Should I Apply a Purple Shampoo on Copper Hair? No! It could be dramatic

woman desperate to fix her copper hair

The purple shampoo won’t work on your copper hair because it won’t remove the brassiness.
If you want to tone copper hair, you should use a blue shampoo twice a week for three to five minutes.
However, if you have coloring experience, you could blend purple and blue shampoo for your copper hair. I’ll give you the details later.

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Since purple shampoo became popular, everyone seems to want to use it. However, purple shampoo is used on certain occasions.

If your hair is copper, and you want to eliminate the unwanted tones, the purple shampoo won’t do you any good.

It may ruin your hair color.

If your hair is light copper, the purple shampoo will turn it red. In other words, it’ll be an undefined color.
If your hair is dark copper, the purple shampoo will leave it… nobody knows. It could be any uncertain color.

If I were you, I wouldn’t risk using purple shampoo on copper hair.

And I wouldn’t risk it because, as a colorist, I know the laws of colorimetry. And we’ll talk about them next.

Why doesn’t purple shampoo work on copper hair?

purple shampoo that is not suitable for copper hair

The science of coloring applies a very powerful and accurate tool to avoid mistakes when toning hair.

The color wheel tells us about opposite colors and neutralization:

If the hair is bright yellow, you should use purple to tone it. So, you should use purple shampoo for yellowish hair.
If the hair is bright orange like yours, it needs blue to be neutralized. So, blue shampoo will work for copper hair.
If the hair is bright red, it’s neutralized with green. So, green shampoo is suitable for red hair.[/su_list]

So, now you know why blue shampoo works to tone copper hair. I also want you to know that it gradually neutralizes unwanted copper until it’s ashy.

The blue shampoo adds blue pigments to your faded copper hair every time you wash your hair. So, it removes the unwanted orange tones.

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How to use blue shampoo on copper hair?

copper hair with lurid orange undertones

To tone your copper hair, you should use the blue shampoo twice a week. However, to know how long to leave it on, you should state the intensity of the orange in your copper hair.

If your copper hair is bright copper, leave on for four to five minutes.
If your copper hair is light copper, leave on for two to three minutes.

Step-by-step

blue shampoo on hands before washing copper hair

Wet your hair with warm water.
Apply the toning shampoo from roots to ends and massage your hair.
Leave it on for two to five minutes according to your hair’s needs.
Rinse with lukewarm water.
Let your hair air dry because the dryer’s heat removes the pigments of the blue shampoo.

Also, alternate with a sulfate-free shampoo to protect the color. Once your copper hair is toned, use the blue shampoo weekly to maintain the color.

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Only for pros: blend blue shampoo and purple shampoo for copper hair

mix blue and purple shampoo for copper hair

Even if you’re a coloring connoisseur, my pro tip is to use a blue shampoo for your copper hair and leave your creativity for other areas of your life.

After all, things are simple: blue shampoo works for copper hair. Why should you complicate your existence?

Still, here’s how to use a blend of blue shampoo and purple shampoo for copper hair. The results are up to you…

If your hair is dark copper, you’ll need only 100% blue shampoo.
If your hair is copper brassy, you’ll need 75% blue shampoo and 25% purple shampoo.
If your hair is carrot copper, you’ll need 50% blue shampoo and 50% purple shampoo.
If your hair is extra light copper like an egg yolk color, you’ll need 75% purple shampoo and 25% blue shampoo.

The lighter the orange in your copper hair, the more proportion of purple shampoo you’ll need because that’s where the yellow undertones appear.

My last tip: before toning your copper hair with the purple and blue shampoo, do the strand test on a strand of your hair at the back of your head to see the results. If you are satisfied, you can apply the blend to the rest of your hair.

Conclusions

You should use a blue shampoo for copper hair. The toning shampoo will help your hair get rid of the unwanted orange undertones. Remember that the purple shampoo, instead, neutralizes unwanted yellow tones.