Does your hair look orange or brassy after a hair coloring job? Warm tones tend to turn brassy with time for several reasons, so if your golden blonde looks orangish instead, you have brassy hair! Even brunettes can face this issue due to fading. Blondes lean towards yellow undertones, and brunettes lean towards coppery or orange tones.
Brassy hair is not only when a hair coloring job goes wrong, but it’s easy to fix it at home, not by using purple shampoo but by home remedies. Yes, you can fix brassiness without purple shampoo or toner at home. Let’s learn more about brassy hair causes and understand how to fix orange hair or brassy tones real quick. Shall we?
Definition of Brassy Hair
If you have colored hair and regularly color your hair, you’d already know or have experienced brassy hair. Brassy hair is when red, orange, or brassy tones develop on colored hair due to various reasons.
The problem is that these unwanted warm tones spread across your hair unevenly, spoiling the coloring job and giving it a brassy look. Sometimes, natural locks do get brassy, though it’s more frequent with colored hair.
Common Causes of Brassy Hair
There are many reasons why brassy tones show up in your hair. Let’s take a look at the most common causes, shall we?
When those with dark-shaded hair color, like brunette hair, bleach their locks to switch to blonde hair, their original hair color pigment, orange tones, still remain and show up as brassy hair.
If the water in your area has certain minerals, accumulation of the same on your hair can result in brassy hair.
More often, those who switch from dark to blonde hair end up with brassy hair. This is because the original hue’s undertones show up as brassy hair.
Sun exposure can cause brassy tones due to reactions to certain chemicals in hair care or styling products.
Excessive hair coloring can also result in brassy tones.
Using hair products that contain sulfates can leave your hair with orange and yellow tones with continued use.
Those with naturally light-colored locks like ash blonde or shades of blonde hair can turn brassy with constant exposure to certain chemicals, including sulfates, in shampoos.
Did you know chlorine from the pools can damage your hair and leave it brassy?
Tips to Manage Colored Hair to Prevent Brassy Hair
There are triggers that turn your beautiful blonde shade coloring job into a brassy nightmare, spoil your hair coloring job, or even make certain natural locks turn an unsightly orange or yellow or brassy. There are ways to prevent this from happening by maintaining colored hair in the following ways:
Always wrap your head when stepping out in the scorching sun to reduce UV or sun exposure.
Stretch the duration between hair coloring sessions. Coloring very often can also cause brassiness. Going more days between hair coloring is one way to prevent it.
Prevent damage by using color-protecting shampoos. Color-protecting shampoos not only make hair color longer it also helps prevent brassiness.
Don’t use hair products that contain sulfates, silicones, parabens, etc.
Home Remedies to Get Rid of Brassy Hair
Let’s take a look at a few home remedies to fix brassiness. These home remedies are easy, and ingredients are usually available in most homes or are easy to acquire.
Before you resort to using purple shampoo, blue shampoo, or hair toners, do give these home remedies a try.
Hollyhock & ACV Fix
This quick and easy fix for brassy hair may need to be repeated until the desired results are achieved. This is a natural remedy and works wonders to neutralize brassiness.
Ingredients
- Hollyhock Herb – 2 Tbsps.
- Water – 1 Cup
- Apple Cider Vinegar – 2 Tbsps.
Preparation
Bring the water and vinegar to a boil in a bowl with the hollyhock herb added to it.
Let it simmer once it starts boiling till the mixture thickens.
Done!
Set aside to cool.
Usage Instructions
Transfer the mixture to a spray container with a larger nozzle and spray liberally on your hair.
Massage the mixture onto your scalp and let it sit for a good 10 – 15 minutes.
Wash off and condition with a sulfate and paraben-free shampoo.
Notes
You can use ACV without hollyhock herb, though adding it improves the results.
Lemon Fix for Brassiness
Lemon juice is another great fix when you’re dealing with brassiness.
Ingredients
- Lemon Juice – 1/4 Cup
- Water – 3/4 Cup
Preparation
Nothing special, just add both the ingredients to a spritzer and shake to combine.
Usage Instructions
Spray the mixture liberally on your hair and scalp.
Massage thoroughly and let it sit for a good ten minutes before washing it off.
Those with sensitivity issues should do a patch test before using this, as lemon juice can be a little harsh if you have sensitive skin.
Baking Soda Fix
This is another fix that can do wonders for brassiness, and you don’t have to go hunting for ingredients. Baking soda is readily available in most pantries, and we’re going to use that to fix brassiness.
Ingredients
- Baking Soda – 1/4 Cup
- Water – 3/4 Cup
Preparation
Nothing special, add both ingredients to a spritzer and shake to combine. Done!
Usage Instructions
Spray on your hair and scalp liberally.
Massage and let it sit for a few minutes before washing off.
You can add lavender essential oils if you prefer.
Don’t forget to use conditioner after shampooing as baking soda can be drying.
Prevention is the Key
There’s a saying prevention is the best cure – it is true for every scenario, including this one. While there are ways to get rid of brassy hair, preventing it in the first place is even better. Here are a few ways to prevent brassiness:
Hard water in your area? Use a water softener to prevent brassy tone due to mineral accumulation from water.
Don’t dip in the ocean or salt water or splash salt water in your locks. While the textured hair resulting from salt water is in, yellow tones that can result from that aren’t!
Prevent excessive sun or UV exposure that can cause brassiness.
Use mild and chemical-free products or hair color-safe products to prevent brassiness.
Dipping in the pool without protecting hair from brassiness is a definite NO.
Conclusion
Do give these remedies a try before you restore them to professional help for brassiness. All these three options are natural, easy, and work effective. Do give them a try, and don’t forget to tweak the recipe to suit your requirements better. Do let us know how you liked these options and your results with them.
Don’t have time for DIYing? No worries, we’ve got you covered with a broad range of premium vegan hair cosmetics from Vitamins Revive. Do check out their online store to learn more about their offering.
As always, feel free to write back to us for any queries, requests, feedback, or questions. We love hearing from our readers.
