All fellow blondes know the eternal struggle of maintaining the perfect blonde tone. Give it a few weeks after having the hair dyed and the colour starts to transform into an almost golden orange shade. Of course, to prevent this you should use a purple shampoo regularly to cancel out any unwanted colours. Freshly bleached blonde hair is almost always going to look yellowy/orangey in shade. To achieve the desired blonde shade you want (be it platinum, silver, ashy, caramel etc.), your hairdresser must tone it to remove the yellow/orange shades.
I'm quite an impatient and frugal person when it comes to my hair. Plus I am also one of those people who have said "yaaa I really like it" to the hairdresser after doing my hair and go home crying "I look so ugly!! I HATE IT!". So I have very low expectations of hairdressers and their capability to make my hair look the way I want it. (I'm not saying all the hairdressers I've been to have left me disappointed, that is defiantly not the case. I've walked out of the salon with a smile on my face too :D) Thats when I decided to take matters into my own hands, at least that way when I fail I'm not too disappointed as I haven't spent too much money and I took the risk so thats what I get.
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| BEFORE |
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| AFTER |
So years of messing around with my hair have gone by and it is time for my hair's annual 'freshen-up'. I adore ashy blonde hair and thats the colour I always strive to achieve. So I decided to tone my hair myself with a professional toner. Previously I had been using Crazy Colour's Lavender hair dye as a toner. This worked as long as I washed it out of my hair after 10-15 minutes. Any longer and my hair would be a shade of purple. It was time to bin my ratchet habits and do it the right way.
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| Crazy Colour Lavender (source) |
So after hours or research online and on youtube I found the toner that was going to do the trick. That toner being, Wella's Colour Charm in T18 Lightest Ash Blonde. I toned my hair about 2 weeks ago now.
I found youtube to be highly helpful in my quest for the right toner. It was so useful to see before and after videos of a person who used the product as it gave me and idea of what my hair would look like after it. It's important to mention that the end product will look different on everyone. If you have blue tinges in your blonde hair it might make your hair bluer etc.
Wella T18 is a cool toned toner. So expect cool toned hair.
Here's my video on the topic - Please excuse all the 'eeemms' and 'umms'! Such a horrible speech habit I didn't even realise I had until editing that video haha! More info bellow video with instructions.
What you need:
20 Volume Developer
Wella Colour Charm T18 Toner
Mixing bowl
Measuring cup
Dye brush
Use 1 part toner to 2 parts developer.
For example: I used the whole bottle of toner and double the measurement of that in developer. Mix the two and apply to hair. Leave in your hair for no more than 30 minutes. Wash out! All the instructions are on the box too so be sure to read them!!
Apply the mixture to wet hair. I left the toner in my hair for 20 minutes as it started to get very grey very fast. I was a bit paranoid!
What I would do next time:
Firstly I would use half the measurement of the toner/developer mixture. The developer and toner mixture was too large so I had a bit of waste. I have long hair and I did not need to use the whole bottle of toner. Secondly I would leave the toner in my hair for the 30 minutes as it's even after fading already after 2 weeks so even if it was any bit grey it wouldn't last long until it was the ideal shade.
I'm delighted with how my hair turned out. I have used the Crazy Colour dye since the toning of my hair. I used it anytime I felt it was getting a bit golden in colour.
If you have any questions on the topic feel free to ask :)
Also, I really enjoyed making that video so if you enjoyed it also please let me know. I would be interested in implementing video footage into my blog posts!
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| Why am I so cool like? haha |
Until next time,
A very cool Sinéad x
It worked so well, your hair is a beautiful colour now - it looks really natural!
ReplyDeleteThe Velvet Black // UK Style & Beauty Blog
Ah shucks thanks Alice!! :D So glad I experimented with the professional toner! Thanks for stopping by :)
DeleteYour hair looks so good!! I remember when I went blonde.. it did not look good on me at all haha, which is weird because I'm actually a natural blonde but I've been dying it dark brown for years! Wish I could pull blonde off as well as you!!
ReplyDeleteAbiee xx
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Aw thank you Abiee!!! :D Really?? Haha thats very strange! I think it would look great on you :D maybe you should try what I do and get it died blonde up to about 2 - 3 inches from your roots so you have a 'designer root'. Then it grows out with your natural blonde and is real easy to manage :) Plus your natural colour almost frames your face. I am just lazy like that haha I couldn't be dying my hair every time my natural darker blonde root grows out :P but I do really like the dark brown on you :) xx
DeleteGreat post, it worked really well and I love the cooler tone on you!
