How Often Should You Use Purple Shampoo?
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Time to read 6 min
There is nothing like salon-fresh hair color. The bounce in your hair is matched only by the bounce in your step! But then the worry starts to creep in… Will your fresh, cool blonde color last, or will it give way to dreaded brassy yellow tones? And is there anything you can do to keep that from happening? Luckily, purple shampoo exists!
Purple toning shampoo can be incredibly effective at preventing and neutralizing yellow tones in blonde hair between salon visits, especially if the formula is also moisturizing and sulfate-free like ours at Virgo de Novo. However, using purple shampoo correctly is critical to getting the toning results you want, as well as to maintaining the health and condition of your hair. Read on as we answer your most pressing questions about purple shampoo, including how often to use purple shampoo, how to avoid overusing purple shampoo, and how to get the best purple toning shampoo results at home.
What You'll Learn about Purple Shampoo
What is Purple Shampoo?
Purple shampoo is more than just shampoo that is purple in color! It is actually a hybrid hair care product that blends hair shampoo with the pigments used in hair color toner. If you professionally lighten your hair color (or color your hair at home), toning is a key step in the process. Since hair color naturally reaches a yellow stage when being lightened, a toner is used to neutralize these tones after the color and/or bleach has been removed from the hair.
Although they can vary in composition, purple toning shampoos contain pigments that are similar to those in the hair toners your stylist uses, but in a shampoo base. Not only does this give purple shampoo its characteristic color, but it also allows good purple shampoo to extend the effects of salon toner and neutralize yellow tones that arise between colorings or due to exposure to sun, heat and other color fading forces.
How Purple Shampoo Works
To understand how purple toning shampoo works, let’s first consider how hair color toners work in general. After all, toners are what inspired the creation of purple and blue toning shampoos in the first place!
A toner acts as a demi-permanent color, meaning it lasts four to six weeks or 24-30 shampoos. Typically, toners have an alkaline pH level that allows them to open the hair cuticle and deposit pigments onto the hair to counteract yellow or orange tones that can occur with certain lightening, coloring and highlighting processes. Toners come in a variety of colors, but purple toners are used to neutralize yellow tones in blonde hair, while blue toning products minimize orange tones in brown hair shades.
Toning shampoos use the principles behind this more permanent process to provide an easy and effective color maintenance solution. Specifically, purple shampoo is designed to prolong the effects of the purple toner your stylist (or you) applied to your blonde to counteract brassy yellow tones. In essence, purple shampoo reinforces the effects of toner as it wears off over time, as well as minimizing visible yellow tones in general. Since purple shampoo leaves behind pigment on the hair strand, it can also remedy brassy tones in natural blonde and grey hair.
How Often Should You Use Purple Shampoo?
Purple shampoos are not a substitute for your regular color-safe shampoo, especially if they contain sulfates or are not pH balanced, both of which can dehydrate and damage hair. In general, purple shampoo can be used every third shampoo, or once or twice a week, to provide consistent toning effects without causing build up, dullness or dryness. Many toning formulas can damage hair, especially with overuse, so stay vigilant about ingredients, formula pH, and usage when choosing a purple shampoo to protect not only your hair color but your hair health.
Why Ours Are the Best Purple Shampoo
In the case of Virgo de Novo Purple Toning Shampoos, you can feel confident that you will enjoy visible purple toning results that won’t dry out your hair. Our moisturizing purple shampoo formulas are sulfate-free and balanced to your hair’s natural pH level, allowing them to instantly tone blonde hair effectively while infusing moisture and leaving the hair cuticle smooth and protected after each use.
Signs You’re Overusing Purple Shampoo
For all their benefits, it is certainly possible to overuse purple shampoos. In fact, your hair might exhibit dryness, damage or even breakage due to purple shampoo overuse. In the case of light blonde, light grey, or platinum hair, overusing purple shampoo can also leave a purple or lavender tint behind, especially on the most porous or processed strands. Even if this is the look you were going for, there are better ways to achieve it! Instead, go the route of hair color and toner to provide longer-lasting results, which you can then prolong and enhance with toning shampoo.
If your hair starts exhibiting any of these signs of damage or overuse, take a break from purple shampoo. Instead, try a detox shampoo formula like Purify to remove any pigment buildup, followed by a deep conditioner such as Revive to get your hair back in healthy shape. When in doubt, consult your stylist, or contact us for a personalized recommendation.
"Purple shampoo is a great tool to enhance and maintain blonde hair, not a substitute for regular shampoo."
Pro Tips to Get the Best Purple Toning Results
You can rely on Virgo de Novo to provide the best haircare tips from a stylist’s point of view – namely, our founder and formulator Diana Bernard, who spent more than twenty years behind the chair as a master stylist and colorist. Here’s what Diana recommends to get the most out of purple shampoo as part of a healthy purple toning hair care regimen:
- Choose the right purple toning shampoo based on how deep your hair’s yellow tones are. Virgo de Novo Purple Toning Shampoos come in three intensity levels to combat mild to even the most stubborn brassy tones in a range of blonde shades.
- Start with a lighter shade of purple toning products first – you can always increase to a stronger purple shampoo should you need it.
- Use purple shampoo every third shampoo, applying and massaging through wet hair, focusing on areas that need more toning. Allow the product to sit on the hair from 1 to 3 minutes before rinsing thoroughly.
- If your yellow tones are particularly deep or stubborn, avoid using purple shampoo more often as this risks damage to your hair. Instead, follow with a purple conditioner or purple toning hair mask to provide added toning results with more intense moisturization.
- Purple and blue toning shampoos can temporarily color hands and fingernails. Wear gloves, or simply wash hands and nails with warm soapy water after use to prevent staining.
- Be consistent! Regular proper use of purple toning shampoo keeps unwanted brassy tones bay and even minimizes regrowth lines between colorings.
Bonus Tip: As the pioneers in toning hair care, Virgo de Novo even offers two shades of Purple Toning Styling Foams to round out your purple hair toning regimen. These non-drying formulas instantly add icy cool hues to blonde hair and highlights as they provide the touchable volume and styling control of our Lift alcohol-free styling foam.
The Key to Using Purple Shampoo: Selection, Moderation, Consistency
Purple toning shampoo is a fantastic way to protect the investment you’ve made in your hair color and condition – as long as you use a good purple shampoo (or the best purple shampoo in our case!) and use it the right way. Luckily, Virgo de Novo makes it easy! Just select the right shade of purple toning product for your hair color, then use it regularly and consistently every third shampoo as part of your healthy hair care and toning regimen. Be true to your blonde, and it will stay true for you!
