Struggling with Post-Summer Brassiness? This Will Help
If you’re a regular reader, you know I’m a fan of purple shampoos to combat unwanted yellow tones in my (salon-blonded) hair. And I’ve written about my anti-brass regimen and some favorite products here and here. I thought I’d tried pretty much every purple haircare option out there. Then I discovered this.
After one round with the Naissant PerlaBeige Shampoo and Conditioner (This is literally post-shower, as I am still in my robe!)
In the course of doing some research project for a haircare brand, I stumbled upon a shampoo/conditioner duo from a brand I didn’t know: Naissant Professional PerlaBeige Tone Refreshing Shampoo and Tone Correcting Mask. It is not widely available (I found it on Amazon) but in review after review, women raved about the efficacy of this purple twosome, and I saw some pretty significant before/afters. Thus, in the name of beauty road-testing, I decided to give it a go.
Let me start my apologizing for not taking a before shot (sorry—it was the first week of school, I had three project deadlines, and I forgot to write ‘take a before shot’ on my to-do list…which means I was in the shower, fully frosted in purple suds, before I realized my oversight.) Thus, allow me to explain what my hair looked like before that first Naissant application: I was about eight weeks from my last visit to the salon so I had at least an inch of dirty-blonde regrowth at my roots. In the course of our house construction, our water filter was removed so I’ve been washing with Ann Arbor’s notoriously high-in-minerals (read: orange-inducing) H2O. Finally, it’s September, so my blonde strands have been oxidizing for three months in the summer sun. Bottom line: I was brassy. Trust me.
After one round with the Naissant? It was like a professional colorist had applied a beigey toner to my hair. The yellow was gone. These products are potent—certainly the strongest at-home formulas I’ve tried. I snapped a shot of my hair, currently (at right). I don't see brassiness—do you? That said, I’d also add this caveat: Due to their (extreme) efficacy, I would not recommend using these two products more than once a week. The risk to develop a lavender/grey tinge is for real, especially if your blonde is a pale as mine.
I know of what I speak: I made the purple shampoo OD mistake once a few years back—and it’s not pretty. Even worse, you may not initially notice it yourself as you walk around lalalala with lavender hair. We were still living in New York at the time, I was beauty director at More, and I was enthusiastically using a new purple shampoo that my at-the-time colorist Marie Robinson had recommended. I was lathering up three to four times a week, all the while thinking I was just keeping my cool blonde hue true. Then, in a meeting with my Lesley-Jane Seymour, my boss (and Editor-in-Chief of More), Lesley stopped mid-sentence, leaned toward me, and was like, “What is going on with your hair?” Lesley = direct. Post-meeting, desperate to see what was going on with my hair, I fled to the bathroom and, under the dingy office-ladies-room lighting, could see a distinct violet tint. Whoops.
I went home that evening and washed twice with a clarifying shampoo, then swore off that purple shampoo until my next salon visit. When I complained to Marie, she looked at me like I was a dim bulb and said, “You were only supposed to use that once a week.” Noted.
So do proceed with caution with the Naissant duo, but know that if you’re battling stubborn brassiness, they can end that fight.
Do you have favorite anti-yellowing products? Have you ever tried Naissant? Do you have any other post-summer hair complaints? Let me know in the Comments, below, and I’ll try to address them in a future post.
