Meg Ann Lee: Everything You Need to Know About Purple Shampoo
Picture this, you're going blonde, maybe it’s a few foils or your Kim K circa 2017!
You leave feeling confident in your color but in a few weeks, you’re noticing your blondes looking a little dull, yellow or gold and maybe even a little brassy! What Gives!?
This happens to ALL hair. It is caused by product buildup, general heat styling, pollution in our air and your underlying pigment. When you lighten your hair your underlying pigment is exposed. Exposed underlying pigment is WARM.
ALWAYS.
No ifs, ands, or buts about it, it’s warm.
Usually if you are blonde and want to be “Icey” we are told to use purple shampoo. What does purple Shampoo even do?! Well breaking down the color wheel violet and gold are complimentary colors, when mixed they neutralize each other! When you use purple shampoo on gold hair it makes it less yellow. Goals, right?! Yes.
Purple shampoo seems to be the most popular answer for at home blonde maintaince. I’m breaking down a few of my favorites and showing you what colored shampoo can do to your hair.
I took some popular brands, tested them out for you using hair extensions that were all the same color so we could get an accurate comparison and honestly… all the products were BOMB AF.
Seems like the answer to all blondes every where right? Wrong.
If you're not as blonde as my hair swatches in the before pictures then these products wont give you the same results.
The uncontrolled variable between my extension swatches and your blonde hair is porosity. Porosity changes person to person. For example if I would have used my blonde hair as my test swatches all of my hair would have been silver or purple after leaving these shampoos on for 3 minutes.
Testing these products proved they are all great products for the right person in the right situation! So chat with your stylist for recommendations or live on the edge and maybe have purple hair! I support the bravery!
On the very top of my example you will notice I have a light swatch and a warmer swatch paired together. On these two I tested out a blue shampoo. Blue is best when you are dealing with warm darker tones but it will turn level 9/10 gold hair teal or green so watch out!
Purple, blue, pink, orange or any direct dye color in any product stains your hair it does not make you “blonder or lighter” Purple shampoo DEPOSITS color, it does not take color away. You are adding pigment which makes you just a little darker. If you aren’t light enough you must be lifted more! Bottom line. Picture you are staining wood or applying a sheer nail polish and you build up a few coats, it gets darker even though you aren’t using a darker color or different product. Why? Less light is reflecting off the original surface, so it appears more opaque. If you’re over using the product it is going to build up and make your color darker. It also causes more difficulty during your next blonding session to reach your blonde goals .
If you feel like purple shampoo is right for you I recommend always following it up with a hair mask or treatment to hydrate your hair<3