Mastering the Art: Toning Away Brassy Hair With Ash Blonde Toners

In the realm of haircare, achieving the perfect shade often requires meticulous attention to detail and the right tools in hand.

For both seasoned professionals and budding hairstylists, the battle against brassy hair tones is a familiar one.

Fortunately, the the arsenal of ash blonde toners now available provides a potent solution to neutralize unwanted warm undertones, granting clients the coveted cool, ashy hues they desire.

Let's delve into the professional techniques and insights for effectively toning away brassiness with ash blonde toners.

Understanding the enemy: brassiness

Let's first understand what makes hair brassy to start with.

Brassiness, characterized by unwanted orange or yellow undertones, can afflict hair for various reasons, including exposure to sunlight, heat styling, or the natural oxidation process. 

For clients with blonde, silver, or highlighted hair, brassiness can detract from the desired shade, compromising the overall look.

Addressing this issue requires a targeted approach, with an ash blonde toner emerging as a natural choice.

Our technique today to cut out brass

Our client came in as you can see with shoulder-length brassy hair.

We first applied a mixture of Brilliant Blondexx bleach with 20 Vol developer using foils.

We saturated the hair and took out slices and concentrated on lightening those sections, as you can see.

We then applied 4AA - dark ash brown to our client's regrowth area.

This gave us a very nice root smudge root effect on that section.

Blondify's New Natural Ash Blonde Toner

For the rest of the now bleached hair, we used Ugly Duckling's new Blondify toner Natural Ash Blonde 010A.

This toner has been formulated with pigments which work by neutralizing the warm tones present in brassy hair, resulting in a cooler, more balanced color.

The toner is a level 10 toner, but because it's a Blondify toner, it's not going to affect the non highlighted sections.

It's just going to tone the level yellow hair and leave the rest untouched.

When choosing a toner, you need to bear in mind whether you are going to want to lift more or not.

In this case, we did not. So Blondify was the perfect choice.

Preparation Is Key

Always start off with dry, unwashed hair. That's the best base on which to apply the bleach.

When putting in foils, start from the back, That's where the hair is thickest and darkest.

Then work your way around.

After 15 minutes, check how well the bleach has lifted.

Only rinse when the hair is truly yellow, ideally light yellow.

Then rinse and towel dry.

Application Techniques for the Toner & the Color

Mix your 4AA with 20 Vol in a 1+1 mix. Then do the smudge root.

Now apply the toner mix, also 1+1 with 20 Vol developer.

Since Blondify is a liquid toner you can apply straight out of the bottle. Make sure that all the hair gets into contact with the toner mix. Rub in to the hair, that will help.

Leave 10 minutes and then rinse.

Post-Toning Care

Once the toning process is complete, educate clients on the importance of post-toning care to maintain their newfound cool-toned locks.

We always recommend sulfate-free  and acid-based shampoos and  conditioners to prolong the toner's longevity and preserve vibrancy.

All Ugly Duckling haircare products are sulfate-free and acidic.

We recommend theat you use Brilliant Blondexx Shampoo and Mask.

It will help strengthen the hair and condition it.

Additionally, advise clients to minimize exposure to chlorine, hard water, and direct sunlight, which can contribute to brassiness over time.

Conclusion

Toning away brassy hair with ash blonde toners is something that is very easy to do.

By bleaching and then by selecting the right toner, employing proper application techniques, and emphasizing post-toning care, hairdressers can easily get rid of brassy hair.