Faux blonds can all pretty much agree: Keeping your hair from becoming brassy is one difficult feat. It’s too often that blond hair goes from bright platinum to faded orange, making all that time and money spent trying to achieve your desired shade feel like a total waste. Luckily, the invention of purple shampoo has been a life saver for blonds, keeping the color they paid for intact for much longer.
While using purple shampoo is an age-old rule for color treated hair, there’s actually a way to boost how well the purple products work. But first, it’s important to understand the science behind these miracle-working hair products. Purple shampoo contains a bit of violet pigment within the formula that neutralizes the orangey color in your hair (purple is the opposite of yellow-orange on the color wheel) when applied. So, washing your hair with the violet-toned formula will make the hair brighter and blonder.
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Now for the new shampoo hack. As HelloGiggles points out, blogger Becki (@WhippyCake) just revealed that applying your purple shampoo to dry hair before showering will maximize the effects. All you have to do is leave it on for 15 minutes and hop in the shower for a quick rinse before following up with your conditioner.
While this tip seems to work well for Becki, we got an expert to weigh in for backup. According to Matrix Style Link celebrity colorist George Papanikolas, this trick is actually a super smart way to keep your hair looking bright. “The pigments [in the shampoo] are more likely to adhere to the hair because [dry] pre-lightened hair is more porous and will absorb more of the purple molecules,” he explains. “This will counteract any unwanted yellow tones to create a cooler, neutral effect.”
The takeaway? Use a purple shampoo like the Matrix Color Obsessed So Silver ($13) on dry hair, like you would a hair mask, to correct brassy undertones and combat color from fading. While this extra step might seem like a bit of a time suck, it’s truly worth it—the results will speak for themselves.
