If you ever thought about dyeing your hair, you’ve probably heard about hair toners. Although toners are usually advertised as products for people with light hair, they can also save brunettes from certain color disasters.
So, what does toner do to brown hair? Here’s everything you need to know.
What Is Hair Toner?
Hair toner is a semi-permanent or demi-permanent hair dye. Depending on the toner type you use, it can highlight or minimize specific tones in bleached or color-treated hair. Unlike the classic hair dye, toners do not contain much ammonia, so they can’t enter the hair strands. Instead, they cling to the surface and wash away after a few days or weeks.
What Do Hair Toners Do?
In general, we use hair toners to neutralize undesirable tones in hair color. For example, when you lighten your hair, there’s a chance that unwanted gold, yellow, and blonde shades will appear, especially near the ends. But if you use hair toner, it will deposit color pigments throughout the entire length of your hair and counteract those yellow undertones.
You can find numerous toners on the market, at least one for literally any hair color. But most commonly, we use blue-based toners to eliminate orange and violet-based toners to neutralize yellow tones.
Do You Need to Use Toner for Brown Hair?
Before we discuss the question What does toner do to brown hair, we have to say that you don’t need to use toner on dark hair. Still, you might like the results if you do.
Hair dye can only create one shade throughout the entire hair length, which looks unnatural. That’s why your stylist is supposed to add highlights and lowlights and make the color look more realistic. But even then, some strands of your hair might appear too subtle or overdone.
On the other hand, if your hairstylist adds toner, it will make the right shades more prominent and those overly bright or brassy less noticeable. Also, with toner, you will maintain your beautiful shade until the next salon visit.
What Does Toner Do to Brown Hair?
So, what does toner do to brown hair? It minimizes orange and red shades and makes the color look more natural. Varied toners have different effects on dark hair. Here are some examples.
• If you use a blue toner, your cool undertones will stand out, while unwanted warm shades will appear less noticeable.
• Some toners contain special pigments that can add warmth to your color.
• You can also use tinted toners to add a fun tint to your brown dye.
But the key to achieving the desired look on brow hair is to pick the right toner, which is not an easy task. For example, if you buy the one designed for a light ash blonde shade, it won’t have any effect on your darker hair color. So, make sure to read labels carefully and find out if the toner you want to buy works on brown hair. Also, try figuring out how much lightning your hair needs before you use toners.
Extra Layer of Protection
Aside from preventing your hair from looking too orange and brassy, toner can also moisturize your hair. Dyed hair is usually brittle and dry. But applying toner during the coloring process will moisturize and protect your strands.
Another thing that hair toners have going for them is that they help you protect your color from the sun. That means the sun won’t be able to lighten and bring out the wrong shades in your hair color quite as fast.
Can Toner Lighten Brown Hair?
Hair toners don’t lighten your hair. Even though your hairdresser will sometimes use a developer alongside the toner, that will not lighten your hair either. On the contrary, toners work best if you use them to darken up your color and make it warmer or ashier.
7 Best Toners for Brown Hair
Here are some of the best toners for brown hair you can find on the market.
• Christophe Robin Shade Variation Mask — Ash Brown
• Truss Deluxe Prime Warm Brown Chocolate Hair Toner
• Davines Alchemic Conditioner
• Revolution Haircare Tones For Brunettes
• Josh Wood Gloss Berry Brunette
• Moroccanoil Color Depositing Mask
• JOICO Blue Shampoo and Conditioner
How to Choose a Toner for Brown Hair: 3 Tips
Tip No 1: Ask Your Stylist
Hairdressers can inform you which toner is most suitable for your hair type and shade.
Tip No 2: Opt for the One That Fits Your Routine
These are some of the most common types of hair toners:
• Toning shampoos and conditioners
• Leave-in conditioners and deep conditioning treatments
• Glosses
• Masks
• Gels
Basically, you choose one depending on how you prefer to apply it. For instance, you use shampoos, conditioners, and some glosses while in the shower. Or you can apply deep-conditioning treatments and leave-in conditioners on your wet hair and leave them to dry.
Tip No 3: Choose According to Your Shade
As a general rule of thumb, you use a basic color wheel to select the toner for your brown hair. First, you should decide on the colors and shades you want to neutralize, like orange or yellow. Then choose the color on the opposite side of the wheel (such as blue or purple) and buy the toner in that color.
