Found a trick for fixing brassy blonde with blue toner and developer

A client came in last month with orange-yellow hair from a box dye disaster. I had tried purple shampoo and it barely touched it. So I mixed a dab of blue toner with 20 volume developer and applied it just to the orange spots. Left it on for 12 minutes and washed it out. The difference was night and day, the brass was gone and it looked like a natural cool blonde. I was nervous because I had never mixed toner on the fly like that before, but it worked better than any pre-made formula I have used. Has anyone else tried spot-toning like this for stubborn brass? I want to know if there is a way to predict how long to leave it on without risking green.

3 comments

3 Comments

wader714d ago

Man I used to be one of those "never mess with mixing toner on the fly" people. Always thought you had to stick with the pre-made formulas or risk turning hair green. But after seeing this work (and not messing up) I'm totally rethinking my whole approach.

felixlane4d ago

@wader71 I'm right there with you on changing your mind about mixing toner on the fly. I had a similar mess last year with a friend's hair that went brassy yellow from a box dye. Purple shampoo did nothing, just made it muddy. So I grabbed some blue toner I had sitting around and mixed a tiny bit with 20 volume developer, just applied it to the orange patches with a small brush. Left it on for maybe 15 minutes since I was nervous about green, and it came out perfect. The trick for me was checking it every few minutes with a wet wipe to see the color developing, so I could rinse as soon as it looked right. That way you don't guess the time, you just watch it turn. Never had a green problem doing it that way.

phoenix_singh253d ago

Yeah, I've had that same experience with checking every few minutes being the key. I did a similar thing on my own hair last year when I got impatient with some leftover toner. I used a paper towel instead of a wet wipe though, just dabbed at a spot near my ear to see where it was at. The first check at 5 minutes showed almost nothing, then at 8 minutes it was starting to grab so I rinsed it right then. Saved me from that scary green disaster.