Banish brassy hair with these superstar neutralisers
Brassy hair doesn't just happen to bleached blondes. Anyone with natural or cosmetic colour can be susceptible to unwanted warm tones creeping in and ruining their look. Luckily, by adding the right products to your home care ritual, you can fix unwanted tonal imbalances, repair your hair, protect it from future dullness and more besides.
To help you care for your hair and keep your colour looking fabulous, we've pulled together a guide to help you neutralise brassy hair at home. We'll show you how to maintain colour long term, what your product options are, and how colour theory will help you pick the right neutraliser each and every time.
Why should I be neutralising my hair?
Every-day factors like sun exposure and heated styling can cause warm tones to come through into your hair colour. This causes brassiness and dulls the original colour lustre.
By adding neutralisers to your hair care regime, you can reverse brassiness and protect against future damage. Knowing the basics of colour theory will help you figure out which colour is best for neutralising your unique warm tones, no matter what colour your hair is.
How does 'neutralising' work?
Hair colour is a combination of three primary colours: red, blue, and yellow. For example, black hair is actually incredibly dense red and blonde hair is yellow. Brassiness in blonde hair occurs when too much of the original yellow comes through and brassiness in brown hair is caused by orange tones.
The colour of your perfect neutraliser will be the one opposite your unwanted warm tone on the wheel. For example, if you have silvery grey hair and too much yellow is coming through, you can neutralise it with a purple shampoo, conditioner or mask. If you have unwanted red tones in your brown hair, a green shampoo will help neutralise it.
Neutralisers that do more for you
A neutraliser can do much more for you if you know what to look for. Rather than opting for a basic product which simply adds colour, you can try a product which adds pigment while targeting another of your hair concerns. This is what we at Paul Edmonds like to call 'holistic beauty' and it's at the very core of all we do.
Here are some of our favourite neutralising products...
Kerastase Blond Absolu
Blond Absolu was the first blonde haircare range from Kérastase. It maintains cool blonde tones while hydrating and fortifying hair fibres. Your hair is stronger, healthier and free from brassiness.
Meet the range
Keep Your Blonde Cool (£85): Bain Ultra Violet Shampoo, Blond Ultra Masque, and Blond Cicaflash Treatment keep cool blondes looking icy.
Maintain Your Blonde Bright (£85): a shampoo, masque, and treatment for brightening and clarifying warm and golden blondes.
Blond Absolu Cicaextreme: Shampoo Cream, Masque and Blond Absolu Huile leave-in oil with Hyaluronic Acid and Edelweiss flower to give extreme care, post bleaching.
You can purchase Kérastase Blond Absolu products individually to enhance your current home hair care ritual or treat yourself to the full Kérastase Blond Absolu Family Collection (£125).
Shu Uemura Yubi Blonde
Yubi Blonde is the brand new anti-brass range from Shu Uemura. Created specially for cool and ashy blondes, Shu Uemura Yubi Blonde uses Japanese cool pigment technology to correct brassiness and yellow tones. It's infused with precious Japanese white peony from the mountains of Niigata, to soothe inflammation and give nourishing protection to hair.
Meet the range
Glow Revealing Shampoo (£27): removes daily impurities and gently cleanses hair.
Full Replenishing Conditioner (£36): replenishes and nourishes from root to tip.
Anti-Brass Purple Shampoo (£27): counteracts brassiness and smoothes hair.
Anti-Brass Purple Mask (£45): neutralises yellow tones while smoothing and nourishing.
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How to use
Yubi Blonde consists of four products which make up two rituals: a daily and a weekly. The Anti-Brass Purple Shampoo and Anti-Brass Purple Masque can be used once a week or whenever yellow tones start to emerge.
Yubi Blonde daily shampoo and conditioner protect against dullness caused by environmental pollution which builds up on the hair. "The daily Glow Revealing Shampoo and Full Replenishing Conditioner actually clear out any residual traces in the hair," says Paul, "it cleanses the cuticle and makes it lustrous again."
You can buy Yubi Blonde in our online shop or in our salons. You can also opt for the full Shu Uemura Yubi Blonde collection (£112.50) to complete your hair care ritual.
Davines Alchemic
The Davines Alchemic system was developed to intensify natural and cosmetic hair colour. There are 6 pure pigment shampoos and conditioners to choose from, each formulated to give vibrant, even coverage. In true Davines' fashion, the Alchemic range is sustainable, eco-friendly, and free of parabens and silicone.
Meet the Alchemic range
Silver: for platinum blondes, grey hair and highlighted grey/blondes
Golden: for golden blondes and LA blonde tones
Tobacco: for lighter brown hair
Copper: for copper or red hair
Red: for mahogany or red hair
Chocolate: for dark brunette and brassy brown hair
How to use
Davines Alchemic system can be used as often as you like, although we recommend mixing the silver shade with a cleansing shampoo if you have very porous hair.
The gently pigmented Alchemic Shampoo optimises the cuticle while cleansing your hair, allowing the Alchemic Conditioner to neutralise and add lipids before closing the cuticle. It leaves your hair looking vibrant, soft and shiny.
Alchemic Shampoo (£18) and Alchemic Conditioner (£22) is available from our online shop and can also be purchased as a complete bundle (£36) for lasting, vibrant colour.
Paul's top tip
Without regular access to salons, it's easy for the ends of your coloured hair to degrade with heat styling. Products like Shu Uemura Ultimate Reset Extreme Restoration Duo-Serum and Shu Uemura Color Lustre Thermo-Milk can help maintain the strength, condition and colour of your hair until you can visit us again.
"If your ends aren't regularly trimmed, they'll start to degrade," says Paul. "It's a matter of keeping the condition up and keeping it in top quality. And by doing that, you'll end up keeping a lustre and a shine to the hair."
Unleash the full potential of your colour while caring for your hair — visit our online shop and find your perfect neutralising product today.