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How to Get Rid of Brassy Hair with Vinegar (Easy Guide)

How to Get Rid of Brassy Hair with Vinegar (Easy Guide)

Brassy hair can be a serious problem but you don’t have to struggle with it as much as you might think. There are ways to get rid of brassy hair without investing a lot of time and money in fancy products. Brassy hair is a common problem of blondes, especially after they leave the hair salon.

Once you wash your blonde hair, you will notice that the shade of it will change and lose its original shine. After just a few washes, you will end up with the brassy color that you will definitely want to get rid of. And here is a complete guide on how you can do that efficiently and in a convenient way!

To begin with, you need to know that vinegar can do miracles when you are struggling with brassy hair. If you use it correctly, it can help you get rid of this hair problem altogether! And you will regain your initial, charming, blonde color faster than you think! But there are strategies to apply if you want to get rid of brassy hair with vinegar. Check these Toners for Brassy Hair.

Step by step on getting rid of brassy hair by using vinegar

To get rid of that brassy color by using the vinegar you most likely already have in your house, there are some simple steps you need to take. This is as easy as it sounds and you truly need just vinegar and water. Follow these steps and enjoy the amazing results!

1. Get your vinegar mix ready

All you need is vinegar and water for this mix. The amount of vinegar and water you will mix should depend on the length of your hair. But the proportion that needs to be kept is one part vinegar at two parts water. For shorter hair, on the cup of vinegar mixed with two cups of water is enough quantity to cover your roots and hair.

But if your hair is longer simply double both quantities. Don’t add anything else to this mix because it is all you need to get rid of your brassy hair!

Also, Read: How Long to Leave Toner on Brassy Hair?

2. Wash your hair as you normally would

Use your favorite shampoo and wash your hair as often as you normally would. It will help to use a shampoo designed especially for blonde hair. Rinse the shampoo off your hair and apply your conditioner. Don’t neglect the power of a good conditioner as this is even more important than your shampoo.

Give your conditioner time to take effect on your hair and rinse it off as well using lukewarm water. A thumb rule for blonde hair is to never use water that is too hot when you wash it because you will damage it.

3. Use the vinegar

Once your usual washing process ended, you can use the bowl with the water and vinegar mixture. Apply it all over your scalp and to the entire length of your hair. Make sure to massage your roots as you are doing so.

Gently massage your hair as well, to make sure that the vinegar is well absorbed on the entire surface of it. Once you are done, rinse your hair again with lukewarm water and that is all you need to do. If you want to add a hair mask for a few more minutes, you can definitely do so at the end of this process.

4. Dry your hair

You can allow your hair to dry naturally or you can use your hair drier. The drying method will not make a difference to the quality of your hair. It will not impact the efficiency of this vinegar treatment either.

Depending on how brassy your hair is, you can do this vinegar treatment several times a week. The more you do it, the better the results will be!

However, you don’t need to do it every time you wash your hair simply because that is not necessary. If you add too much vinegar, you might need to use a mask afterward to eliminate any potential fragrance that might be stuck to your hair.

What home remedy will get rid of yellow hair?

You don’t have to go to the salon every time you need to refresh your color or get rid of your brassy shades. You can do that in the comfort of your home by applying simple tricks and tips. As a major change to your hair care routine, you can replace your usual shampoo with one that has color refreshing properties.

If your hair looks really brassy, you can use a coloring gel every time you wash it as well. These are simple changes that can go a long way when it comes to eliminating your hair’s brassiness.

But vinegar is not the only secret ingredient that you can use to create those lotions that eliminate brassiness from your hair. As a matter of fact, you can mix vinegar with other ingredients and obtain a magical cream to make your hair look just the way you want.

get rid of brassy hair

Here what you need to create a very efficient toner at home that will give you professional results at some budget-friendly costs!

Ingredients: Two and a half cups of vinegar, around 12 drops of blue food coloring, and 3 drops of red food coloring. Yes, you read well! Some people recommend using purple food coloring alone in order to skip combining red one with a blue one.

But the effects will not be the same and most likely you will regret it because sometimes the purple color is not a result of red color mixed with blue color, at least when it comes to food coloring.

Why mixing these ingredients together to create a toner? Because red mixed with blue will result in the type of purple you need to get rid of brassiness.

You might remember from school, that purple is a color that neutralizes yellow shades and even strong orange shades. It does the same when it comes to your hair.

On top of that, the vinegar will accelerate the entire process and it will add the right shine to your hair as soon as you start using this mix.

You will have to wash your hair and don’t forget to use the right conditioner for your needs, before applying this miracle lotion on it. For optimum results, simply massage your roots and the entire length of your hair with this mixture after you washed it.

Spend a couple of minutes doing that in order to make sure that this homemade remedy against brassiness reached all the areas of your hair. Once you are done massaging, rinse well with water, until your hair remains clean and soft to the touch.

Some people recommend using gloves during this process but this shouldn’t be a necessity as the food coloring shouldn’t stain your skin. You can modify the quantities according to the length of your hair.

However, make sure that you always use more blue than red in order to obtain the final result that you are aiming for! Also, distilled white vinegar will work a lot better than other types of vinegar. You might want to keep these details in mind when you are “cooking” such a homemade toner.

This method is not one used by the professionals in the hair industry, so your expectations should be limited. While for some, it works great from the first time, for others it needs to be reused several times to give the same results.

