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You are a natural brunette, or you dyed your hair brown. You also have had many hair treatments that endured a lot of heat. In addition to that, you also had many moments of swimming and spending time in the sun. The constant exposure to UV rays, the heat, and the chemicals from all of that will negatively impact your hair. Not only does it dry it out, but it can cause your hair to become brassy, which gives your hair a dull and orange appearance. That can result from repeated dye treatments in addition to the other stuff mentioned just now.
One remedy for brassy and damaged hair is the blue shampoo for brown hair. That is because the blue pigments in the shampoo will help to restore the brown color. However, you have to use it as instructed, or else it will not bring you the desired results. What about purple shampoo? What does purple shampoo do to brown hair? Does it work? Let’s explore that a little more.
What Is Purple Shampoo?
The purple shampoo contains purple pigments that will help neutralize brassy and dull hair color tones. It works the best when the brassy tones are yellow as you will see yellow brassy, pale tones with lighter and blonde hair, whereas you see orange brassy, dull tones with darker blond or brunette hair. Purple neutralizes yellow because you would remember that yellow and purple are opposite ends of the color wheel when you think back to art class in school. Therefore, the purple shampoo will have the most significant impact on yellow hair, which will only help restore the natural color when you use the shampoo the correct way.
What Color Hair Does Purple Shampoo Work Best On?
Since purple neutralizes yellow, the shampoo works best on lighter-color hair. That means if you have brassy hair and are blonde, you will have many dull yellow colors. The shampoo can also neutralize orange and brassy-like colors. However, the purple will neutralize a lighter shade of orange than a darker shade. That is why purple shampoo works the best on blonde hair, whether it is natural or dyed. It does not matter if you have sandy-blonde hair that is natural or not, platinum, pastel-color, or bleached hair. The purple shampoo is ideal for restoring those vibrant colors if the strands have had much damage caused by repeated chemical treatments, heat, or lots of sun exposure.
Purple shampoo can also work well on grey or white hair. Since grey-colored hair is becoming popular, women who age do not dye their hair to give it a youthful color, or those who dye their hair white, that shampoo will work on it too. However, let’s now go and answer the central point of this article: does purple shampoo work on brown hair?
Can You Use Purple Shampoo On Brown Hair?
If you are naturally brown and don’t have light streaks in your hair or dyed your hair brown, the purple shampoo will not work very well. You must remember that purple and yellow are at the opposite ends of the color wheel, which is why purple works the best on blonde hair. However, whether natural or not, brunettes will end up with orange-colored hair when it becomes dull and brassy. Purple does not do an excellent job of neutralizing orange color hues. That is because purple and brown are very close to one another. Therefore, you would find that the purple shampoo will not do the job if that is you.
However, that does not mean purple shampoo does not have its place among brunettes. If a brunette has some lighter-colored highlights, then it can be beneficial. Therefore, you can use purple shampoo on brown hair to help neutralize the highlights, even though it will not be effective for the darker parts of the hair. You can also use the shampoo only on the few blonde or lighter-colored highlights to help neutralize its color. That means applying the shampoo only to those streaks while not putting it on the darker parts of your hair. You will want to follow the instructions on the shampoo bottle or talk to your stylist about it. It would be best if you did both to maximize your chances of the best results by doing so the right way.
Can Purple Shampoo Damage Your Hair?
The truth is that you will not reap the best results from anything if you don’t follow instructions. The same goes for not using purple shampoo the proper way. Therefore, you do not have to worry about the purple shampoo turning your hair purple unless you leave it in your hair too long. You will have some hues of purple in your hair if you do that, which is not what you want. If you wished to purple hair, you would go and deliberately dye your hair purple. If you are using this shampoo to neutralize brassy yellow tones, that is not what you intend. Therefore, you will want to follow the directions thoroughly.
That means you will need to keep track of the time to leave the shampoo in the hair. If you are new to using the shampoo you will want to leave it in for a minute to see how the hair reacts to it. Once you become more familiar with the product and know how your hair reacts to the shampoo, you may be able to leave it in a little longer.
You also will want to use the shampoo once a week to help neutralize the tones. However, that will also vary depending on the significance of damage and whether you have grey, white, bleached, or sandy-blonde hair. Therefore, there is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to the frequency of using the purple shampoo.
Conclusion
Purple shampoo works the best on blonde or light-colored hair because purple neutralizes yellow, which is the color of the hair when there is damage. Since purple and brown are close to each other, purple shampoo will not be effective for brown hair. However, when it comes to highlights that are lighter in color or blonde, then purple shampoo can help. The best thing that anyone can do before using purple shampoo is to talk to a stylist and learn about the best option to restore the color of hair. The frequency of using it also will play a significant role. You do need guidance for all of that.