With a toner application, you can preserve your hair’s color at home, which is necessary if you bleach or lighten it. It also helps if you end up with hot roots.
A hair toner can prevent hair from oxidizing or changing color over time. This brings us to two popular toners: the purple vs. blue shampoo debate.
Both shampoos help restore hair’s colored pigments, but what is the difference, and which one is right for you?
Purple vs Blue Shampoo: The Difference
The main difference between purple and blue shampoos is the color they neutralize. Blue shampoos help neutralize brassy tones and orange colors, while purple ones neutralize yellow.
The reason is that you find violet-purple across the color wheel from yellow, and the blue is across the orange on the wheel. Hence, the two shampoos will focus on different tones in the hair after you lighten or bleach it.
So, both shampoos offer the same effect on various hair shades. Purple is suitable for blondes, while blue is more for brunettes. As a brunette, you can still benefit from using a blue shampoo even if you do not highlight or bleach your hair.
Thus, a blue shampoo is also ideal if you have reddish-brown hair and want to achieve a cooler tone without coloring it darker. The best part of using both shampoos is that they can extend the time between visits to a salon for coloring.
Both shampoos can promote fresher, healthier, and more natural-looking hair. If you have not had much hair growth but the tone has changed, you can use the shampoo to touch up the color until your next appointment.
Still, it’s worth noting that these shampoos can only work their magic for a while. If you want to remove your highlights, we recommend reading our article here.
What is Purple Shampoo?
The purple shampoo contains purple pigment to help neutralize yellow tones on lighter hair. But how does the product work? The answer is on the color wheel, which we use to understand the relationship between particular colors.
On the color wheel, the colors appearing opposite each other are complementary; when you combine these shades, you cancel them out. The purple hue is opposite the yellow, and depositing purple pigments on yellow or brassy tones will help rectify the color to give it a brighter tone. Your hair can benefit from using a purple shampoo if you have gray or blonde hair.
The same applies if you are a brunette with highlights, foil, balayage, ombre, or money pieces. You can also use the shampoo to neutralize your unwanted yellow or brassy shades for a warmer tone.
What is a Blue Shampoo?
The blue shampoo is the same as the purple one but contains blue pigments. When you lighten your hair, the shampoo also neutralizes brassy tones. Yet, lighter hair has underlying yellow tones, and darker hair has orange tones.
Blue is the opposite of orange on the color wheel, so the blue will cancel out the orange. If you have dark hair and lighten it entirely with balayage, highlights, or ombre or have a combination of light and dark hair, the shampoo will help with brassiness.
The blue shampoo neutralizes red, copper, and orange tones that appear after you lighten your hair. It keeps brunette hair vibrant and multi-dimensional while it cools down warm tones.
How to Choose Purple vs Blue Shampoo
If you are blonde, you will most likely choose purple shampoo, and for brunettes, blue shampoo. If you have highlighted your hair or it is between blonde and brunette, we recommend inspecting the tone you want to remove or determine if it is orange or yellow.
Blondes typically fade to a yellow color, which can be solved using purple shampoo, while brunettes with balayage or highlights get brassy orange tones that a blue shampoo can stop. If you are uncertain what shampoo to choose, check out these helpful tips:
- Purple Shampoo: If you see yellow tones
- Blue Shampoo: If you see orange/yellow tones or have salt and pepper hair and are brunette without blonde highlights
How to Use Purple and Blue Shampoo
A worthy note is that both shampoos will not replace your daily shampoo. You need to swap them out every few days. How often you want to use them will depend on you. We recommend you start using your coloring shampoo once every week and use it as needed.
Use the shampoo on partially wet hair, never dry hair, as it will grab too much coloring pigment. Lather it in your hands, then work it into the scalp with gentle circular movements.
Then, work it between the strands down to the shaft. Leave the toner application for two minutes or as recommended on the product and rinse it off with tepid water to seal the color into the cuticles.
Then, follow it up using a conditioner for color-treated hair. But if you notice too many blue or purple tones, you use the product too often. You can use a clarifying shampoo to remove the tones. Then, use your blue or purple shampoo less.
Wrap-Up: Purple vs Blue Shampoo
Regardless of the color-toning shampoo you decide to use, it is important to note that it helps to keep your strands looking vibrant and hydrated.
If you battle with discoloration between salon visits, you can comfortably use the purple and blue shampoos at home. Both these shampoos use color to banish those brassy tones.
Still, which shampoo to use will depend on whether you have more orange or yellow hues. These shampoos help you keep the desired shade by neutralizing those unwanted tones.
FAQ
Can you use purple and blue shampoo at the same time?
While you can mix the two, it depends on your hair color and the tones you want to deal with. It will work if you have multiple tones present.
How often should you use purple and blue shampoo?
You can use these shampoos once a week, but they can vary from one person to another.
What will happen if you leave blue or purple shampoo in for longer?
Leaving in the shampoo for longer deposits the pigments in the hair and can stain it permanently.
Does purple and blue shampoo work?
Yes, blue and purple shampoo work. It coats the hair shaft to cancel out the brassiness and leaves your hair with a shine.
