Hair brassiness can ruin your hair coloring effort and leave you with unflattering locks that make you want to run inside and hide. However, we can’t go and hide indefinitely and wait out hair brassiness. So here’s how to fix brassy hair at home via top DIY hair recipes.
There are different ways to deal with the issue, including easy and natural DIY options. But first, let’s learn more about hair brassiness and what causes it. That way, we move to resolve the issue and prevent such issues in the future.
What’s Hair Brassiness?
According to hair experts, hair brassiness is when there are excessively warm undertones in colored hair. This frequently occurs in dark hair that is blonde-dyed or when hair is bleached from a darker color to blonde or platinum blonde.
The warm undertones where orange tones or red hues appear on the hair is called brassiness. Sometimes, people think it’s just warm under tones in your hair, but brassiness is when the warm undertones are excessive and make your hair look very artificial.
That’s when it’s a problem and needs a quick fix.
Causes for Hair Brassiness
Oxidization during hair coloring dilutes melanin pigments in the hair. This means your existing hair color is replaced with new color pigments – red, blue, and yellow, the three color pigments hair colors are made of.
Blue seems to fade faster, combining red and yellow, making hair look orangish. That’s why it’s called brassiness.
While there are many causes for hair brassiness, the most common cause is exposure to heat or harsh chemicals. Heading out during scorching summers or dipping in chlorinated pools that cause fading of hair color are common culprits.
Effective Ways to Treat Hair Brassiness
So, hair brassiness is upon you. It’s time to fix it! There are a few effective home remedies that help deal with hair brassiness.
Let’s take a look at a few tried and tested home remedies that can fix brassy hair at home. Herbal or natural remedies often work differently for individuals.
The results vary due to multiple factors, including one’s body type and constitution. So, try out these remedies on how to tone brassy hair at home and see what works for you best.
DIY Hollyhock Hair Mask
Hollyhock herb can get rid of warm undertones in your hair. So it’s easy to prepare this mask.
Ingredients:
ACV – 2 Tbsp.
Hollyhock Leaves – 2 Tbsp.
Preparation:
Add both the ingredients to a bowl along with a cup of water and bring them to a boil on low heat. Let it simmer till the resulting liquid is thick, and remove it from the heat.
How to Use the Mask?
Apply this to your hair strands and wait for 15 minutes before washing it off. Make sure to use a sulfate-free shampoo intended for color-treated hair.
DIY Indigo Rescue
Indigo pigment is used in several products to fix brassy tones of hair. Here’s another herbal solution that does just that!
Ingredients:
Indigofera Tinctoria Powder – 3 – 4 Tbsp.
Water – as needed
Why Indigofera Tinctoria Herb?
Indigofera tinctoria is a herb that is used to extract indigo color.
How to Use the Herb?
Applying this as a mask to color your hair can help resolve brassiness. You need to leave it on your hair for about an hour before washing it off. Use a mild shampoo intended for color-treated hair.
Alternatively, you can also use indigo powder with your hair conditioner if you can’t find the herbal powder. If you use your conditioner and indigo pigment – wash off when the desired hair shade is achieved. You can check after 15 minutes and every five minutes after that.
DIY ACV Hair Spray Toner
Ingredients:
ACV – ¼ Cup
Water – 2 Tbsp.
Preparation:
Mix ACV and water together. Done!
How to Use the Spray?
Pour this mixture into a spray dispenser and spray this on your hair. Let it sit for at least fifteen minutes before rinsing off.
You don’t have to use a shampoo as ACV only leaves a nice apple aroma and not the pungent odor that you smell once you open it or apply it. However, if you are uncomfortable just rinsing off, use a mild shampoo for color-treated hair.
Tips to Fix Hair Brassiness
Prevention is the best cure – this saying holds weightage for hair care, but there are times when you can’t prevent a few issues. If you inadvertently end up with brassy hair and don’t have time for DIY remedies, here are a few quick fixes you can try.
Use a purple hair shampoo or toner for a quick and easy fix for yellow undertones and blonde hair. Also, consider using hair shampoos or toners with purple or blue pigments to prevent hair brassiness. You can also try vitamins keratin enhanced purple hair mask to fix brassy hair.
If your hair is brunette, or if hair brassiness has orange and yellow tones, you might want to use blue shampoo pigment instead of purple toning shampoo. So check for shampoo and toners that have blue pigment to fix orange hair.
Not able to find pigmented products? No worries, mix up the required pigment to your hair conditioner and apply it instead.
You can use food colors or color pigments. Use the color wheel as your guide to choosing the right pigment for your needs.
You must go with the color across the color wheel for your hair shade to neutralize and tone your hair. Many suggest rinsing hair with hot water to open up the cuticles so the pigment can deposit in the strands better.
While we try everything else, there is probably an easy solution that costs you a few bucks. Consider a salon visit to fix hair brassiness.
In most cases, a quick visit to the salon can fix the issue. They usually use a fixing toner and blow dry your hair to fix the issue, though sometimes they also color your hair a shade darker.
