How Long Can you Leave Toner on Hair? And More Tips for Hair Toner…
How long can you leave toner on hair?
The quick and easy answer is 10- 45 minutes depending on the desired tone and brand of toner being used.
But first we’re going to talk about what hair toner is and how to properly use it before determining how long to leave toner on your hair.
What is Hair Toner?
Toner is used to change the undertone that you see in your hair that you dislike.
How toning works is by neutralizing the color that you see in the hair.
If there is too much brass or copper (orange) in the hair and you’d like to tone it out, you would use the opposite of orange on the color wheel, which is blue.
Blue counteracts Orange.
Opposite of yellow on the color wheel is purple.
Purple counteracts yellow.
So sometimes purple shampoo can help if there’s copper in the hair without needing a full toning treatment.
How to Use Purple Shampoo to Tone Hair
Opposite of red is green. So if there is too much red in the hair you can counter that with green, and vice-versa. Too much green can be countered with red.
When in doubt, consult the wheel! It never lies.
But we’ll get into more about using the color wheel in a moment.
Toner is usually used to neutralize a color. But it can also be used to tone hair to be another color! Rose-gold, which is currently trending, is achieved by toning the hair with a rose-gold toner. Or you can tone hair blue or any other light fun color tone that you want.
But for the simplicity of this article we’re going to talk about toning to even out neutral colors, since that is harder to do.
When to use Toner on Hair
- You have gold, bronze, brass, or other warm tones that you don’t want
- You prefer cool tones and an ashy look
- You want to refresh the color that you already have
- You want to cover gray
- You have blonde highlights or bleached hair
How to Choose the Correct Tone
To choose which tone is best for the results that you want always consult the color wheel first!
Consulting The Color Wheel
Professionals use the color wheel to strategically treat, color, and tone hair. The color wheel starts with the primary, blue, red, and yellow. And secondary colors, violet, orange, green.
Why is the color wheel important?
Say you got your hair highlighted or bleached and it turns out orange. We’ve all seen it, that lovely sunset orange. That’s an undertone.
Undertones are what make brassy hair look orange and ashy hair look cool toned.
If you pay attention and use the color wheel as a tool you will be able to choose the correct toner and tone your unwanted tones out.
🎄 Red and Green- Christmas colors.
🏈 Blue and Orange- Broncos colors (come on football fans!).
💐 Yellow and Purple- Easter colors.
How often do you put toner on hair?
Most professionals will use toner every time you get your hair highlighted or bleached.
But you can get toner put on your hair every 4-12 weeks or so to keep it fresh.
If you tone your hair at home using toning shampoo it will typically need refreshed every 4-8 weeks.
Or you can use a toning shampoo at home to maintain the color tone in between trips to the salon for a color toning treatment.
Can Toner Damage my Hair?
Like any chemical process, toner can damage the hair but significantly less than any other chemical hair treatment.
The damage is mostly because of the developer used to open the cuticle to deposit the toner color.
A toning shampoo does not cause any damage to the hair and can safely be used more often than applying a dye or color toner.
How long do you leave toning shampoo on hair?
Toning shampoo is an excellent alternative to toning regularly and can be used up to twice per week.
I would caution however using toning shampoo as a regular go-to cleanser, because you don’t want to over tone your hair with that color.
For example, if you have platinum blonde or white hair you need a purple shampoo to tone away any yellow that might appear. If you over-use toning shampoo you can give your hair a purple tint.
You can leave toning shampoo on the hair for 5-15 minutes.
Toning shampoos can be found in Red, Green, Purple and Blue.
How to Use Purple Shampoo to Tone Hair
What does hair toner do to highlights?
Highlights are generally blonde streaks, thick or fine and subtle in the hair made possible with the help of bleach.
Bleach chemically opens the cuticle and removes natural and artificial pigment molecules from the hair. Though it often leaves the unwanted undertone.
You cannot tone with bleach.
When you see unwanted color tones in your highlights or bleached hair, often gold or brassy tones, a purple or blue toner will help eliminate and even out the blonde.
When I leave toner on hair will it change all of my hair?
Even if your highlights or overall bleached hair isn’t white, but a light brown-not-quite-blonde, a toner will even out the blonde color without changing the dark color at all.
Toner will not change colors darker than itself. For example, let’s say you have a red on the hair, if you put a pink toner on top will it turn the red into pink? No, because it is darker.
If you have a light brown or even blonde highlights a toner lighter than the contrasting dark color will not be changed because of the toner.
How to use hair toner after bleaching
Toning bleached hair is almost as simple as toning highlights. And applied in the same way. Though for toning all-over bleached hair, you might need to use a little more toner.
The hardest part is making sure that all of the hair is evenly saturated by the toner and it doesn’t miss any pieces.
How to tone bleached hair-
- The toner you chose to use for your hair (after consulting the color wheel!)
- Color bowl or a squeeze tint bottle
- A towel to put on your shoulders
- A color brush
- A wide toothed comb
- 4 clips
- A timer
- Sulfate and silicone-free shampoo and conditioner
First use the clips to section your hair into four quadrants. The front two and the back two. And wrap the towel around your shoulders. This will keep the toner from dripping onto your clothes and will be close enough for you to use if the toner drips onto your forehead or face.
Start applying the toner to the front two sections first in half inch horizontal partings to ensure even saturation, working from top to bottom.
Once the front two sections have the toner on, you can then do the same to the back two sections, using half inch partings just like before. The last thing you want to happen is wash the toner out and see that there were pieces that didn’t get the toner and have to be reapplied.
Using a wide-toothed comb, comb through the sections and to make sure every piece is soaked in toner.
Set your timer for 10 minutes and then use a rag or the towel to wipe some of the toner away to see if it has toned enough. If not, set the timer for another 5 minutes and continue checking every 5 minutes until the desired level is reached.
The longer you leave toner on hair the stronger the tone will be. (For example, if you leave a light neutral brown toner on the hair for too long it will end up being a little darker than you originally intended.)
Depending on the brand of toner, some toners need to be left on the hair for longer than other brands.
You can leave toner on the hair for up to 45 minutes.
When the toner is finished processing, wash out the hair with cool water and a sulfate-free and silicone-free shampoo. Then condition it well.
Is Silicone-Free Shampoo Good or Bad?
You can lightly blow dry one section of the hair to see what the tone of the hair looks like dry and if any changes need to be made.
It is best to let toned hair air dry to make it last longer.
FAQs about How Long Can You Leave Toner on Hair?
How long do you let toner stay on your hair?
Depending on how dark you would like your toner, 10-15 minutes usually is enough time.
Just remember that the longer the toner stays on the hair the darker it becomes.
Some brands of toner you can leave on for up to 45 minutes.
Toning shampoo can be used more frequently and can be left on the hair for up to 15 minutes.
How long do you leave toner on orange hair?
15-25 minutes is usually enough time to tone out orange hair. But depending on the brand it may take longer.
If using a blue or purple toning shampoo it may take 2 washes and the shampoo left on for 15 minutes each time.
How long do you leave toner on brassy hair?
If hair has a hint of a brassy tint I highly recommend using a toning shampoo first. Blue for brassy-orange tones. Leave the shampoo on for 15 minutes.
If using a color or dye toner you can leave it for 15-25 minutes.
Can you leave toner on hair for 10 minutes?
Yes, toner can be left on for 10 minutes. Depending on the brand and the level of toner that is desired it may take longer.
Can you leave hair toner for too long?
Toner can be left for too long and turn the hair the opposite of what you want, but it is very hard to mess up toner.
How to Use Purple Toning Shampoo
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