What Is The Point Of A Hair Toner?
What is a toner? You’ve all heard your hairstylist use this word before. Maybe it was before you started your service, or after the foils were taken out while your hair was yellow and you were feeling a little frantic.
They took you back to the shampoo bowl, put something else on your hair, and let it sit for 20 minutes. You have no idea what just happened, and all you know is that your hair is no longer yellow and it looks great.
So, what is a toner? What does it do? Is it necessary to add to my highlight? And, is it damaging to my hair?
What is a toner & what does it do?
A toner is any demi or semi permanent hair color that is used on the hair.
The definition is simply what it sounds like; it adds tone to the hair. Tone is the shade of the color, is it warm, cool, ashy, pearl, beige, red, neutral, etc.
When highlighting or stripping out dark hair color, bleach must be used. Bleach does not have a tone to it, it removes color only. This exposes the underlining pigment in the hair.
Bleach lifts hair through the stages of decolorization. The stages are dark red, red, red orange, orange, yellow orange, yellow, and pale yellow. All hair on the planet lifts warm, I don’t care what anybody tells you. That’s just the science of how lightening hair works.
In order to get the shade you desire, we still have to go back and “tone” the hair to the selected shade and/or cancel out unwanted warmth from the hair. This is all done with a toner.
Toners are not only for blondes! A toner can be used to refresh faded ends hair color for brunettes, reds, or even vivid colors.
Not every toner is made the same, some may be formulated to add more shine to the hair, strengthen it, or just neutralize the unwanted color.
Other names for a toner
Toner is the most commonly used term for the word, but it can also be called by a few different names.
Gloss and glaze are also words to describe the same thing.
Some stylists may use the word gloss because that’s what their hair color line calls it, but ultimately they all do the same thing.
Hair color lines may prefer to use the words gloss or glaze because it sounds like it will add more shine to the hair than the word toner. But typically, they are all the same.
Root shadow/smudge/tap
A root shadow, smudge, or tap; are all words used to describe a toner. When doing this service we use a darker toner at your root to blend your highlights into your natural hair color.
This helps to blend any lines, as well as let it grow out seamlessly.
This service is done during the toning process. It is typically applied to the root of your hair, and then the other toner color (usually lighter for the ends) is applied all over to marry it all together.
What is a pre-toner?
A pre-toner is the same thing as a toner, but sometimes we need to do 2 different toners to achieve the color you desire.
If we are doing a corrective color on your hair, this is very common.
Often times when there is a color that needs to be neutralized, we will do a pre-tone to neutralize out the unwanted color, and then after that is rinsed out we will do another toner to add the exact tone or shade we want.
Are toners always necessary?
Most of the time, yes! But there are times when they are not. It all depends on what color your hair is vs. what color you want it to be.
If you desire an ashy, platinum blonde color, then yes it is 100% necessary.
Depending on how well the hair lifted, I can sometimes get away with toning the hair with only purple shampoo. This is not very common, but it is definitely doable.
The reason purple is used for blondes is because purple is the opposite of yellow on the color wheel. So in order to cancel out the yellow, we need to use purple.
For brunettes, you don’t always need to refresh your ends every time with a toner. You can skip it to every other time, depending on how your hair fades and how happy you are with the shade.
To learn more about the shades and tones of hair, check out my post here.
How much do toners cost?
The price of a toner will vary depending on your hairstylist. Many stylists include the price of a toner into their hair coloring costs, while others will add it as an extra charge.
A typical toner is usually $30 added onto your coloring service, but it can cost more depending on what needs to be done.
Personally, I have worked the cost of this service into all of my blonding services. This is because I personally think it is necessary 95% of the time, even if it is just to seal the cuticle and make the hair a little less frizzy.
If you are coming in solely for a toning service it typically costs more because we need to charge for the time you are in our chair. Personally I charge $70 for a tone only appointment.
How long do toners process for?
This is dependent on the toner used. Some toners process in as little as 5 minutes, while others process for up to 30 minutes.