ReplyDeleteThank you!!! Flattered, you're a beauty guru legend :D x
DeleteYour hair looks fab! Very jealous of the lovely blonde :) You're so pretty! x
ReplyDeleteSinead | Dreaming Again
Aw shucks thanks Sinead :)x
DeleteI mean, I don't have blonde hair, nor probably will I ever, this is such a great post.
ReplyDeleteI see so many people who are always trying to tone their blonde (whether it's natural blonde or not) so this is perfect. I'll recommend this to somebody if they need this. Thanks for sharing. :)
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Love this so much that I went out and purchased these products. My hair is already almost identical to your before shade. Just had a few questions... Did you mix them and then just apply it all over your hair, roots and length? Did it burn your scalp at all? And when you washed it out, did you just rinse with water or did you shampoo? Thanks!!
ReplyDeleteHello, glad you liked it :D Yes I mixed the toner and developer together, don't let the mixture stand for too long after mixing. Pop on (wet) hair straight away once properly mixed together. I just applied it to the length, avoided my roots as thats my natural un-dyed blonde. That could be how your scalp burned, developer has peroxide in it. So maybe avoid roots unless you want to tone that area. Maybe cut down the time you leave it on your roots too for fear it may burn your scalp badly. I believe I used shampoo on my roots, then used conditioner on the length to hydrate :) Hope this helps!!
DeleteI AM TRYING to maintain my hair the color yours is..ok..i messed up lol with box dye/.so went hairdresser..she toned it..ok..but cud done more highlights for cost..so its fading..time for me to brave my .what you did..now..to save and get how i want..i want roots not gold..or blk..i get gold hair easy..honey blonde..gag..i hate golden hair..and i turn gold so easy..so do my roots first..then...down to more older ?? or all at once?? i going to do it, if half as good as yours..ill be happy..no/wait..i want it your color..then happy ha
ReplyDeleteHow did you get on!!? Is your hair lovely and toned? I had same problem with hairdressers in past, you pay so much for something very little when you know they could have done so much more!
DeleteHi good video please you said next time you will use 1/2 of the toner so how much of the developer will you use the same amount 2 parts thanks
ReplyDeleteIf using half the toner, I would use measurement of two 1/2's for developer. So for example, if I was using 2ml of toner i'd user 4ml of developer. Double what ever amount used for toner.
DeleteWhat color do you use on your roots? I use wella color charm to color my hair. I wouldn't know what to do for upkeep. My hair is naturally the dearkest ash blonde...so not sure what to do with that. Currently I do light gold blond with a smalllll splash of titan blonde red to give a nice warm blonde.
ReplyDeleteMy roots are my natural hair colour, thats how I manage the up keep of my hair :) I just let my roots grow out. The best most maintainable hair colour ever haha. That is if you like the design root look! Your hair colour sounds lovely!
DeleteIs the toner supposed to stay white when applied or should it turn purple when I apply? also does my hair have to be wet or can I apply to dry hair. I have ombre but looks orangey. skills I try more bleaching instead of toner?
ReplyDeleteYa it should turn purple, well in my experience it turned grey/purple after about 10 mins :) I was told that it sticks better to wet hair, spreads up the hair follicle apparently. But I'm no hairdresser so not 100% positive if this is the 'right' way to do it. So sorry about the really late reply, how did you get on??
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ReplyDeleteI have read your blog it is very helpful for me. I want to say thanks to you. I have bookmark your site for future updates.
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Thanks for stopping by Juan :D I appreciate it
DeleteShould I wash my hair prior to toning to achieve the wet hair needed or just rinse it well? Its Wednesday and im due for a shampoo n condition but wwil the tonertake better to clean fresh hair or hair like mine right now that is 3rd day unwashed with product in it and curl i applied yesterday...thorn save the wash for when I rinse out the toner? Please help I cannot find the simple answer to my airhead question anywhere and you jnow what your doing our hair is quite similar....please get back to me soon my hair is in dyer need of a freshen up and im ready to go but not sure if I should just rinse it well with warm water with splash of cold at the end....
ReplyDeleteHey ya from what I've been told, It's better to apply to not so clean hair. Will take better to the natural oils in hair :) Hope this helps, and ya warm water with a splash of cold at end is perfect too.
