How To Use A Leave-In Product To Remove Yellow Tones from Blonde Hair
If you’ve ever struggled with yellow tones in your blonde or lightened hair, you know how frustrating it can be to find the right solution! So in today’s post, I’m testing two different methods to tackle this unwanted warmth. Both products are being used as a spot-treatment for specific areas of brass or yellow. We’ll dive into how these products compare, and which one works best to neutralize yellow tones and leave your hair looking fresh and bright.
Since I use hi-lift color on my hair instead of bleach, my roots are usually left warmer than the rest of my hair. This is only until the second session when I pull the color through. There are several different ways to navigate yellow in your hair, and we’ll talk about those first.
How to remove yellow tones from hair at home
As I mentioned, you have multiple options for removing yellow from your hair. What you choose should be dependent on your individual situation.
Toner
The first option is to use a toner. This is a second color process that adds the neutralizing pigment (purple) to the hair to cancel out the unwanted yellow. Toners are often mixed with developer, and they are considered a chemical service.
While this is a great solution for some, this isn’t doable for everyone. While it’s relatively easy to apply a toner to only the roots of your hair, not every one has access to the products the skills necessary. And personally, sometimes I just don’t want to do a second chemical process on my hair.
To learn more about how to tone the hair, see my post here.
Purple Shampoo
The second option is to use purple shampoo. This is the easiest option, as you simply use it in place of your regular shampoo. But the problem with purple shampoo is that it can be difficult to narrow to a specific area of the hair.
So in my situation of having yellow roots, this isn’t the best option for me. When I use purple shampoo, the mids and ends of my hair turn extremely ashy (sometimes purple) while the roots of my hair remain yellow or only slightly neutralized.
This means I still end up with multiple colors in my hair that don’t really blend out well, like in the image below.
Purple toning drops: Leave-in spot-treatment
The next option is the least heard of, but extremely effective and easy to do yourself. They’re purple toning drops that can be used as a leave-in product. These drops will neutralize those unwanted yellow tones in the hair.
They don’t need to be mixed with developer so it’s not considered a chemical service. And they’re also not an all-over your head solution like purple shampoo is. So if you have a specific area that you need to focus on, this is a great option.
In my situation, I apply these drops to the root of my hair to neutralize the yellow tones. This stops me from needing to use a toner, and it blends my over-all color out better than purple shampoo does.
Below, I perform an experiment where I test these purple toning products against a purple shampoo using the same method.
What products remove yellow tones from hair?
Below is a list of the products that I used in the experiment below:
***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! ***
- Amika Mixtake Violet Toning Drops
- Olaplex 4P Purple Toning Shampoo
- Olaplex 5p Purple Toning Conditioner
Side by side toning product comparison
I was incredibly impressed by the results of this test and how well both samples removed the yellow tones from the hair swatches!
Amika Purple Toning Drops Results
The Amika drops didn’t seem to distribute as easily on the hair. I had to work a little harder to get it the product spread out evenly without any blotches of purple color forming on the hair. In the final result, I could see some very tiny blotches where the color didn’t distribute evenly, even with all of my efforts.
The tone of the swatch was much more desirable than the before tone. It worked wonders for neutralizing the yellow tones from the hair. That being said, I would call it more of a “blush” tone, than an ashy or cool toned blonde.
The hair felt clean and soft with the drops applied, and no build-up was present. You could use this on freshly washed hair with no problem.
Olaplex Purple Shampoo Results
With the Olaplex sample, the product distributed evenly and seamlessly onto the hair. This was done much easier than it was with the purple toning drops, and it showed in the results. There were no blotches of violet color present on the hair.
The tone of the Olaplex swatches was the coolest tone of the two samples. The hair almost looked white compared to the original color. It was definitely a cooler tone than the Amika swatch produced.
Now, this swatch didn’t feel great. It was almost as if there was a gunky build-up on the hair. I would imagine that by the end of the day, your hair would be separated and need to be washed again.
This makes sense because the product is not meant to be left in your hair, it’s meant to be rinsed out. So because of this, I would not recommend using a purple shampoo as a spot-treatment to correct yellow tones in the hair.
Conclusion
Removing yellow tones from blonde or bleached hair doesn’t have to be complicated, but choosing the right method is key. In this post I tested two options: purple shampoo and purple toning drops to see which one worked better as a spot treatment.
The results concluded: While purple shampoo is a quick fix, it often over-tones the hair and doesn’t target specific areas effectively. The Olaplex 4P Purple Shampoo neutralized yellow tones well but left a gunky feeling when left in. It’s not ideal for a leave-in spot-treatment.
The Amika Mixtake Violet Toning Drops, however, worked much better as a spot-treatment. I was able to target my yellow roots without affecting the rest of my hair. The result was a soft, neutral tone, with no buildup and no need for rinsing.
If you’re dealing with unwanted yellow tones in your hair, I recommend trying purple toning drops for precise, targeted results. For more information on removing yellow tones and brass from your hair, see this post here.
Let me know in the comments which method works best for you! And make sure to subscribe below to make everyday a good hair day.