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What Causes Brassy Hair and How to Fix It, According to Experts

 

Few hair color descriptors are more dreaded than brassy. For those who have spent hours coloring their hair to be the perfect shade of blonde or a dreamy shade of chestnut, the descriptor is something we are actively trying to avoid. But why is it considered so bad? And hey, what even is brassy hair? We took a deep dive with two hair colorists to help answer all of your brassy hair questions. Below, experts explain exactly what brassy hair is, why you don't want it, how to get rid of it, and how to prevent it from happening in the first place.

Meet the Experts

• Lorena M. Valdes is a colorist at Maxine Salon in Chicago.
• Ryan Dickie is a colorist at IGK Salon Miami.

 

What Is Brassy Hair?

"Brassy hair is hair that is too orange, gold, or yellow," says colorist Lorena Valdes. This specific tint is very obvious when you see it, but can otherwise be confusing without that visual aid. Miami-based colorist Ryan Dickie explains that "while rich warm golden and copper tones are suitable and flattering to almost everybody, there is a fine line between warm and brassy. Warm tones are balanced and appear even and polished, brassy hair often looks patchy, unnatural, and harsh." Valdes adds that brassy hair is often lacking in dimension, too.

What Causes Brassy Hair?

"Brassy hair is caused by color that lacks a grounding tone, such as brown or beige," says Valdes. Dickie adds that "brassiness can also be caused by external environmental factors, such as hard water, product buildup, mineral buildup, and excessive heat application."

However, according to Dickie, the most common cause of brassy hair happens in the lightening process. "This could be a highlighting service that is prematurely rinsed before the lightener has removed the pigment necessary, a color that was formulated with more strength than necessary (which often happens during grey coverage single process color), or errors in rinsing and pulling foils," he explains, noting that how you pull and remove foils is as important as how you apply them.

How to Get Rid of Brassy Hair

It's not easy to get rid of brassiness. "While a colorist can generally hide or mask brassy hair with a gloss, toner, or root gloss, color applied after lightening will fade leaving the brassy hair to make a comeback," says Dickie. However, there are a few options.

Mineral Detox

Getting your hair into a more purified state could help reduce brassiness. Dickie says that when the cause is mineral buildup from water, styling tools, and product, you can combat those before delving into color correction. "In this case, I recommend using mineral cleansing products such as L’Oréal’s Metal Detox and Seaweed Bath Co. Detox Conditioner," he suggests.

Toner

When brassiness is a product of the lightening process, you can have your colorist combat it with an overlay of an oppositional tone. "Toners can tone down brassy colors by neutralizing the yellow, gold, and copper tones in the hair however, they usually leave the hair feeling a touch darker," explains Valdes. She notes that depending on how dark you are willing to go will determine how much brassiness you can correct with toner.

Highlights or Lowlights

Utilizing highlights and lowlights can rid you of unwanted brassiness in your hair color. "Lowlights can break up brassy hair by adding background color back into the hair," says Valdez.
"If the end goal is for hair to be brighter versus darker, then highlights are a great addition," she offers as an alternative. Ultimately, she tells us that "a combination of highlights and lowlights may be needed for hair that has a mixture of different brassy tones or corrective colors. The ideal solution may be a combination of lowlights, highlights, and toner."

Purple Shampoo

This is last on our list because even though it might be a go-to for many, it isn't the best option for the health of your hair. "People often reach straight for purple shampoo. However, these are often quite drying and can over-pigment other areas within the client’s hair," says Dickie. "This will cause overly lightened hair to appear muddy, dull, grey, or even lavender." Instead of reaching for the bottle, he suggests scheduling an in-salon gloss treatment to combat unwanted warmth.

How to Keep Hair From Getting Brassy

We know how to fix it, but let's avoid brassiness in the first place if possible. On the maintenance front, you'll want to use products designed for hair that has been colored. "Using a shampoo formulated for color-treated hair will help preserve the color pigment inside the hair," says Valdes. "The faster the pigment leaves the hair, the higher the chance that it may feel brassier over time." She also suggests using a heat protectant, even when air drying your hair, to keep it from fading and oxidizing. Dickie also praises the use of a heat protectant because it can prevent topical brassiness from staining the outside of an otherwise clean blonde.

When it comes to the salon, Dickie tells us that a lot of the responsibility lies in the hands of your colorist. "They should first ensure your hair can withstand the amount of lightening necessary, avoid pulling foils too soon, avoid formulas that are too strong for your hair, and avoid a cover-up scenario where they are toning out the brass," he says. "At times, our hair has a different plan than what we anticipated; it isn’t unheard of to be unable to reach a certain lightness without breaking the hair. In this case, your professional colorist should opt to prioritize the integrity of your hair and tone accordingly, even if it is a little warmer or deeper than your desired result."

If it's in your budget, a trip to the salon for a touch-up with gloss in between coloring sessions can also stave off brassiness. "I recommended getting glosses in between color appointments to refresh the tones," says Valdes. "It can also help refresh highlights as well as protect the rest of the hair from oxidizing."

The Final Takeaway

Brassy hair is when strands appear overly warm or lacking in the dimension of color. It can be caused by the process of lightening your hair, coloring it, or environmental factors like mineral buildup. Once you're dealing with brassiness, you can have it fixed with color processes such as highlights, lowlights, and/or toner, or if it isn't caused by coloring, through a mineral detox. You can prevent brassiness in your hair maintenance routine by using products for colored hair and heat protectants. With these tools, you should never deal with brassiness again—and if you do, you know how to fix it.