What is a toner and why do I need one?

When I was working behind the chair, this was a question I received daily. Toners are designed to change the tone of the hair color. Think of yellow, gold and orange~brassy unwanted tones. If you have recently had your hair colored and suddenly it looks more red, yellow or brassy~ toner is the answer!

Now there are many reasons the toner has “faded” or rinsed away. It can be high mineral content in the water you shampoo your hair with in addition to shampooing too frequently. It can be that the hair was not properly prepared before coloring, by clarifying all of the mineral and product build up. It can be the porosity of the hair, it’s simply too porous and it rinses out quickly the porosity needs to be equalized prior to toning. Heat styling and sun exposure play a role too in depleting artificial pigment used in toners as well.

When hair is lightened, underlying pigment is always exposed. Toner works to neutralize those unwanted underlying pigments. People say “my hair always pulls red”. Everyone’s does. The underlying pigment in blonde is yellow, underlying pigment in brunette is orange and darker brown hair the underlying pigment is always red. So when anyone’s hair goes through the process of lightening it will “pull warmth” or shades of red, orange and yellow.

This is where color theory enters the room. Think about the color wheel. When lightening hair, if the unwanted tone is yellow in blonde hair, we use a purple or violet based toner. If the underlying pigment in brown hair reveals orange we use blue to neutralize and when red is revealed we use a green based toner to neutralize. The neutralized color is usually a natural looking color in a brown shade.

Toner is a product with depositing pigments only, toner will never lighten your hair, let’s be clear about that. You must tone at the same level of lightness or darkness of the hair. If the hair is orange, a purple toner won’t cut the orange, you need blue. Orange is darker than yellow and blue is darker than purple. If your hair has been colored a very dark shade of brown almost black and it pulls red after lightening you will need a green based toner to eliminate the red and bring it back to a more liveable shade of lighter brown.

Noteworthy: when hair has warmth, light is reflected. When hair is ashy or cool toned, it will appear darker because the light is absorbed rather than reflected. So don’t be surprised when the toner comes off that the hair will appear a little darker. When the warmth begins to reappear it will look lighter.

Toners are typically a stronger “corrective color” treatment that resets the color when brassiness appears. These treatments correct the color by penetrating the hair shaft not just covering it up or coating the hair. This is why toners are essential in the grey blending process. Lightening the previous artificial pigment will always reveal warmth, grey is not a warm tone. You may need to have your toner refreshed every 4-6 weeks until your old color is grown out completely or it is cut off. Please get deep conditioning protein and moisture treatments at the same time as your toner in order to equalize the porosity and treat the hair that has been lightened and toned. When we lighten the hair not only are we eliminating the artificial pigment, but we are eliminating the protein and moisture in the hair as well. This needs replenishing to have the shiny healthy hair everyone desires.

Tinted shampoos, purple, blue or black shampoos are maintenance products to be used in between salon visits to manage the tone, not change the tone completely. The pigments in these products are not meant to penetrate the hair shaft so they will stain the hair therefore they are semi permanent colors, not meant to be long lasting.

I hope this article helps clear up the question “What is a Toner and Why do I need one”? Please drop your questions or comments below. I am here to help. Ask the Hair Color Expert.