How do you keep your blonde bright?

I’ve switched on and off between doing my own color and going to see a stylist to have it done. I have a great stylist here that I love but it’s hard to find the time to make an appointment! I fear that’s going to get more and more difficult with kids and life schedules, so I’m grateful that I manage to do it on my own!

My background is in cosmetology. I did hair for about 10 years before I closed my studio to stay home with my boys and work solely on the blog. I’m licensed (still) and will keep my license indefinitely! I can’t recommend home hair color because there is a lot of science and factors involved in coloring one’s hair that someone who is not licensed wouldn’t know. So while I do it myself, I can’t necessarily recommend it!

For a brief moment I went brunette shortly after I got married. It was a spur of the moment decision and I switched back to blonde pretty shortly thereafter. Since then, I’ve been a pretty wide range of blonde, from darker blonde with balayage to bright, heavily highlighted blonde. Most recently I’ve settled into a bright, light blonde that I’m really enjoying!

I’ve gotten a few questions about how I keep my blonde bright so I thought I’d share some tips here.

When I lighten my hair, I only use bleach but I follow it up with a gloss (also known as a toner) with violet and neutral/blue tones in it. It’s not as much as a color-depositing toner since it’s quite sheer but has the cooler/violet tones in it to counteract any brassy or warm tones.

It’s normal for hair to go through different color stages as your stylist is lightening it. The darker, richer brown you have to start with, the more color stages it will go through to get to a light, icy blonde. Conversely, if you have naturally light hair, you may find that you don’t have to deal with brassiness or warmth that other women do when their lighten their hair.

Beyond finding a stylist that knows how light to make your blonde, and what toner to use to cut through any warmth, you can also find some color depositing or correcting shampoo, conditioner or treatments to use at home to help! This is particularly helpful if you have well water since the minerals and things in well water tend to show up on blonde hair more quickly than if you use city water.

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I typically use a toning gloss on my hair to keep it on the cooler side and cut out any brassiness, but that’s a service that is typically only performed in a salon. The good news is you can sort of do this for yourself using a purple or blue based shampoo and conditioner, or treatment mask.

I tried the Pravana The Perfect Blonde Purple Toning Masque and loved it. LOVED IT. It made a big difference in how bright and cool my blonde looked and also made my hair feel super soft and healthy. The rest of the bunch are highly rated products that you can find at Sephora or Ulta, so look into those if you need something to cut out warmth in blonde hair!

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