Unless you have virgin hair that hasn’t been treated or just want to touch up your roots with your usual shade, hair dye and hair toner are the two products that will typically follow a hair bleaching session.
Our previous posts talked about the importance of hair toner and its purpose.
Nonetheless, hair toning is far more crucial and complex than just smearing purple shampoo on your locks. The color of your hair oxidizes and changes with time – whether you dye it or do highlights.
Now, highlighted sections of platinum blondes’ hair, for example, tend to develop brassy and yellow undertones instead of the cool shade they left the salon with initially.
Likewise, brunettes and redheads who wanted to add some depth and warmth to their color might notice their dyed highlights are becoming too ashy.
That’s why hair toning is essential – it keeps undesirable shades at bay, allowing for a more uniform color.
But suppose you already toned your hair and aren’t happy with an outcome. You’re probably wondering: Can I dye my hair after using toner? How long should I wait between toning and dying my hair?
It’s truth time – so, let’s get started!
Hair Dye Vs. Hair Toner
Before we go further, you first need to learn how to differentiate hair dye and hair toner – because these two aren’t the same thing. Then right after, we’ll talk about the order in which these products are used.
So, stay tuned!
Hair Toner
Hair toner is a product applied to the hair after it has been bleached or lightened with harsh chemicals to remove brassy hair tones. The toner works best on lighter hair since it adds to the existing shade instead of lifting or permanently changing the color.
As a result, it can assist you in achieving pure platinum blonde hair, silver hair, or any variety of pastel hair hues.
Oddly, so few people know toning is a key to producing gorgeous and vibrant hair colors.
To figure out which toner to use, you must first determine what color you want your hair to be – and what color you want to cover. Bleached hair frequently has yellow, red, or orange tones – which can make your hair appear brassy.
Toner is an excellent way to eliminate undesired color tones.
You can locate the contrasting color that cancels out the yellow tones by utilizing the color wheel.
A purple toner, for example, is used to camouflage yellow tones. That doesn’t imply your hair will become purple, though. It’ll just wipe out the yellow tones in your hair, revealing a cooler blonde color.
Your present hair color will still determine the end result.
Hair Dye
On the other hand, hair dye is a treatment used to change the color of your hair entirely.
Furthermore, hair dyes change the color of your hair by adding pigments of various colors. Hair dye may permanently alter the color of your hair, making it darker or lighter, as well as conceal grey hairs.
The developers blended with the dyes determine whether your hair will be lighter or darker.
With that said, semi-permanent hair color is commonly used in the same way toners are.
The Main Difference
Hair dye may permanently alter the color of your hair, making it darker or lighter. Plus, it can hide gray hairs.
On the flip side, toners and glosses are generally applied on undesired undertones, such as brassiness, to alter, correct, or neutralize them.
Related Read: Can You Mix Toner With Hair Dye?
When To Use Toner Instead Of Hair Dye?
Hair dye’s the way to go if you want something more lasting. On the other hand, toners are gentler on the hair and are frequently used after it’s already been colored.
When applying the latter, the color will last only a bit longer: As long as you use a shampoo made for color-treated hair, toner should last two to four weeks or 12 washes.
If you want a little safer alternative to regular hair dye, you can use a semi-permanent gloss or toner. Toners contain far less hydrogen peroxide and yield only semi-permanent effects.
The hydrogen peroxide expands the hair’s cuticle, allowing the pigment to enter and deposit on the outer layer of the hair. The more hydrogen peroxide you use, the more “swollen” and damaged the outside layer of your hair becomes.
Related Read: Does Toner Damage Hair?
Hair Bleaching
When it comes to altering your hair color, bleaching your hair is necessary. That is especially true if you desire a drastic change in hair color or if you have extremely dark hair – and want to go lighter.
For instance, the only way to get pastel hues is to bleach your hair.
That’s because you must first remove the pigments in the hair before you can achieve the desired color.
Remember that hair colors may only lighten hair by a few shades. Applying hair dyes to get your naturally black hair to a pastel pink isn’t a realistic goal; you will need bleach.
Bleaching essentially – well, bleaches off your hair’s hues.
However, there are situations when bleaching hair isn’t necessary to change the color. If you want to change your hair color significantly by getting it darker, you can use regular hair dye.
See Also:
Which Product Should You Use Right After Bleaching?
So, after bleaching, should you use a toner or a dye?