I let my root smudges process for a minimum of 20 minutes, 30 minutes if my client has gray hair or if there is a harsh color line that I am covering up.
But most of my blonde toners process for as little as 5 minutes. These are called express toners and are my go-to’s for blonde hair.
Are toners damaging to your hair?
In short, no they are not. While developer is used and that can rough up the cuticle of your hair (outer layer), it will not damage the hair any more than it already may be.
Often times clients will come to me with significantly damaged hair. Rather than using bleach on the hair to lighten, I will frequently opt to tone the hair only, to give it a break from the bleach as well as close the cuticle, adding shine and neutralizing any unwanted shades.
Does a toner lighten hair?
No! This is very important to keep in mind. A toner will deposit color only. While it can be pretty amazing what a toner can do, it will never take the hair any lighter than it already is.
If your hair did not lighten as much as you wanted it to during the bleaching service, you will have to tone down to the level that it lifted to.
So if you want an icy platinum hair color (level 10+) but your hair only lifted to a yellow-orange level 7, you must tone with a level 6 in order to completely cancel out the orange undertones in the hair.
Unfortunately you cannot have an icy platinum hair color unless your hair lifts to an even level 10, toner or not.
To learn more about the level system and how it works, check out my blog post here.
What does a toner do to brown hair?
This is dependent on what toner you are using.
If you are using a purple shampoo on brown hair, it won’t do anything. Likewise if you use a level 8, 9, or 10 toner on brown hair, it also won’t do anything.
But if you are using a level 6 or below, it will deposit the shade of the toner you are using against the underlining pigment that the brown hair color currently has.
Toning hair products
I recommend using toning hair products at home to maintain your hair color on your own to extend the time between visits to the salon.
Below I’ve listed some of my favorite toning products such as shampoos, conditioners, masks, and leave-in treatments that you can purchase on Amazon.
***Since I’m sharing the products that I love to use with you guys, this page includes affiliate links to these products. If you take action and purchase a product through clicking one of my links, I’ll make some commission money from it at no extra cost to you. This enables me to be able to continue giving you awesome hair tips, so thanks! ***
Toning products for blonde hair
These are the recommended products for toning blonde hair to remove unwanted yellow tones. Again these will only work if your hair is lifted light enough. They will not do anything to darker colored hair.
Pravana
- The Perfect Blonde kit – All of Pravana’s blonde toning products in one kit
- The perfect blonde shampoo and conditioner liter duo or 10.1 oz duo | Shampoo only – liter or 10.1 oz | Conditioner only – liter or 10.1 oz
- Purple toning masque – Blonde toning conditioning treatment
- The Perfect blonde Seal and Protect Leave In – Blonde toning leave-in conditioner
Olaplex
- No. 4p – Purple toning shampoo
Toning products for all other colors
Keep in mind, if you have ANY blonde in your hair, it will be significantly affected by these products. I only recommend using these if you have no blonde in your hair that you don’t want covered up. If you have blonde that you want to stay blonde, only use the options above.
Pravana
One final warning, DO NOT use this blue shampoo on blonde hair, it will turn GREEN!
That being said it works wonderfully to remove red and warm tones from brunette hair!
- The Perfect brunette toning Shampoo and Conditioner
Celeb Luxury
These are color toning shampoo and conditioners. They deposit color to your hair, and replenish faded hair color to stretch coming in to the salon!
Natural Colors
Vivid Colors
Toner Conclusion
A toner is a service performed in the salon that adds the tone to the hair. The tone of the hair is essentially the shade.
This service is often used after highlighting or lightening services, but can also be performed on its own.
The word “toner” is often interchanged with the words “gloss” or “glaze”. While each line has some differences in products, they all ultimately do the same thing.
They are not damaging as they do not lighten the hair anymore than it already is, they simply add the tone to the color.
Toners can be used on blondes to neutralize the unwanted yellow and even out the color. They can also be used on brunettes to refresh the faded color.
I hope this was helpful in explaining what a toner is and why we use them! If you have any further questions leave them for me in the comments.
As always, have a good hair day!
Last updated 11/7/2022
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