Hair color trends come and go with the seasons, but there’s one hybrid hair hue that shows no sign of going into hibernation: silver-blonde hair. A blend of ash blonde and silver, it became particularly popular at the start of the pandemic, when people began embracing their grown-out grays and exploring ways to enhance – not conceal – them. It’s a stunning look, but like all chemically colored hair, there’s a certain amount of maintenance required to fight fade and keep locks looking healthy. All lightened hair has the tendency to go brassy (it has to do with warm pigment creeping back in as color fades) but using products between salon visits specifically designed to boost vibrancy in blondes – such as purple hair-toner shampoos – will make all the difference. So here’s how to use purple shampoo like a pro to keep your silver-blonde hair looking pristine.
How purple toning shampoos work
Sure, having a hair-color transformation feels great, but it compromises the hair’s protective layer, which is made up of overlapping cuticles that look a bit like fish scales under magnification. In healthy hair, these cuticles sit flat and hug the hair fiber tight to retain moisture and protect the strand from inner damage. But bleach and other color chemicals can remove these gloss-giving cuticles, subsequently attacking the hair’s proteins. And what’s the fallout from this? Brittle, dry, straw-like hair, that’s what. The Nexxus Blonde Assure Color Toning Purple Shampoo and Conditioner combines keratin protein and violet pigments to tone down brassiness on blonde or silver hair, giving you a cooler, brighter blonde. And there are further things you can do to minimize color loss, such as protect your hair from chlorine in the swimming pool, and UV rays emitted by the sun. These two things will see your new hair color fade faster than your summer tan. And don’t get us started on heat styling without protection…
The importance of protein for silver-blonde hair
It’s not just an element of a balanced lunch: protein makes up 90% of your hair and you risk damaging it every time you color (not-so-fun fact: colored hair loses three times the amount of proteins as uncolored). The good news is, Nexxus scientists have pinpointed the exact proteins and amino acids lost during the coloring process (cysteine, glutamic acid and serine, in case you were wondering), and from these findings, infused the Blonde Assure system with the best proteins to boost vibrancy and create a smoother, brighter blonde after just one wash. The color-centric range contains the unique PROTEINFUSION™ blend, made with keratin protein (the natural building blocks of our hair), and a violet pigment that neutralizes unwanted brassy tones to keep those cool hues center stage in silver-blonde hair.
The power of purple
It might feel a bit scary smothering your hair in a bright-purple product, but if you want to maintain your silver-blonde shade, it’s a must between salon visits or at-home coloring. The DIY version of an in-salon toner, purple shampoo acts as a temporary topcoat, cooling the warm tones that inevitably creep through after lightening your hair (purple sits across from yellow on the color wheel, hence the reason it does such a great job of blocking it out). Use the Blonde Assure Color Toning Purple Shampoo once or twice a week to banish brass, followed by the Blonde Assure Color Toning Purple Conditioner to ramp up shine and even out hair tone.
And even if you’re not part of the silver-hair tribe, a purple toning system will boost all blonde shades, giving them a brighter, healthier hue in a matter of minutes. To sum up: purple toning products are worth their weight in gold… or should we say silver?