Why Blonde Turns Brassy in Las Vegas

You leave the salon with a cool, clean blonde, and three weeks later it looks yellow, or even orange. In Las Vegas that is rarely bad luck. Here is what is actually happening, and how to stop it.

Blonde Has Warm Pigment Underneath

Every head of hair has natural warm pigment. When lightener lifts your color, it passes through red, orange and yellow stages on the way to blonde, and some of that warmth always stays in the hair. A toner (we use L’Oréal Professionnel Dia demi-permanent color) neutralizes it, which is what makes fresh blonde look clean. Toner is demi-permanent, though: it gradually washes out, and as it fades the warmth underneath shows again.

Why It Happens Faster in Las Vegas

• Very hard water. Las Vegas tap water averages 280 ppm of hardness. Lightened hair is porous and soaks up calcium and magnesium, and the mineral film dulls your toner and adds its own dingy, yellow cast.
• Chlorine. Tap water is disinfected with chlorine, and pools carry much more. It speeds up toner fade. See protecting color from pool chlorine.
• Desert sun. Strong sunlight fades toner and color too, the same way it fades fabric.

How to Fix Brassy Blonde

1. Remove the minerals first. Toning over mineral build-up doesn’t last. In the salon we use a 3-step Metal Detox treatment or vegan Malibu crystals.
2. Re-tone. A fresh Dia toner resets the shade, from icy to beige to golden, whatever suits you.
3. Treat the water at home. A water softener plus a filtered shower head made for hard water is the long-term fix.
4. Maintain. A violet-toned shampoo now and then softens yellow between visits; a clarifying shampoo lifts build-up.

Very orange or banded blonde may need more than a toner; that’s color correction.

More on the water itself in our Las Vegas hard water guide.