You’ve just lightened your hair to the perfect shade of blonde after bleach. You would want to keep that color and protect your hair, that’s when toner comes into play. But how to use it, when to use it to get the best result for your hair?
We’ll answer whether you should put toner on wet or dry hair after bleaching, as well as how to use hair toner after bleaching, and a few other tips.
Should I Put Toner on Wet or Dry Hair After Bleaching?
It’s better to use toner on damp hair after bleaching. Applying toner to damp hair ensures even distribution, better absorption, and minimized damage. After bleaching, gently towel-dry your hair, leaving it slightly wet before applying the toner. This helps achieve optimal results and more even color.
Toner works best when you put it on hair that’s about 75% dry (damp). When your hair is moist, the cuticles open up and can absorb more liquid. That said, it won’t absorb any endless amount.
By leaving your hair damp, it’s easier to apply evenly, won’t dilute the product, and will leave plenty of space for your strands of hair to absorb.
Alternately, when you attempt to apply toner to your hair when wet or dry, you run into a somewhat similar problem. Because the dry hair shaft isn’t open and accepting of the product, it won’t absorb well.
The wet hair shaft is filled with moisture and won’t absorb the toner pigment as well. Instead, you run the risk of uneven color deposits, which can take a situation from bad to worse in some cases.
What Hair Toners Can I Use After Bleaching?
There are a few types of hair toners that you can apply to your hair:
- A classic hair toner with a developer to apply to your hair.
- Purple shampoo to combat brassy tones.
- Hair gloss, a wash, seal your hair shafts and boost shine.
All three toner types are great for upkeeping your hair and maintaining your blonde shade.
How To Use Hair Toner After Bleaching
So, how to apply toner to your bleached hair? After you bleach your hair, check all over to see if any spots have unwanted tones. Those are the areas you’re going to concentrate on. Comb your hair. From there, you can:
- Mix toner with the developer in a 1:2 ratio, and blend them thoroughly.
- Apply the mixture throughout your hair. Check those troubled spots, and apply extra toner to those places.
- You can keep the toner in your hair for up to 45 minutes. If those troubled spots persist, you can keep the toner in for a few more minutes.
- Rinse everything out, shampoo, and deep condition.
- You’ll want to repeat the process about every 6 weeks to avoid brassiness.
To summarize, after bleaching you should use toner on damp hair because the cuticle is open and the hair shaft is more accepting of the pigment being deposited. When your hair is dry, the shaft won’t be accepting the toner, and you can end up with uneven and unpleasant results.
Frequently Asked Questions
When toning your hair, you might have more questions about the specifics. We’ve rounded up a few more answers to help you out:
In the case of curating your bleached hair, you’ll want to re-do the process about every six weeks.
You can apply toner on the same day that you bleach your hair. Toner is the act of depositing color rather than taking it away.
When your hair is dry, it’s not as accepting of products like hair toner. Because of that, it won’t absorb properly. You’ll get very uneven results.