The double process, bleach and tone, platinum, bright blonde hair trend is in full effect. Over the past year we have had many clients wanting to go bleach blonde. Not just standard blonde, we are talking white, ashy, grey blonde without a hint of golden. Not only can this color be difficult to accomplish, it can be damaging and takes a lot of at-home maintenance. However, outside of the salon, the blonde of your dreams can be achieved with a little help from some special shampoo. The number one product for a white blonde is violet shampoo.

Ash Blonde Hairstyle

 

Violet shampoo is like an at home toner or glaze. Basic color theory: violet cancels out yellow. When hair is bleached it brings out underlying colors of unwanted tones, like orange, brassy copper, and yellow. To subdue those unwanted tones a complementary color is used to cancel them out. TIGI Catwalk Fashionista Violet Shampoo is the most concentrated violet on the market. It comes in a three-product system; TIGI Catwalk Fashionista Violet shampoo, conditioner, and mask. The proper way to use the system also involves two more steps and an interesting ingredient; a lemon!

Violet Shampoo by Catwalk

 

How to use the TIGI Catwalk Fashionista System:

  1. Cleanse hair with a clarifying shampoo to clean scalp and open hair cuticle. We suggest TIGI Bed Head Clean Up Daily Shampoo. Focus the shampoo on the roots and careful not to rough up hair, it’s a daily shampoo and the product itself will do most of the work. Bleached hair is in a more fragile state to begin with.
  2. Towel dry hair lightly. Cut a lemon in half and squeeze juice at mid-lengths and ends of hair. The lemon juice is opening up the hair cuticle and changing the pH of the hair. Remember in high school chemistry you learned and forgot all about pH, or potential of hydrogen? It is the measure of how acidic or alkaline a substance is. Hair has a pH between 4.5 and 5.5. The natural hair acidity prevents fungi and bacteria in the hair and scalp, and keeps the cuticle closed and healthy. The lemon juice will bring the hair pH down to about a 3, opening the cuticle and prepping the hair for the toner.lemon
  3. Apply the violet shampoo, focusing on the areas that are most yellow first, then all over. You don’t need to work the shampoo into the hair but let the violet color do the work. Clip up hair and let sit for 5-10 minutes depending on desired level of ash.
  4. Rinse out with water on the cooler side. This will close the cuticle and bring hair back to its normal pH.
  5. Next apply TIGI Catwalk Fashionista Violet Conditioner beginning at mid-lengths and ends because they are the most porous. Comb through with a wide tooth comb. Once a week use the mask for extra hydration and conditioning. Let conditioner sit for a couple minutes. Then rinse with cool water. Your bleached hair will be a healthy cool blonde!

Catwalk Fashionista Violet Mask

 

The Drawing Room: Transformation from brass to light blonde