Ways to Eliminate Brassiness in Hair

**Luminaria** · June 13th, 2015, 03:06 AM

Hello,
I've recently removed dark red/burgundy dye from my hair with Color Oops and Vitamin C + Shampoo. My hair is now a medium-dark brown color with reddish-orange (but mostly orange) brassy tones. I would like to know if there are any herbs, spices, or other ingredients (honey, fruits, vegetables, tea, etc.) that can either minimize brassiness or eliminate it altogether. Please tell me any recipes that have worked for you (or ones that did not). I don't mind my hair becoming slightly lighter in the process, but I would rather keep my current hair color (minus the brassiness) or darken it.
I've read a few posts on LHC and online about using various ingredients to get rid of brassiness and I have some questions.
1. If using Rosemary Essential Oil darkens hair overtime, will it eliminate brassiness as it darkens hair?
2. Does boiling potatoes and using the water darken hair? Is it permanent? Does it cover brassy tones?
3. Can honey lightening treatments eliminate brassiness?
4. Can coffee (or black tea) darken hair permanently over time? Does it cover brassy tones?

Thanks for reading my post and for any suggestions~!

**Horrorpops** · June 13th, 2015, 03:45 AM

My impression was that the best way to counteract brassiness was use something opposite to that colour on the colour wheel... So for example, purple to tone down yellow, or blue to tone down orange. I've not really tried natural methods for this, but have had a lot of success with professional hair toners in removing brassiness from my bleached ends. A benefit is that these generally use 10 vol peroxide or less so they aren't very damaging to hair.

I've also heard of girls using a deposit-only dye like Manic Panic (in purple or blue), mixed with conditioner to tone brassiness. This is meant to be not damaging at all, but I have not personally tried it.

Maybe others have experience with more natural herbal methods.

Good luck

ETA: I have tried honey in my hair many times... as both a lightener and a conditioning treatment. To be honest it adds more golden/brassy tones to my hair than anything. It definitely wouldn't remove brassiness, at least in my hair. It generally contributes to it.

**Wusel** · June 13th, 2015, 03:52 AM

What is brassiness in hair?
I can't find it in my online dictionary...

**Horrorpops** · June 13th, 2015, 04:13 AM

Wusel, its when blonde hair takes on a yellow colour, or when brunette hair appears orange.

It is different to natural red hair, and it is generally caused by bleaching or dying.

I think it is called brassy/brassiness after the golden colour of brass (a metal alloy).

**Wusel** · June 13th, 2015, 05:38 AM

Originally Posted by Horrorpops

Wusel, its when blonde hair takes on a yellow colour, or when brunette hair appears orange.

It is different to natural red hair, and it is generally caused by bleaching or dying.

I think it is called brassy/brassiness after the golden colour of brass (a metal alloy).

Okay.

thank you!

Have learned something new again here

**Wusel** · June 13th, 2015, 05:54 AM

Here in Germany they say that a good remedy for brassiness is aspirin.
Dissolved in a spray bottle with water and sprayed on hair regularly.
Sounds strange, don't know if it works but for Germans aspirin is HG for everything.

Acne, headache, discolorations on skin... Germans love their aspirin

**meteor** · June 13th, 2015, 07:14 AM

Honey worked well for the already blonde highlights for me, but I've never had much brassiness to begin with. I didn't intend honey for that - I only wanted to try honey lightening, and it didn't lighten my hair, but it brightened the highlights, made them look fresh from salon and much cooler. Maybe it's just because it helped remove some build-up well, I'm not sure.

I don't do honey treatments anymore, just because they are super-messy (drippy), but I think I'd recommend checking them out for already blonde or blonette hair. (Honey lightening thread with recipe and details: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...read.php?t=148)

Purple/silver shampoos and conditioners can help with brassiness quite a bit, and if you need stronger effect, you can always use a toner (it's drying though).

Some people add deposit-only dyes (e.g. Manic Panic) to their conditioners in the opposite color on the color wheel to tone down the colors they want to tone down. And I've even heard of people adding food coloring to their conditioners (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...t=6310&page=44), though I've never tried it myself and don't know how safe/effective it is.