Depending on the intensity of warm tones, they may choose to top up your strands with a darker shade to your existing color to hide brassiness. Many have had good results with a vinegar rinse, lemon rinse, or clarifying with baking soda.
Honey is also used as one of the ingredients used to fix hair brassiness. If you don’t have much time, then you can try these as quick fixes.
You will need to wait for a few minutes at most. However, the results vary with different individuals, so give it a try before you go full throttle on these.
Green tea rinse is also used with good results in fixing brassy hair. Though some say it’s not an instant fix and that there will be a visible improvement, but should be done repeatedly for the best results.
Use a purple mask to fix hair brassiness in blonde hair. Just like purple shampoo or toner, the purple mask also uses color pigment to fix warm undertones. Have you tried vitamins keratin purple hair mask to fix brassy hair?
Tips to Prevent Hair Brassiness
Do you know hair brassiness can be prevented? Few simple changes can go a long way in protecting your hair and retaining your hair color longer. It can also prevent brassiness in most cases.
Use a shampoo intended for color-treated hair to prevent hair brassiness. These shampoos can prevent hair color from fading faster, thus preventing brassiness. Most color-treated hair shampoos are milder.
Use sulfate-free shampoo. Most shampoos have sulfates to work up a rich lather, but sulfates tend to damage hair by stripping essential moisture from your hair. As a result, hair becomes dry and brittle. It also strips hair color, which means it can cause brassiness.
Wear sun protection that can block UV rays when heading out. You can use a sunblock spray for your hair from harsh UV rays.
Consider using a water-softening treatment option for your showers or taps (if you soak in the tub) to prevent mineral or chemical deposits on the hair. Chlorine is used widely to disinfect water.
This is one of the main culprits for hair brassiness either in swimming pools or when you hit the shower. There are filters that prevent iron (another reason for hair brassiness) and chlorine from getting deposited on your strands and can be used in your shower or taps.
Many recommend using a water-softening solution for the home instead of individual taps or showers for better results.
Don’t use hot or warm water for washing your hair. Wondering why? Hot water tends to strip off hair color faster besides, leaving your hair dry and brittle.
By switching to cold water, you can prevent hair color from fading faster, which can result in hair brassiness. If you don’t like cold water, use lukewarm water instead.
Use mild shampoos and minimize the frequency. It feels nice to wash your hair every day, especially if you live in tropical areas or have an active lifestyle.
Instead of shampooing every day, consider using shampoo once or twice a week. Look for alternatives, including dry shampoo instead of shampooing every day.
Dry shampoo can refresh your hair and scalp and leave you feeling fresh without stripping your hair of moisture. Consider using glazes or glosses for color-treated hair.
Glazes and glosses are products designed to protect hair color from fading and prevent hair brassiness. They usually top up your hair color and leave it lustrous and shiny.
Try using a scarf or wrap when you head out. This also protects your hair from harsh environmental factors that can impact your hair.
If you have colored your hair recently, don’t try swimming in salt or seawater. Yes, it’s nice to take a dip in the ocean, and many suggest that as a way to detoxify the body.
But it’s not ideal when you have colored your hair. Avoid products that use silicone or parabens.
They damage the hair in the longer run. There are other options to make your hair shiny and lustrous without using silicone. You can use hair masks and packs to get lustrous locks.
Consider using a hair mask, packs, and nourishing oil treatments to nourish your hair. You can whip up your own hair treatments using natural hair color ingredients.
They’re effective and affordable, though you can also use store-bought options when you don’t have time. Many prefer to use avocados, bananas, eggs, and similar nutrient-rich ingredients for their masks.
Hot oil massage is one way to replenish lost moisture, nurture and enrich your strands from within. It also leaves your hair lustrous and shiny.
You can choose your favorite oil or your favorite blend according to your requirement for the massage. Last but not least, choose the right products.
Use products that are meant for your blonde hair or colored hair and minimize the possibility of brassiness. For example: If you are blonde, choose products that are designed for blonde hair – not all, but some are hair shade specific, especially since some products can leave stains, so they are not suitable for lighter hair.
DIY can be fun, affordable, and very flexible for your needs. You can pick and choose your ingredients, mix and shake up a recipe, tweak a recipe, and whatnot.
The possibilities are endless! However, with our fast-paced lifestyle and women joining the bandwagon at work, many are hard-pressed for time.
When you don’t have time, we have you covered with our Vitamins Hair Cosmetics range of products. With a number of products to our credit, there’s always a product that will suit your needs or meet your requirements.
The best part is that all the products are enriched with a natural herbal complex and prepared following a traditional recipe handed down through generations. You can take a look at the products they have by visiting the vitamins hair cosmetics amazon store.
Try these simple ways to prevent or fix hair brassiness and let us know how you liked it. We love to hear from our readers. Do let us know if you have any questions or queries or if you have any special requests for topics you want us to cover.