Brighten Your Blonde With a Purple Shampoo

Even if your roots are down-to-there, your blonde or platinum can still look fresh with the help of a purple shampoo. It’s basic color theory: purple sits across from yellow on the color wheel, so a violet rinse will cancel out unwanted yellow tones in blonde and gray hair. Here’s how to use one.

If your hair is in need of some serious brass control, apply purple shampoo to dry hair rather than wet, and let it sit for three to five minutes before rinsing. Dry hair absorbs product better, so the results will be more potent.

Purple shampoo can be seriously drying—and if you have bleached hair, chances are you’re not looking to dehydrate your poor strands even further. Keep damage to a minimum by only rinsing with a purple shampoo once or twice a week, and following it up with a rich deep conditioner and as little heat styling as possible.

For a more concentrated purple hue, look for a shampoo and conditioner set. Purple conditioner is more pigmented and usually sits on the hair longer than shampoo, so it deposits more color. If you leave the conditioner on too long and somehow end up looking more lilac than platinum, don’t worry—the hue fades just as quickly as brassy tones creep up in your blonde.