How can I get my hair more cool toned?

[TinselSniffer]

I get bleach highlights with a brown lowlight. I keep asking my hairdresser to please make my hair cool toned but it always ends up yellow with bits that are too warm. It's really hard to tell if these bits are the brown she puts in or the highlights , I tried to ask her but she wasn't very clear. Her answer is usually that I should have a toner on top when it's washed off at the basin but I went for this once only for it to cost me £20 and wash straight out pretty much immediately.

I use a blue mask conditioner which does help to add an ash tone and combat some of the yellow but I feel like it can't really do enough and it's the bleach or lowlights that need to change? I know my hair is hard to lift and she puts me under a heater to help this. I wish my highlights were whiter and my lowlights more ashy and cool but I don't know if this is achievable?

I have cool toned skin (I think, judge for yourselves from the bits you can see 😂) and blue eyes and feel like cooler toned hair would suit me more, and also blend into my greying roots better.

I've attached pics of my hair and one of the type of colour I would like to achieve. What do you think?

You need to go more ash with the blonde, and use a purple / silver shampoo to turn it down. Have you shown them an image of what you waNT?

Yes I show her pictures but it never turns out how I want it and I didn't know if I was being unrealistic.

So at the moment my highlights are just bleach, what else could she do to make them ashy? Is the only solution a toner that washes out in no time? I feel like the highlights need lifting more so they're out of the warm zone and into the white. I also need to look into the lowlight that she's using and check it's cool.

Another pic of the kind of shades I'd like attached. I'm going to show her this one next time I go.

You need to be bleached to a level 10, then an ashy toner. Your highlights are not light enough to give the look you want

I don't think your skin looks cool toned. Your face colour is warm (although that might be your foundation)

I don't think I was wearing makeup in the photos. I assume I'm cool toned because my veins look blue and I look awful in warmer colours, gold jewellery etc. I'd love to get a colour consultation to be sure.

Thanks for all your comments!

Most photos of those immaculate satin ashy pearl blonde balayages are manipulated/filtered (basically photoshopped) or have studio lights on. That's my two cents on expectations. Then, to make it worse - TAP WATER. The mineral deposits (calcium, magnesium, aluminum, manganese, iron) darken the hair and add a yellow/orange hue. Chlorine and copper can turn hair green(ish). You can chose to chase the unattainable dream of a colour-manipulated pictures by using the clarifying shampoo, mineral removers like Dream Filter, washing hair in purified water and toning your hair every 2 weeks (at a salon - those toners still would use a 3% oxide). Or you can embrace the neutral or golden (warmer, not yellow) shade and focus on hair health/hydration/timely trims.

Sorry, a couple more pics that show some of my natural colour (I only have half head so underneath is my own). I asked for my lowlights to match my natural colour so the root growth blends in but looking at these photos I think she is using a warm light brown?

Is my natural colour too dark to achieve the effect I want? Would I look a bit like a skunk? 😂

I'm going to have a look at silver shampoos.

I think you need to change your lowlight, it looks warm toned to me, more honey blonde than ashy.

A toner is the only way to get that overall ashy look afaik, you can get a toner between appointments and the salon might be able to add a pigment to your shampoo and conditioner to prolong the effect.

Your highlights look platinum to me, could you try getting 2 or 3 highlights to 1 lowlight? And I'd also recommend a different salon if they keep giving you the same result.

I'm reading with interest as I have EXACTLY the same question as you- my hair is same time as yours and I keep asking for ashy tones to match my natural colour but it always ends up golden/warm

I absolutely get what you mean about expectations @Chypre and agree. I'm not very high maintenance and couldn't be arsed with getting toners every two weeks, I hate going to the hairdresser as it is and that's just every eight weeks or so! But I am getting a bit frustrated with paying for a result that I'm not completely satisfied with.

@Sparrowball I think you're right about the lowlights. I don't want to be really blonde because it's a lot of upkeep and the roots look bad, which is why I've been getting equal amounts high and low lights lately. But I think I need to discuss this with my hairdresser. I like her and I've been going to her for ages and the one time I tried a different salon I got a horrendous haircut so I'm very loathe to change but I think I will give her one more chance to get it how I want.

@deltablue it's so frustrating isn't it! We're not asking for much, just no bloomin' warm tones! 😂

Rinsage.

You mix a tiny amount of blue black hair dye with shampoo.

Lots of tutorials on YouTube and very easy to do.

%3D%3D

I think change your stylist. Sometimes you get to the point with a stylist where they just cannot get you to where you want to be.

