Have you recently dyed your hair ash blonde, ash brown, or any other ashy tone and found that the color looks too cool? Don’t worry; you can warm up your ashy hair at home!
While visiting a salon is always an option, you can also try a few things at home to add warmth to your hair. In this article, we’ll discuss some tips and tricks for DIY ashy hair warm-up.
Adding warmth to your ashy hair can be as simple as using a color-depositing shampoo or conditioner during your final showering step.
If the result is too ashy, contact your colorist about correcting the tone. Whether a clarifying shampoo is suitable depends on the products used and the condition of your hair and scalp; follow the product directions.
This simple fix can give you the champagne hue, honey blonde, or another warm tone you sought.
Key Takeaways: Warming Up Ashy Hair
- The Fast Fix: Use a warm-toned demi-permanent gloss or color-depositing mask. Use Peach or Apricot for blue/silver ash. Use Rose Gold for greenish ash. Use Golden-Beige for violet/gray ash.
- The Slow Fix: A suitable cleanser may fade excess deposited tone, but repeated or prolonged cleansing can dry the hair and irritate the scalp.
- The Safety Rule: Use a toning product intended for the result and its specified activator. Do not substitute a generic 6-volume or acidic developer.
- Color Theory: Purple shampoo will not warm up ashy hair. To add warmth, look for golden, honey, copper, or rose gold toners.
Why not just grab a warm box dye? Senior stylist Emma Baxendale explains the refusal:
Using permanent box dye on bleached hair is not something a stylist will ever do. Box dyes often have high-level peroxides designed to lift the hair before depositing; on hair that is already bleached, porous, and fragile, that just causes damage.
To tone the hair, a gentle product that only deposits color is ideal, like a conditioning demi-permanent toner, which causes no damage and seals the cuticle for good condition and shine.
What Causes Hair To Be Ashy?
Ash blonde refers to the cool tone of the hair, regardless of how light or dark it is. It is characterized by blue, violet, or green undertones that cancel out warmth, and it can range from a darker, cool medium ash blonde to a pale silvery platinum. Any ashy color is caused by the blue, violet, or green-based undertones in toning products or hair dyes.
Ash brown is a cool brunette shade with blue, green, or violet undertones. Applying an ash brown straight over blonde is a bad idea: without pre-filling the blonde with warm tones first, the result usually comes out hollow, flat, and green.
Always consider your natural hair color when selecting a hair color product. The picture on the box only represents what your hair might look like following the application.
Using a color wheel to understand the base colors when choosing a new color may prevent any unwanted ashy mishaps.
Ashy Hair From Toning
After bleaching treatments, toners are used to correct blonde shades or neutralize the remaining orange, red, or yellow pigment. Leaving toner on too long or using a shade that has the wrong base colors can leave hair a cool ashy color.
As with using a brown permanent hair color on blonde hair, using a brown toner with a blue or purple base on blonde hair without pre-filling warm tones first will come out hollow, green, flat, and mucky.
How To Warm Up Ashy Hair at Home
Maybe the color has too much of a cool tone for your dress and skin tone. Whatever the reason, you can warm those ashy locks up at home.
#1: Washing Out The Ashy Tone
The simple act of washing your hair will reduce ashy hair color over time.
Bleached hair naturally has a warm yellow undertone. Washing away the cool ash toner allows natural warmth to shine through again.
Both ash blonde and ash brown colors will fade to a lighter, often brassy color after several weeks, depending on how often you shampoo your hair and what type of shampoo you use.
Clarifying shampoos use stronger cleansers than standard shampoos, and some run more alkaline than everyday formulas. That stronger, higher-pH wash can swell the hair cuticle and speed up fading, which may help reduce an overly cool, ashy tone over time.
Safety Warning: Do not use clarifying or anti-dandruff shampoo on an irritated or injured scalp. Ask your stylist before trying to remove toner after a recent chemical service.
You can also use anti-dandruff shampoos on color-treated hair to fade the color over time.
Note: Anti-dandruff shampoo can be very drying, so always follow up with a deep moisturizing conditioner to keep your strands healthy.
#2: Adding Warmth With New Hair Color or Toner
Adding a hair color with a semi-permanent or demi-permanent dye can be done with lowlights, layers of red or caramel, or even an all-over deposit-only application.
Use a toning product intended for the desired result and follow its exact developer or activator, mixing and processing directions. Permanent hair color can be ammonia-free; ‘permanent’ does not mean every formula contains ammonia. Previously bleached or highlighted hair needs an individual assessment; do not substitute a generic 6-volume activator or add a blanket developer override.
Another way to add warmth to overly ashy hair is with toner. Toners are used to remove brassiness or yellow after bleaching, but they can also be used to add warmth to ashy hair.
Select a toner based on the specific type of ash you are seeing:
1. Greenish Tone: Use a rose gold or warm beige toner.
Green is neutralized by red. However, a pure red toner is too dark for blonde hair. Rose gold contains soft red pigments that correct the green without turning your hair pink or muddy brown.
2. Blue or Silver Tone: Use a peach, apricot, or soft copper toner.
Blue is neutralized by orange. Soft orange shades like peach or apricot will warm up the icy blue tones instantly without making your hair look like a safety cone.
3. Violet or Gray Tone: Use a golden-beige toner.
Violet is neutralized by yellow. A golden-beige toner adds a natural, sun-kissed warmth that cancels out the dull gray look.
Once you have the correct color or toner, apply the mixture using a bowl and brush application method. If you are applying in the shower, gently distribute with a wide-tooth comb or your fingers using a ‘gliding’ motion.
Do not rub or scrub the hair strands together, as wet, chemically treated hair is prone to snapping.
Tip: If your hair feels ‘heavy’ or looks too dark because of excess toner (over-toning), focus on Method #1 (Washing) first. Adding a warm gloss to hair that is already saturated with pigment can make the color look muddy or darker than intended.
#3: Adding Warmth With Color-Depositing Products
For hair that is too ashy, where using a permanent dye or high-volume developer could cause additional damage to your hair, using a color-depositing hair product might be the best solution.
Color-depositing shampoos and conditioners work to coat the hair with pigment. The longer these products are left on the hair, the more intense the color will be.
You can also use color-depositing masks, glosses, and sprays to add depth and warmth to ashy hair. These products add color lasting five to fifteen washes, and changing the frequency of use can change the tone of your hair from week to week.
So, How Can You Warm Up Your Ashy Hair at Home?
There are many ways to warm up ashy hair right at home. Try applying a demi-permanent gloss or semi-permanent warm toner all over, or even adding a caramel tone to blend warm colors throughout.
Or, use color masks and color-depositing hair products to add different color facets and warmth to ashy hair. For the clarifying shampoo method, follow the product directions and your colorist’s advice rather than a fixed waiting period.
