Are you struggling with orange brassiness in your hair too? You're not alone - this is one of the most common questions I'm asked. And in fact (as a brunette) orange brassiness is something that I personally struggle with too.
By the end of this guide I promise that you will know exactly how to remove all of the orange brassy tones in your hair - all from the comfort of home and without the expense of a salon.
What colour cancels out orange brassy hair?
Blue is the main colour that cancels out orange brassiness. If you think back to art class you might remember the colour wheel, where we learnt but colours opposite from each other on the wheel cancel each other out. This is also true with hair. If you have orange tones in your hair that you want to get rid of you will need to use a blue based product - whether that be a toner or a hair colour (more on product selection later).
What is the best toner for orange brassy hair?
The best toner for orange brassy hair will be one that is very cool toned (think ashy) and one that has a blue base to it. When I say a blue base think of that as like the main pigment in the colour so you want to find a toner that has a lot of blue pigments to it. You also want to make sure that you're not picking a toner designed for blonde hair. If you're seeing really strong orange brassy tones in your hair a toner for blonde hair is not going to do anything to help that brassiness - it will be too light and it will be likely purple based which is for removing yellow not orange brassy tones.
Wella toner for orange hair?
Wella toners are some of the strongest hair toners at removing brassiness and if you're looking to use one to help fix your orange brassy hair, here are my suggestions:
Wella Colour Charm Toner T14 Pale Ash Blonde
The Wella T14 Toner has a violet - blue base, meaning that it will target golden orange and yellow brassiness. I would recommend this toner if you have quite light hair that is more golden orange. It will give you a really cool toned result if your hair is light enough. This toner can also be mixed with the Wella 050 Cooling Violet Toner on more orange hair. Adding in the Wella 050 Toner will give you a boost of really strong Ash tones so the combination of both should help to turn that orange brassiness into an ashy tone.
Wella Colour Charm Permanent Colour 7A Medium Smokey Ash Blonde or 8A Light Ash Blonde
Ok hear me out because I know that these are colours and not toners - but they are amazing on orange hair. Both the Wella 7A and Wella 8A colours have really strong blue pigments in them, which are amazing at cancelling out orange brassiness. These are darker than the Wella toners which is what you want when you're trying to fix orange tones. Remember using a lighter toner or colour can sometimes leave you still seeing orange tones in your hair. Using a darker shades like the Wella 7A or the Wella 8A gives you a much better chance of removing strong orange tones, so if you're seeing more pure orange and less golden orange, try one of these!
You can also add in some of the Wella 050 Toner to either of these colours for a super ashy boost.
How to make orange hair blonde?
Honestly, the only way to make orange hair blonde is to lighten it past the orange stage and to a light yellow stage and then to tone it. You can do this with bleach. No colour or toner is going to turn really orange hair into blonde hair so stay away from any products or advice but tells you this is possible.
Hair to make orange hair ash brown?
You definitely can turn orange hair into an ash brown colour! To do this you want to use products with a blue base pigment that are dark enough to really cover and cancel out the orange. Above I recommended the Wella 7a or 8A with a mix of the Wella 050 Toner and that is definitely the way to make orange hair ash brown.
Brassy orange hair after bleaching?
You might have bleach your hair hoping that you could turn it into a beautiful blonde shade and have found that you're left with bright orange hair instead. This is a really common problem with bleaching but you can fix it at home. There are two options 1 is to bleach again and 2 is to tone or colour to an ashy brown.
If you're bleaching again you want to make sure that your hair feels strong enough to handle the bleach again as this is quite a damaging process. Once you've decided your hair feel strong enough the next time you bleach you want to get your hair to a yellow colour meaning all the orange is gone. Then you can tone with a toner for blondes.
If you decided not to bleach again you can't own or colour your hair to a beautiful ashy brown and get rid of all of the orange. Go up to see my Wella recommendations and decide which is right for you!
Hair fades to a brassy orange colour?
All toners and colours fade - this is totally normal. If your hair has faded to a brassy orange colour you simply need to refresh it with either a toner or a colour depending on how light or dark that orange brass in this is. My Wella recommendations are above!
I hope that this guide has helped you to figure out how to fix your brassy orange hair at home! If you’d like more info, I created a free guide that will help you to learn exactly how to tone your brassy hair at home. No guesswork needed! You can find it here.
Or if you'd like to try the Wella products I recommended, links are below for you. I can't wait to ship the products to you!
AUSTRALIA:
Wella Colour Charm Toner T14 Pale Ash Blonde
Wella Colour Charm Toner 050 Cooling Violet
Wella Colour Charm Permanent Colour 7A Medium Smokey Ash Blonde
Wella Colour Charm Permanent Colour 8A Light Ash Blonde
For my American friends, I will include some affiliate links below that will ship my recommend products to you!
USA:
Wella Color Charm Toner T14 Pale Ash Blonde
Wella Color Charm Toner 050 Cooling Violet
Wella Color Charm Permanent Color 7A Medium Smokey Ash Blonde
Wella Color Charm Permanent Color 8A Light Ash Blonde