'the recipe in details: Get a blue black box hair dye, use a table spoon of the dye mix (paste and liquid) add to it 3 table spoons of shampoo (white or transparent regular shampoo) mix then add a tea spoon of water. Keep mixing and apply it to dry hair in a good light source to see it until it reaches a shade you like then wash it right away. Note that sulphate free shampoos and such don’t work. - wet or dry hair? I tried it on both but wet hair tends to look darker so it’s hard to know when to wash it off. Also anything you do to wet hair is more damaging as the hair follicle is open so you can’t comb the color through to get even results'

I use the Jerome Russell silver toner. You can pick it up in Tesco, home bargain and loads of other places.

It does look like your lowlights are too warm. Perhaps change stylist if your current one isn't giving you the results you want.

@SnoqualmieRiver thank you but that sounds terrifying 😂 I have mucked my hair up so many times colouring it myself that I am afraid to do that.

I really don't want to change my hairdresser, but another thing that bothers me is that the lighting in the salon is not great and I don't know that she can see what I mean when I show her the warm bits. I feel like taking my own lamp with its daylight bulb!

Get a Josh Wood toner. They have one for ash tones and they're honestly fool proof. You just rinse out. I know you say you don't want to risk it but that's how you'll get the colour you want. Even getting it at the salon won't last unless you keep going back.

OP you def have warm tones in your current highlights and yes you need a very ashy toner.

one word of warning though, based on what I can see of your face and the fact you’re only getting half head I don’t know whether you will like the very ashy tone. You look to have similar colouring to me, I went through a period of wanting that very ashy colour (got it done at Stil in london which is known for that sort of look) and actually it made me look almost greying rather than ashy. I think the warm tones suit you and actually what you need is to further lower the lowlight (the one you have looks almost reddy) and possibly put a lighter blonde highlight on the top to lift the whole colour and provide a bit more gradation. Whatever you do you can’t escape the toner though….

Aussie purple shampoo is worth a try.

I use Directions Hair colour in violet. Leave in for about 5 mins or less. I find its more effective for me than the Aussie shampoo (though the Aussie one smells lovely!)
The first time is v subtly purple then it lasts for about 5 washes and fades out a bit with each wash.

I think your hair colour is lovely, and a lot nicer than the silver in the photos you say you’re aiming for. I’ve heard several hair colourists say that truly cool-toned hair never looks natural, even on people with cool skin and eyes, and they wish seasonal colour analysts would stop talking about it.

It's not terrifying. I do it once a month and it takes less than five minutes.

I’ve had exactly the same issue in the past and have almost identical natural hair colour/skin tone to you! The problem is if you have any red tones in your hair, low lights will fade to that, resulting in a more warm yellow/gold look overall.

I know we are tempted by lowlights to try to get that lovely contrast of colour that’s not ‘blocky’, but the real solution is to stop it with lowlights altogether, just doing highlights and leaving your own darker colour to blend through. Blue glosses/shampoos etc will help a little in the interim, but going forwards quitting the lowlights is what I would advise. I would also echo not going TOO ashy because it can just start looking grey, which is ageing if, like me, you’re over 40! Good luck xx

Do you do it on wet or dry hair? Sounds like the answer to my brassy hair problems!

@sanitygirl

I wash my hair separately and rinse my hair and squeeze out excess water and wrap in a towel or turban.

I use disposable gloves and squirt double the amount of shampoo I would normally use into a small bowl, quickly followed by a small amount of black hair dye and then I tip my head over the bath and apply the shampoo and dye mix all over, massaging into hair to evenly coat it.

I have very long, thick hair so I find I don't need to wait as by the time I've worked it all through into a lather, it's ready to be rinsed off.

Five minutes preparation is all it takes plus the shampooing and rinsing time.

I use this -
You only add a tiny amount of the dye and NOT the developer.
https://www.boots.com/schwarzkopf-live-intense-colour-090-cosmic-blue-hair-dye-10113087?cmmmc=bmm-buk-google-ppccPLAsAsHeroCompareare--PMax:+UKKSmartShoppinggBeauty&gadsource=1&gbraid=0AAAAADrIajWj37xhyynRt8jJGrEdhKpsw&gclid=CjwKCAjwl4yyBhAgEiwADSEjeGoswcV3CL637Id2-LmZgAba6Z-HQ2kmvD1zq7uq8xwf3PLzjiC0lRoC2wQAvDDBwE&gclsrc=aw.ds