Purple Over Orange Hair [What To Expect + Tips]

If you are wondering if purple over orange hair is a good solution, this article is for you. When the hair gets brassy and orange is so upsetting.

If by some chance you have ended up with brassy orange hair, you have surely been tempted to use a purple shampoo to make your hair more ashy. And you will have realized that it does not work!

The truth is that purple over orange hair does not help to tone the hair, since the purple color has reddish pigments which can even make your hair more brassy. To color orange hair you need to use a blue toner instead of purple.

In this article I will show you the best solutions to fix orange hair, and explain why purple on orange hair just doesn’t work.

Is purple over orange hair a good solution?

Today purple shampoos have become one of the trends that most women have incorporated into our beauty routine. And with all the transformation videos we see on social media where hairdressers use purple shampoo and clients’ hair looks spectacular, they make us think that we can solve everything with our purple shampoo!

But the reality is that purple shampoos are designed to only neutralize the brassy yellow highlights of blonde hair. If you’re wondering if purple shampoo over orange hair will work, the simple answer is no.

When you have brassy orange hair, you have a stronger pigmentation that requires a different color to neutralize it. Purple colors are amazing to balance and tone the hair into ashy colors. But they only work when the hair is light and yellow. The lighter your hair is, the stronger the neutralization is going to be.

But if your hair has an orange color, it is essential that you look for a blue shampoo as it can help neutralize all the brassiness.

why purple over orange hair doesn’t work

Let’s see the color basics a little more in-depth. When your hair is orange, it means you have both yellow tones and red tones in equal parts.

Yellow + Red = Orange

Good! Now let’s see what happens with purple shampoos or dyes. Purple colors have both blue and red tones. And the reason why I don’t recommend it is very simple:

• Your hair is yellow and red
• The purple dye is red and blue

When the red color in the purple dye touch your hair and get mixed with your color, it’s only going to make it more orange. And the blue remaining in the purple dye is not strong enough to actually do anything. So, in a few words:

When you put purple dye or shampoo, instead of making the color look better, you are making your hair more orange.

And that is how it works. That’s why you should always apply the proper color pigments that would actually remove the brassiness of your hair.

SUGGESTIONS FOR YOU: The best way to use purple shampoo

How to fix orange hair

The best solution is to actually put blue colors in your hair. Blue is the only reflection that is going to remove the orange from your hair. There is also very good blue pigmented shampoos that you can use instead of the normal purple traditional ones.

Blue shampoos will definitely do the job, and the best part is that they are easy to use. You don’t need to leave blue shampoo in hair for an hour. Instead, you can only use it once a week for about 5 minutes to get good results.

As a hairdresser, I’ve testes pretty much almost all blue shampoos on the market. Most of them are either too strong (that can cause your hair to turn green) or too drying for the hair. In my experience, there are only 2 blue shampoos that are the best to tone your hair and keep it shiny and moistured:

• Redken Brownlights shampoo: This shampoo is my favorite. It has blue pigments with a touch of violet, so it will help you to nuance the orange color of the hair while avoiding greenish reflections. In addition, this shampoo treats your hair and strengthens it with each wash.
• Fanola no orange shampoo: This shampoo is an excellent option if you are looking for a more budget option. The results in terms of toning are quite similar to Redken’s shampoo. The difference is that this shampoo does not have nourishing or repairing elements for the hair, so I recommend that you do not use it more than once a week.

SUGGESTIONS FOR YOU: How often you should use purple shampoo

How to fix orange hair with toner

But if you are planning to dye your hair with blue dyes, you should use a specific toner. What toners do to your hair is to deposit the blue or purple pigments on a deeper level of your cuticle. Therefore, the effect will be much stronger and it will last longer. To choose the proper toner to neutralise the orange of your hair, keep in mind these details:

• Blue colors usually the termination of .1, so try to buy a color with that shade.
• If your hair is just orange, a toner like an 8.1 or 7.1 would be good to neutralize it.

But if your hair is orange and yellow, you need to be careful:

• You will need also a purple reflection in your color to avoid green pigmentation in your yellow areas.
• Purple colors usually have the termination of .2, so try to find something with that number.
• Ideally, you should mix blue and purple in equal parts.
• The perfect color combination would be 8.1 + 8.2 in equal parts.

And remember always to mix your toning dyes with a developer no higher than 10v.

SUGGESTIONS FOR YOU: How long to leave toner in hair

Let’s get better hair!

I hope this article has been helpful to neutralize the brassy reflections in your hair and know what would happen if you apply purple over orange hair.

Until next time!