DeleteWet the hair before hand, the toner will spread up the hair follicle better if it is wet. But don't shampoo the wet hair until after toning process
DeleteWell done!�� you mastered the art of decoding my question Haha n that seems like it could of been difficult for u! I happened to be clearing out my history and stumbled upon this and figured id see your reply...I had my mind dead set on doing it that day and was basically all set up when I started wondering if I should wash my 3 day unwashed hair or just wet it down prior to dpomg the toner process (no highlights prior too. Just trying to freshen it up) but I went for it from the basics of doing hair, seemed legit to just wet it down to achieve the wet hair that's needed to apply toner, instead of doing a full wash n condition. It came out great i think I might givING it another go wouldn't be a bad idea ...what do you think? Its been roughly 3 weeks since I did it, the day of my first question I had for you. Your beautiful as is your hair and I know right here to come anytime I need a more experienced take on the situation �� thank u so much for ur time , don't forget about the question in this post. How early is to early with toner ? No highlights foils or dye jobs done just a tonerr 3 weeks ago and I should of left it in longer and I didn't have nearly enough my hair is long ....look forward to hearing back thx again
DeleteHaha I'm glad it worked out!! Ya definitely give it a go again, I ran out of my 2 bottles of toner after about 3 months. Was toning almost every 4 weeks. To answer your question, it all depends on the hair. Really light hair, like white blonde, would take the toner really fast. But the darker the blonde, or the yellower the blonde the longer it will take. I think the longest I had left mine in was an hour. After an hour I can't imagine much more of a difference being made. I also got scared after an hour, was afraid it would be purple. But it wasn't haha! So try it for a bit longer than you did the first time next. Also remember the longer you leave it in, the more damage it is doing to your hair. So don't be too excessive :)
DeleteBest of luck and thank you for your lovely reply :D Let me know how you get on next time. x
Thanks Cyril!
ReplyDeleteHey great info. I'm about to tone my hair in a few days I've bleached it 2 times now and I got the Wella T18. I was wondering when you applied it did you use a brush and bowl or a bottle? I have both but not sure works best when applying toner. Thanks love your cool tone blonde!
ReplyDeleteHey thanks for stopping by :) I used a brush and bowl!!
DeleteHI Sinead
ReplyDeleteSaw your video and love the color of your hair! I had a question about my highlighted hair. I'm a dark brunette and highlighted with the revlon frost and glow kit. It turned my hair a brassy color of highlights. My highlights have grown out about three inches. Should I highlight again to the roots and then use the wells t18 toner with the 20 developer or should I just go for it now and see what it does to my highlights? And can highlight my hair after toning it?
Hi Rielle!
DeleteI'm no hairdresser so my advice is just from personal experience, but it really depends how light your highlighted hair is. The toner will make a difference I would think, but not as drastic of a difference as it did to my hair. Only because my hair was bleached. I used to use the kits and they would never really light my hair as light as they did in the salon. But that was a few years ago so things might have changed :D I would almost say give it a go now, and then you will see how much of a difference it made and then if you like it you know it will work out if you highlight again! You can highlight after toning, but it wouldn't be the best for your hair. But lets face it, dying your hair full stop is bad haha. Just remember that developer damages hair, so it might be best to give it a few days until you tone it after dying. But every time I've had my hair dyed in a salon, they toned straight after.
As I said, this is just personal opinion from experience so take what I said with a pinch of salt as everyone's hair is difference :) Thanks for stopping by!
Was in a rush replying and didn't proof read haha, so sorry about the grammatical errors
DeleteHey Sinead, am eager to try this out. Whereabouts did you buy it from? I can't find any online stores in Ireland that seem to sell it. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteHey! I got it on Amazon, couldn't find it here either. Got a good deal for it too, think I got 2 for €10. I also bought the developer on Amazon too
DeleteThanks! I tried Amazon, so difficult to get it mailed to Ireland. Luckily I found same seller on Ebay and free shipping too :) A win there! What products would you recommend for shampoo/conditioner and any hair treatment masks etc you found good for maintaining and caring for blonde hair. Sorry for all the questions :)
DeleteHey , I really loved how your hair came out , I'm trying to do mine like that as well but idk if I should bleach it first then tone it or just tone it ?? My hair right now is kind of light blonde from the bottom and my roots are dark .
ReplyDeleteLooks perfect with what you did my question is did your brown hair at the root lighten with the lift of 20 volume ? Hope to hear back thanks - Nancy
ReplyDeleteI have the same question. Did it lighten the roots any particular way?
ReplyDeleteIt's been a long time so my memory is hazy, but I don't think it did!
Deletethanks for sharing, sweety, I might try it out
ReplyDeleteHello ! Really nice color I love it ! Did you leave it 20 min from the moment you finished applying it?? as my hair is lighter than yours I think I ll leave it for 10 to 12 Minutes!
ReplyDeletethanks
the color looks great! thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteHi , can you recommend an ammonia free brand that comes closest to providing the same results as the T14? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThanks for these pictures - so how much toner and developer would you think I would need to tone my daughters hair...it's just the underneath she bleached so it's not her whole head...I just have no idea how much to mix up. suggestions?
ReplyDelete