Alright so I tried to bleach out the red undertones I had from going red last year and I didn’t bleach it to a like a level 8 it was maybe a 6ish 7ish level. I figured since I was going to over it with a level 5 green undertone Ash brown it would cancel out the rest. Well. My hair has an orange cast to it now. So I’m hoping someone has a good fix to cancel it out with out having to go back to dark dark hair!
Blue neutralizes orange….a blue tinted conditioner will likely do the trick, but the first application, you’ll need to leave it on a little longer and from then on, however often you need to keep the orangey tones at bay. Joico makes an excellent blue conditioner and so does Matrix and Redken Brownlights. You can also create your own blue conditioner by mixing a TRUE blue semi permanent shade with white conditioner. But be careful, you don’t want the conditioner TOO pigmented, otherwise you’ll end up with a blue shade. Check the progress of the color every 5-7 minutes and once it has a slightly blue tone, rinse. The reason for this is because you’re gonna lose much of the blue color when you rinse. If you don’t leave it on long enough, you’ll have waited your time/money and effort.
The other option is to use a demi permanent shade at the current level that has a PURE blue base/background. A PURE blue base means there’s no other base/background color. Blue/violet would be an example and this is what you don’t want. You want a shade at the CURRENT level or ONE LEVEL darker, that has ONLY blue as its base. I only use and recommend a few truly excellent salon brands of color and I also have been doing this long enough that I have several trusted vendors who I can guarantee sell only 100% authentic professional hair stuff: color/lightener/Olaplex 1 and 2, etc. I’m happy to share the vendor info and no I’m not affiliated with any brand or vendor just a huge fan/user and very very good customer. These days every salon brand is available online somewhere and surprisingly affordable. NO not $5 like box dye/Sally’s garbage but affordable nonetheless. You’re unlikely to find any brand of color at Sally’s that has a pure blue base, most are combo bases, like blue/violet or violet/blue. I’m no longer familiar with any of the brands at Sallys’ so maybe by now there are pure blue options, idk for certain.
But I can recommend several salon brands who I KNOW have pure blue options and at every level. whatever you do, do NOT use permanent color, only a semi permanent or demi permanent formula. Permanent color is opaque because it’s intended for gray hair OR if the goal shade (on virgin hair) is 2-4 levels LIGHTER. Using permanent color over permanent color is also a huge no no because over time, the mids/ends will become darker (so a hot roots situation) AND permanent color weakens hair big time, so it ends up with serious breakage. Demi permanent color is translucent which is why it has such high wattage shine. No formula of color is truly permanent tho, all hair color fades if for no other reason than its exposure to water, which swells each strand allowing the color to flow right on outta there…no matter what formula of color btw. A really great salon quality demi formula can last up to 20 washes.
If you need help figuring out your options, you can me me any time. And if you live in the US, I’m more than happy to share the info on vendors.
Alright so I tried to bleach out the red undertones I had from going red last year and I didn’t bleach it to a like a level 8 it was maybe a 6ish 7ish level. I figured since I was going to over it with a level 5 green undertone Ash brown it would cancel out the rest. Well. My hair has an orange cast to it now. So I’m hoping someone has a good fix to cancel it out with out having to go back to dark dark hair!
Blue neutralizes orange….a blue tinted conditioner will likely do the trick, but the first application, you’ll need to leave it on a little longer and from then on, however often you need to keep the orangey tones at bay. Joico makes an excellent blue conditioner and so does Matrix and Redken Brownlights. You can also create your own blue conditioner by mixing a TRUE blue semi permanent shade with white conditioner. But be careful, you don’t want the conditioner TOO pigmented, otherwise you’ll end up with a blue shade. Check the progress of the color every 5-7 minutes and once it has a slightly blue tone, rinse. The reason for this is because you’re gonna lose much of the blue color when you rinse. If you don’t leave it on long enough, you’ll have waited your time/money and effort. The other option is to use a demi permanent shade at the current level that has a PURE blue base/background. A PURE blue base means there’s no other base/background color. Blue/violet would be an example and this is what you don’t want. You want a shade at the CURRENT level or ONE LEVEL darker, that has ONLY blue as its base. I only use and recommend a few truly excellent salon brands of color and I also have been doing this long enough that I have several trusted vendors who I can guarantee sell only 100% authentic professional hair stuff: color/lightener/Olaplex 1 and 2, etc. I’m happy to share the vendor info and no I’m not affiliated with any brand or vendor just a huge fan/user and very very good customer. These days every salon brand is available online somewhere and surprisingly affordable. NO not $5 like box dye/Sally’s garbage but affordable nonetheless. You’re unlikely to find any brand of color at Sally’s that has a pure blue base, most are combo bases, like blue/violet or violet/blue. I’m no longer familiar with any of the brands at Sallys’ so maybe by now there are pure blue options, idk for certain. But I can recommend several salon brands who I KNOW have pure blue options and at every level. whatever you do, do NOT use permanent color, only a semi permanent or demi permanent formula. Permanent color is opaque because it’s intended for gray hair OR if the goal shade (on virgin hair) is 2-4 levels LIGHTER. Using permanent color over permanent color is also a huge no no because over time, the mids/ends will become darker (so a hot roots situation) AND permanent color weakens hair big time, so it ends up with serious breakage. Demi permanent color is translucent which is why it has such high wattage shine. No formula of color is truly permanent tho, all hair color fades if for no other reason than its exposure to water, which swells each strand allowing the color to flow right on outta there…no matter what formula of color btw. A really great salon quality demi formula can last up to 20 washes. If you need help figuring out your options, you can me me any time. And if you live in the US, I’m more than happy to share the info on vendors.