Brassy Hair? Here’s How to Prevent It

If you regularly get your hair dyed, you might be familiar with the annoyance of how quickly your colour changes afterwards. For some of us, our hair becomes brassy – as in, warmer colours start to creep in – when it has been bleached or lightened to a blonde shade.

Brassiness usually occurs when hair dye doesn’t quite eliminate the pigment in your hair. This means that the warm tones of your hair show through, which can cause your hair to lose the intended colour of the dye. Brassiness may also occur if you spend a lot of time in the sun, or you’re exposed to chemicals like chlorine in the water in your shower.

Typically, the darker the hair, the more brassiness it holds. Luckily, it’s easier than it seems to prevent your hair from taking on yellow or orange tones. Here’s how to keep your intended hair colour for longer without the brassiness creeping in:

Use purple shampoo

Purple shampoo is one of the most popular products for dyed blonde hair. It distributes cool purple pigment throughout the hair to neutralise brassy tones, correcting your hair’s hue and giving it a cooler, brighter colour.

This is one of the simplest methods of preventing brassy hair. All you need to do is swap out your usual shampoo with purple shampoo as soon as you’ve had your hair dyed.

Don’t wash in hot water

Water that is very hot opens up your hair’s outer cuticles, which causes colour to fade faster. You can avoid this by showering in lukewarm water, or even cool water if you can manage it. This will actually close your hair cuticle, preventing the colour from fading and the brassiness from creeping in. Washing your hair less will also help to keep the colour in for longer, but if you still want to shower every day (which you hopefully do), consider wearing a shower cap while standing under the water.

Minimise your time at the pool

Chlorine is one of the chemicals that is most responsible for stripping your hair of its colour. There’s a small amount of chlorine in all treated drinking water – it’s used as a disinfectant to get rid of any harmful bacteria and other microorganisms. The chlorine in your shower may strip your hair – but it’s much more evident if you often swim in swimming pools.

Chlorine is the enemy of all hair, dyed or not. Not only does it strip colour from hair, it also strips hair’s natural oils, which can make it prone to dryness and brittleness. When hair becomes damaged, it’s more susceptible to turning brassy, so it’s best to stay away from the swimming pool if you want to maintain your colour.

Stay away from direct sunlight

Aside from chlorine, sunlight is another factor that can cause hair to become brassy. Sun exposure is known to make hair colour fade faster, which makes brassiness more visible.

The UV rays in sunlight are responsible for hair protein loss and can damage the outside of the hair strand, known as the cuticle. Signs of this damage are dryness, split ends, frizziness and thinness. With this damage, hair is more likely to become brassier faster.

Consider getting a shower head water filter

Though your shower water won’t contain very high levels of chlorine, it may still contain enough to damage hair in the long run. Different areas have different chlorine levels in their water, so take a look at your local water quality report and compare against the average if you want to see what your own home’s water contains.

If you’d rather not shower with chlorinated water, the solution is simple: get yourself a shower head water filter. These filters catch chlorine and minerals that can cause hair dryness, like calcium and magnesium, allowing only clean water to pass through.

Conclusion

If you feel like you struggle with hair brassiness more than other people, speak to your hairdresser and see what they suggest. They’re experts on your hair type, especially if they’ve been dying your hair for a number of years now. They may be able to suggest some in-salon treatments that help to keep your dyed hair looking brighter and lighter for longer.