutralize brassy-orange color that occurs on bleached locks.
In most cases, this issue occurs when you are a brunette and have highlights, balayage, or ombre hair. Overall, bleached hair should turn orange when it’s bleached mildly instead of all-out as you need to do to become a blonde.
However, you need to understand that the exact hair color change caused by oxidation, styling, and other factors, cannot be predicted accurately. Therefore, it’s possible that your hair will turn brassy when you bleach it into blonde. In this case, you will need to use a blue shampoo because purple pigment won’t be able to help against the orange.
You can also use blue shampoo if you colour your locks into lighter shades of brown. Brunettes will look sharper with the help of the blue pigment. The product will also provide more of a healthy shine to your hair.
Tips for Using Purple and Blue Shampoos
• Mind the pigment concentration:
Even though these products are marketed as ‘purple’ and ‘blue,’ brands that produce them use different formulas, so pigment concentration and intensity vary. You might need to try a few options to find which is most effective for maintaining your desired hair color.
• Use once a week:
Tinted products, like these shampoos, shouldn’t be used for every wash as they might make too much of a change to your color. Use them once a week to freshen up your look. But remember that eventually, you will need to get a complete color treatment with tinting at a salon. These shampoos cannot maintain your color indefinitely.
• Leave the shampoo in for a few minutes:
When using purple and blue haircare products, you should leave them in for 3-5 minutes before rinsing off with cool water. This includes not only the conditioner and hair mask but shampoo as well.
