A Complete Guide to Choosing and Using Blue Shampoo for Brassy Hair

Brown hair is meant to look like coffee or dark chocolate. Six weeks after a color appointment, a lot of it looks more like a copper pot. The orange creeps in at the ends and around your face first.

Colorists call this brassiness, and the fix is cheaper than another salon visit. Blue shampoo is made for this exact problem. It won't change your shade, but it can take the orange back out of it. Here's how it works, how to pick one, and how to use it without going blue.

Why Does Brassy Hair Appear?

Dark hair has warm pigment hiding inside it. When it's lightened, whether with bleach, highlights or a lighter box dye, that pigment breaks down in stages. Red goes first, then orange, then yellow. Brown hair that's been lifted a few shades is usually sitting in the orange stage underneath.

Fresh dye covers that with cool and neutral tones. Those cool tones are also the first to wash out. Every shampoo, every afternoon in the sun, and every rinse in hard water takes a little more away, and the orange starts showing through.

In other words, brassy hair is usually faded hair. That means you can correct most of it at home.

How Blue Shampoo Neutralizes Orange Tones

Blue and orange are placed opposite each other on the color wheel. Mix them, and they cancel out, leaving a more neutral brown. A blue color shampoo does a gentle version of what a salon toner does, in your shower.

It carries a small amount of blue or blue-violet pigment. While you wash, some of it settles on the surface of the hair and evens out the orange. It fades over a few washes, so you keep using it.

It works on orange and copper. It can't lighten dark hair, and it won't do much for yellow. That's purple shampoo's job.

 How to Choose the Right Blue Shampoo for Your Hair

Why Pair Blue Shampoo With a Blue Conditioner?

Shampoo spends about a minute on your head, and most of it goes on the roots. The brass, though, is usually worst on the mid-lengths and ends. A blue conditioner goes right there, stays on longer, and tones a second time while it softens.

It also helps with dryness. If you use blue shampoo for brassy hair on its own and your hair feels squeaky afterwards, the conditioner is usually the missing half.

That's why our Herbishh Blue Shampoo & Conditioner Set comes as a pair. It's made to neutralize brassy and orange tones in brunette, color-treated and highlighted hair, with hydrating care in the conditioner.

Blue Shampoo vs. Purple Shampoo: Which One Do You Need?

Match the opposite color.

• Orange or copper tones: blue shampoo.
  For: Usually brown, brunette, and dark blonde hair.

• Yellow tones: purple shampoo.
  For: Usually blonde, platinum, silver, and grey hair.

Brown hair with blonde highlights can show both, orange through the brown and yellow on the highlights. Some people keep both bottles and alternate. Others use blue shampoo for brunettes all over and a purple product only on the lighter pieces.

How Often Should You Use Blue Hair-Care Products?

Once a week, in place of your regular shampoo, is enough for most people. If the orange is strong, use it two or three times a week until it calms down, then go back to weekly.

Leave it on for one to three minutes at first. Longer means stronger toning. Leave it too long on light or porous hair, and you may notice a faint blue or ashy cast. A wash or two with your regular shampoo takes it out.

On other wash days, use a color-safe shampoo and lukewarm water. The slower your color fades, the less often you'll need the blue.

Final Words 

Almost every colored brunette gets some brass eventually. A blue shampoo for brunette hair once a week, a matching conditioner on the ends, and slightly cooler showers will keep most of it away between appointments.

Start gently and check in daylight. If the orange runs deep, a colorist can tone it properly at the salon.