Among plants, rosemary, amla, etc can temporarily slightly darken hair in a cooler tone.
Nightshade wrote a wonderful, detailed article on using herbs for changing hair color: Hair Coloring with Herbs, Plants & Other Natural Ingredients - http://archive.longhaircommunity.com...ad.php?t=51646

And whatever you try, strand-test first, to be safe.

**maegalcarwen** · June 13th, 2015, 10:42 AM

Originally Posted by meteor

Honey worked well for the already blonde highlights for me, but I've never had much brassiness to begin with. I didn't intend honey for that - I only wanted to try honey lightening, and it didn't lighten my hair, but it brightened the highlights, made them look fresh from salon and much cooler. Maybe it's just because it helped remove some build-up well, I'm not sure.

I don't do honey treatments anymore, just because they are super-messy (drippy), but I think I'd recommend checking them out for already blonde or blonette hair. (Honey lightening thread with recipe and details: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...read.php?t=148)

Purple/silver shampoos and conditioners can help with brassiness quite a bit, and if you need stronger effect, you can always use a toner (it's drying though).

Some people add deposit-only dyes (e.g. Manic Panic) to their conditioners in the opposite color on the color wheel to tone down the colors they want to tone down. And I've even heard of people adding food coloring to their conditioners (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...t=6310&page=44), though I've never tried it myself and don't know how safe/effective it is.

Among plants, rosemary, amla, etc can temporarily slightly darken hair in a cooler tone.
Nightshade wrote a wonderful, detailed article on using herbs for changing hair color: Hair Coloring with Herbs, Plants & Other Natural Ingredients - http://archive.longhaircommunity.com...ad.php?t=51646

And whatever you try, strand-test first, to be safe.

Super useful, as always, Meteor! Loving the article!

I will try out some toning down brassiness methods soon too. I tried coffee on my lightened ends, it made them darker, but still brassy. Hopefully I can cook up something

**endlessly** · June 13th, 2015, 10:50 AM

I've been in your shoes plenty of times! I've tried coffee, cinnamon, honey, and tea in various mixtures (couldn't tell you measurements as it was a lot time ago), but truthfully, nothing gave me lasting, long-term results. My best recommendation is to find a purple shampoo as that will really help to tone down the brassiness. I purchased a bottle of the "Daddy-O" shampoo from Lush for my mother since her graying hair had a ton of brassy tones and after using it a few times, the yellowness was completely gone, plus, her hair is much shinier. The nice thing about that shampoo is that it can be used for any hair color to help eliminate brassiness, so it isn't just for silver and gray.

**Maverick494** · June 13th, 2015, 02:59 PM

Honey and tea and all those things are not going to work because they do nothing to counteract the brassiness. To cancel out one color you gotta grab the opposite one on the color wheel.

So to eliminate yellow, you need purple. Which is why so many blondes use purple shampoo. However, to get rid of orange, you need blue.

I've got two low to no damage options:

1.Buy blue food colorant. (If you think you need purple to cancel out the yellow, get a red one too and mix it until you get the shade you want) Make sure the blue is not leaning towards green. I mix a tablespoon of it it in my shampoo and conditioner. If it's really bad you can leave it overnight, like a deep treatment (with conditioner), but make sure you try just doing a regular run with it first. You'll have to experiment a bit with which amount is right for you, but it def works. There's also an ACV how-to version with this here.

2. Buy Punky haircolor in blue (or purple, depending on how orange or yellow your hair is) and do the same thing I described above. You're not going to dye your hair with it, you're just going to put it in shampoo and conditioner for a while to tone. This option lasts longer for me. Here's a video with a how-to and before and after

If you're looking to darken your hair, you might as well take the plunge and dye it one more time. Lather your hair in coconut oil a few hours before you do to minimize damage. It's not gonna give you card blanche to do whatever you want to your hair, but for me it minimized the dryness and split ends I'd end up with because of dye. Anyway, if you're gonna dye it, make sure you grab an ashy tone to counteract the brassiness.