But one thing is for sure: you will not regret trying this method out at home as most likely your brassiness will be a thing of the past if you do this with regularity.

Does apple cider vinegar remove yellow from hair?

The short answer is yes, but there is a wider discussion behind it. You can definitely use apple cider vinegar to get rid of those yellow and orange shades that you are not happy with. The way you need to use it is by applying one of the methods presented above.

But you also have to pay attention to how often you use this remedy as apple cider vinegar is extremely acidic. Because of this aspect, it can actually damage your hair if it is used too much. Using apple cider vinegar every day or even several times a week, can dry your hair and take away its shine, along with the brassiness.

However, if you use it once a week, you shouldn’t have any harmful side effects and you will only enjoy the benefits of this amazing ingredient.

Also, take into account that during such a home treatment, is important not to leave the vinegar in your hair for more than 10 minutes. 10 minutes should be really all you need to take care of your hair brassiness so you don’t need to force this time at all.

Also Check: How to Remove Brassy Tones from Brown Hair?

How do you end up with brassy hair anyway?

Now that you know how to get rid of that unwanted brassy look of your hair by using vinegar and some other very easy to find ingredients, you should understand what brassiness actually is. Why do we risk to achieve the brassy shade, being it orange or yellow, every color or hair?

Your blonde hair, unlike darker shades, is very vulnerable to everything that gets in contact to it. Since it is so magnetic and porous, it attracts and assimilates everything from the elements of the water you use to wash it, to the bacteria in the atmosphere.

This is also why you will have to wash it more often and with more attention. Also, the products you use during your hair care routine, are having a big impact on the brassiness of your hair.

Because of the porous property of blonde hair, some level of brassiness is almost inevitable. Add to that the fact that the toner you initially applied on your hair when you colored it runs off and you have your main two reasons for the brassy color.

But there are other aspects that can influence the intensity of your brassy shade and the most common of these is the natural tone of your hair.

The darker your natural hair is, the worse the brassy effect will be. Plus, you will need to consider bleaching your hair even more than once when you are planning to go from a darker color to a shade of blonde.

Why is vinegar a great choice to treat hair brassiness?

It might still be a curiosity to you why vinegar is so efficient in getting rid of your yellow and orange shades. But the explanation is quite simple. Vinegar is a great product to add some strength to your hair.

It also lowers your pH and heals your scalp of any possible infections while preventing them at the same time. This also means that vinegar creates some sort of shelter to protect your hair from external bacteria and dust.

Don’t forget that both white vinegar and apple cider vinegar are very acidic. Just as we mentioned above, it is important to no overdo this method, for the sake of your hair!

Conclusion

As you can see, vinegar can really do miracles when it comes to getting rid of the brassiness of your hair! You can simply mix it with water and rinse your hair at the end of washing it. But for more efficiency, and if your hair is really brassy, you should follow the recipe that includes vinegar and food coloring.

This is safe and you will see results a lot faster and your hair will also look much better in no time! Save your money and don’t go to the hair salon every time you feel like you need to refresh your color. You don’t have to dye it again either. You might be able to fix the brassy shades by simply using what you already have in your kitchen! You will always look at your best!

Wendy

Monday 28th of February 2022

Hello! I just got blonde highlights at the salon and she didn’t leave the bleach in long enough and now my hair is brassy orange on spots and yellow on others. Can I use Apple cider vinegar right away to help (whiten) or lighten it? If so, should I use white vinegar or apple cider? And should I use it alone or with food coloring for a more white beige colored blonde?

Irina Tracy

Monday 7th of March 2022

hi, yes, I would say try with cider vinegar but leave the food coloring out of it. I think it would also help you to use a shampoo that is made for orange spots and after three washes you should be able to see a difference. It will take patience but if you alternate weekly a shampoo for orange spots and use the cider vinegar, you should see an improvement. Hope this helped, good luck and thank you for reaching out!

Wendy

Monday 28th of February 2022

I also have a purple shampoo if needed

Sarah Gyde

Thursday 11th of November 2021

Hi there, is it any good for hot roots. I have orange roots with brassy colour 2cm from roots. Many thanks

Irina Tracy

Saturday 22nd of January 2022

hi, Sarah! Yes it is good for roots too and a much better alternative to bleach! Good luck and thank you for reaching out!

Karen Elizabeth Sharpe

Thursday 16th of September 2021

I have graying blond hair and got a perm. I styled with heat sit in the sun...and the lightest hair turned orange! Bought purple shampoo but no results after 6 shampoos except ashiness. About to try a vinegar tinse.

Irina Tracy

Saturday 22nd of January 2022

Hello Karen! I hope you could get rid of the orange by now but if the shampoo is not bringing you the results you want, you can always bleach it again after 3 weeks or a month. Trying other methods like using vinegar is definitely worth it as well. Each hair type reacts different to such procedures... let us know what worked for you! Thank you for reaching out!

Brenda

Wednesday 12th of May 2021

I think elaine meant she has ‘salt and pepper’ colored hair. I will try this tomorrow had a disaster! I have almost orange hair :(

Elaine Maxwell

Sunday 25th of April 2021

Can I use vinegar on salt and pepper hair?

Irina Tracy

Wednesday 28th of April 2021

Hello, Elaine! Vinegar yes can be used in hair treatments but I would skip the salt and pepper. You don't want to affect your hair in a negative way and salt and pepper can do that. Try the remedies based on vinegar and let us know how it went! Thank you for reaching out!