You wanted a few sun-kissed pieces but walked out of the salon with full-on platinum strands. Before the panic sets in, try your hand at toning down the blonde highlights. A trusty toner and some home products can help you achieve the color you wanted. Toners rid your hair of tones that you don't want—those brassy, orange-tinted or gold highlights can be softened with this post-coloring solution. If multi-toned blonde locks are your issue, the toner can also even out the color, making it a more uniform shade. When streaks happen—a common pitfall of highlighting dark hair blonde—toner can blend the highlights with your natural color. A successful toning session means you'll enjoy those perfectly highlighted blonde tresses for anywhere from
2 to 8 weeks
. In the meantime, you can extend the life of your blonde highlights with a purple shampoo. Purple shampoo is another way to tone down gold or brassy highlights. Use it only on those too-blonde areas. If your blonde highlights are over naturally brunette hair color, use your typical shampoo for the natural hair, and then target the blonde areas with the purple shampoo.
Tips
Ease into purple shampoo, especially if you're a first-timer. Use it every few days at first, and leave it on for just 5 minutes. If you find that those shampooing sessions aren't softening the blonde enough, use it every day or every other day until you've achieved your desired shade.