Well, that will be determined by the color of your bleached hair – and the ultimate hair color you choose.
You’ll need a toner if the ultimate hair color you desire can’t be attained by merely canceling out the other unpleasant tones in your hair.
For example, you might wish to have blonde or colored hair.
You can sometimes just cancel out the yellow tones to obtain that effect. You must, however, be willing to maintain that by repeating the toner application to keep those pesky undertones covered.
If you want to experiment with the shade, or if the hair color you want is a strikingly different hue – such as green or pink – a toner alone will not achieve that.
That’s because you won’t find green or pink in there – even if it manages to cancel out the undesired tones in your hair.
So, it is preferable to use hair colors after bleaching in this situation.
People who bleach their hair regularly may notice that it becomes overly brassy and orange. Using a deeper color to cover the brassy orange hues of the hair is one technique to fix that, though.
Can I Dye My Hair After Using a Toner?
You absolutely can! After toning your hair, you can use hair dye if you’d like.
However, if you did use toner recently, be sure to wait until it washes out before doing so.
That implies you can use the dye after roughly 4-5 washes.
It’s crucial to wait that long because of the few reasons we’ll explain shortly.
How To Color Hair After Using Hair Toner
As we already mentioned, the first step is to wait until the toner has faded before you apply the color. But don’t panic – the wait will not be infinite.
Since the toner has a limited lifespan, it fades fast, and no remains of the toner will be left in your hair following 3-4 washes.
Why must you wait for the toner to fade, though?
The color of your hair will be altered after toning it – that’s why.
Let us explain: If you have reddish hair and use a green toner, your hair will develop an ashy undertone as the toner wears off. As a result, knowing what base color you end up with after applying the toner is crucial.
The difference between a light golden blonde 6.3 and a light ashy blonde 6.1 is that the latter is lighter.
You should always match the tone of your hair to the toner you use.
Here are some examples of which hair dye to use:
- If the toner made your hair ashy, look for a color with ashy tones, which are labeled with a .1
- If your hair is platinum due to the toner, apply a dye with pearl tones, which are indicated by a .2
- If the toner turned your hair golden, use color with gold tones, which is characterized by a .3
- If the toner turned your hair orange, apply a dye with copper tones, indicated by a symbol .4
- If the toner turned your hair red, look for a dye with mahogany tones, marked by a .5
And as for using hair color shades:
- You can use a 1 or 7 if your hair is ashy and you desire a light brown or blonde tint.
- You can choose a 3 o 4.3 if your hair is golden and you want to use a dark brown or brown.
Once the toner’s gone, you’ll be able to see the precise hue the toning procedure left behind, allowing you to pick the color you wish to dye your locks. Then it’s only a matter of applying the color to your hair – which is the easiest part.
Just follow these simple steps:
- Make sure your hair is combed.
- Prepare the color mix by combining the dye and developer cream.
- Begin by applying the mixture to your hair’s ends, then work your way up to your roots.
- Follow the dye’s precise directions and let it sit for 40 minutes.
- After you’ve rinsed your hair, use the post-color lotion that comes with your dye kit.
- You can apply a deep conditioner or a moisturizing mask to your hair.
How To Color Hair After Using Purple Shampoo
Purple or blue shampoo differs from toner since it progressively tones your hair. That is, it works to neutralize those undesired tones with each wash, so you don’t have to wait for the color to take effect.
We’re referring to the fact that you may start applying the color as soon as you finish using the shampoo. Now, we propose that you use a dye that matches the color of the shampoo you were using.
Shampoos, like toners, are available in a variety of hues:
- Choose a .1 dye if you’re using a blue shampoo.
- Choose a .2 dye if you’re using purple shampoo.
- Choose a .3 dye if you’re using shampoo for blonde hair.
- Choose a .4 or .5 dye if you’re using a red shampoo.
You’ll preserve the same tone as you did with the shampoo that way.
You’ll have the hair color you desire – and none of the unpleasant tones will show up. Just keep the shade consistent with the toning shampoo you’ve been using.
Read Also: How To Remove Purple Toner From Hair?
Final Word
Hair that has been toned can be dyed at any point. All you have to do is remember what sort of toner you used – and which tone is appropriate for the new dye.
There’s one thing to remember, though: If you used a toner on your hair, wait until the toner is entirely gone, which should take 3-4 days. However, if you used toning shampoo, stop using it – and then color your hair as you usually would.
