The key to maintaining a head-turning blonde, silver or gray hue? Striking the right tone. Enter: purple shampoo and conditioner. These at-home treatments help to brighten, balance and beautify lightened hues—ideal for keeping your color-treated hair fresh between touch-ups or boosting the brilliance of your natural shade.
Here’s everything you need to know about how and when to use them.
What is purple shampoo?
Purple shampoo is a type of color-toning product. Color toners help to emphasize or deemphasize certain tones in your hair by depositing pigments (in this case, purple ones) onto your strands. There’s also purple conditioner, which has the same color-toning properties as purple shampoo with the bonus of added moisture, softening and smoothing. Together, they’re quite the color-beautifying bundle.
If you’re familiar with color theory, you know that purple and yellow fall directly across from each other on the color wheel. (And if you didn’t, you do now!) As complementary colors, they effectively cancel each other out when mixed together. That’s the idea behind purple shampoo and conditioner: by depositing purple pigments onto the hair, they neutralize unwanted yellow undertones that make hair look brassy—so that your color stays the shade you want it to.
Is purple shampoo only for blonde hair?
Newsflash: Purple shampoo is not just for blondes! It’s actually a great option for anyone looking to keep their light-colored locks looking vibrant—including gray, silver and brown/dark hair with blonde highlights. Using a purple regimen can help banish and prevent brassiness in both color-treated and natural hair.
(P.S. If you were wondering, purple shampoo won’t really do anything for fully dark hair colors.)
What causes brassy hair, anyway?
Brassy hair happens when your color (natural or not) starts to fade. We all have warm undertones lurking in our locks, but damage from too much sun exposure, heat styling, chlorine or other stressors can fade the colors covering them up and bring out more of those yellow-y tints. That’s when bright, beautiful hair may become dull and brassy.
How to use purple shampoo + conditioner for the best results
Purple shampoo and conditioner banish brass to keep your color looking just as nature—or your stylist—intended. Here are some tips to make the most of these treatments in your routine:
Don’t rinse them out too quickly. Depending on how much brass you’re dealing with, you’ll typically want to let your shampoo or conditioner sit for 2-5 minutes so it has time to do its toning.
Always use conditioner. Purple shampoo can be drying, so be sure to follow up with a purple conditioner and/or your favorite color-protecting hair mask to restore lost moisture.
Keep up the protection outside the shower, too. What’s better than banishing brassiness? Avoiding it altogether! Take care to treat your hair gently: use color-safe products, heat protectants, all that healthy stuff. And, y’know, do things like wear a hat when you’re out in the sun.
How often should you use purple shampoo + conditioner?
Fun as it is to basically fingerpaint your hair violet, using purple shampoo too often can overcorrect your color, leaving you with lilac-tinted locks or dull, darkened strands. For the best results, use your purple regimen no more than 2-3 times a week. And in between, make sure you’re using color-safe products to protect your hue.
How long should you leave purple shampoo + conditioner in your hair?
Leaving purple products in your hair longer than recommended (generally a few minutes at most) can also lead to the lilac tints or dark tones mentioned above. Rule of thumb? Stick to the instructions on the bottles, and you should be good to go.
The Drop
Purple shampoo and conditioner are a dream duo for blonde, gray, silver and lightened locks. With proper use, they banish brassiness, enhance shine and keep hair looking vibrant and oh-so-fresh. While we’re on the topic, we make a salon-grade Purple Shampoo and Purple Conditioner, each formulated with amaranth and plant-based proteins that hydrate and promote all-around healthier hair. They’re also free of sulfates, free of synthetic fragrances and safe to use on all hair types and textures.
This is completely up to you and your desired look. In general, we recommend applying a purple shampoo every hair wash
hair wash
Hair washing is the cosmetic act of keeping hair clean by washing it. To remove sebum from hair, some apply a surfactant, usually shampoo (sometimes soap) to their hair and lather the surfactant with water. The surfactant is rinsed out with water along with the dirt that it bonds to.
(once to twice a week) and alternating between a purple conditioner and your usual conditioner in between washes. However, this frequency can be adjusted based on your toning preferences.
To solve the problem of having lilac-tinged hair, the best way to use purple shampoo is by applying one day per week or when you start to notice brassy tones. Unless you have white hair or gray hair, you shouldn't leave the purple shampoo on for longer than 15 minutes at a time.
Let the shampoo sit on your hair for 2-3 minutes if you're a natural blonde or 15 minutes for brassy color-treated hair.For gray or platinum hair, wait 30 minutes. Rinse out the shampoo thoroughly with cool water and follow with your favorite conditioner.
How Long Should I Leave Purple Conditioner In My Hair Before Rinsing It Out? Most purple conditioners (including Saltair's) are only meant to be left on for 1-3 minutes. These are not meant to be applied the way some people use traditional conditioners as mini hair masks.
There's also purple conditioner, which has the same color-toning properties as purple shampoo with the bonus of added moisture, softening and smoothing. Together, they're quite the color-beautifying bundle.
Ready to use your purple shampoo? Dispense into your palms, then rub your hands together before applying onto the hair. Massage in from root to tip, lathering the shampoo as you go. Focus on the areas that are particularly brassy to knock out those unwanted yellow tones.
EVENLY distribute your purple shampoo and conditioner.
I've also ended up with splotchy purple spots. In order to properly distribute the product, I take a comb into the shower with me and comb through my hair once the product is applied. This gives me an all over product application.
However, if you take the double cleanse approach, Devin Graciano, hair stylist and head of product development at Goldie Locks says the best approach is to first use a regular shampoo and then follow up with the purple shampoo.
Visually, this will make your hair look darker, and if you just went through the trouble of getting it colored blonder, this is probably something you are going to want to avoid. Purple shampoo should be applied in the shower or during a hair wash. While your hair is wet, apply the shampoo and lather it onto your hair.
The longer the shampoo/ conditioner stays on your hair, the more pigment is deposited. If you notice a purple cast to your hair after using silver shine, try rinsing it out a little sooner.
For those who tend to go brassy quite fast and prefer a cooler blonde, Newton recommends 'Use your purple formula every second shampoo, no more than twice a week. Each time, use your normal shampoo for the first cleanse followed by the purple, then rinse and condition.
Purple shampoo has been used for decades by hairdressers, mostly to help tone and neutralize blonde and gray hair, getting rid of brassy or yellow tones for an overall more cool-toned look.
However, if you take the double cleanse approach, Devin Graciano, hair stylist and head of product development at Goldie Locks says the best approach is to first use a regular shampoo and then follow up with the purple shampoo.
This might be the case for some people, but there's also the risk of more porous, damaged sections of the hair (the ends) absorbing more pigment than the newer hair towards the root. So, to avoid a patchy purple effect, use the Blonde Assure Color Toning Purple Shampoo as advised: on wet hair.
The longer the shampoo/ conditioner stays on your hair, the more pigment is deposited. If you notice a purple cast to your hair after using silver shine, try rinsing it out a little sooner.
If you have brunette or blonde hair with warm tones, leave it on for 1-3 minutes; neutral brunette or blonde hair, leave it on for 3-5 minutes; or brunette or blonde hair with cool tones, leave it on for 5-15 minutes.
Introduction: My name is Patricia Veum II, I am a vast, combative, smiling, famous, inexpensive, zealous, sparkling person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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