Depending on your starting hair color the best hair toners can give you the perfect ash blonde or silvery platinum. In this article, we’ll give you the lowdown on the best hair toners on the market right now, especially for bleached and blonde hair. We’ll also help you understand which hair toners you should choose based on your needs.
In this article:
Our Picks for the Best Hair Toners
So if you want to refresh your blonde or bleached hair, these 7 hair toners are right up your alley!
1. Balmain Paris Hair Couture Ash Toner
This hair toner comes as a spray that can be easily applied to dry hair. It’s a purple tinted toner that is intended to cancel out excessive warmth in blonde, bleached, and highlighted hair, and is one of the best hair toners for achieving that ash blonde look. This formula keeps the hair soft and healthy with silk hair proteins and argan oil. You can buy it from Luisaviaroma.
2. IGK Mixed Feelings Leave-In Blonde Drops
If you are a fan of playing around and mixing things at home, then this is one of the best hair toners for you. These highly moisturizing purple toner drops help to neutralize yellow tones for that ashy or platinum blonde look, and they are meant to be mixed with creamy styling products. You simply mix in your palm, apply, and let it work throughout the day. It is available at Sephora.
3. Wella T14 Pale Ash Blonde Color Charm Toner
Wella makes some of the best hair toners across the board, with a ton of different color options for different needs. This is a treatment that needs to be mixed with a developer, for a toning that is more intense and permanent than some of the leave-in toners on this list. It is made particularly for perfecting the look of bleached hair that has a lot of yellow in it. Order it online through Amazon!
4. Brite Hair Masque for Blondes
There are so many awesome things about this vegan hair mask. It comes in a low-waste container, and it is loaded with hair-strengthening emollients and proteins. This mask can be used multiple times a week, as it contains just a touch of toner to keep blonde and bleached hair looking chic. You can get it from Ulta.
5. Jerome Russell Punky Colour Hair Color Crème Platinum Blonde Toner
This product is essentially a light, semi-permanent hair dye… which is exactly what hair toners are! It lasts a while, and gives the hair this perfect white-blonde tone that has just a hint of purple to it. It can be applied like a regular hair dye, or mixed with your conditioner for regular use. You can order it from Amazon.
6. Manic Panic Semi-Permanent Hair Color Cream (Virgin Snow)
Manic Panic is known for making intense semi-permanent hair dyes in all kinds of gorgeous colors, and this gentle hair toner is one of them in a way. It works beautifully on severely bleached hair, as it also conditions and softens it, and helps to really repair it. After a few hours it removes all traces of yellow, for silky soft and silvery hair. It is ideal if your hair is already very light, and you want it to look truly platinum. Buy yourself a jar through Amazon!
7. SunGlitz Beige Blonde Brightener/ Toner
This is one of the best hair toners for extra TLC. It comes in an oil base, so much like a hair mask, it does an amazing job of conditioning and nourishing the hair. It can be used in between coloring appointments to keep brass away and maintain the hair’s shine. It is available for sale at Overstock.
What to Look for in the Best Hair Toner for You?
There are different types of hair toners that work differently on different hair colors, and you should know them all to choose the right one for your hair.
In general, to color correct your color-treated hair with a hair toner, you should be guided by the color wheel rule and choose a shade of the toner that sits opposite the overtone on the color wheel. Thus cool-toned and blue hair toners can neutralize yellow, orange or red undertones of hair, while warmer, red-based toners will cancel out bluish and green overtones of color-treated hair.
Hair Toner Dyes
Technically all hair toners are a type of hair dye, but some come exactly like hair dyes and are to be used the same way. These include the hair toners from Punky and Manic Panic. They should be applied to the hair with a hair brush and left in for around 30 minutes to one hour, before getting rinsed off.
Wella’s toner also requires a developer, which makes it particularly strong. There exist both stronger versions that contain ammonia, and ammonia-free versions, which are gentler on the hair.
These kinds of hair toners should only be used once or twice a month, and they are best for those with very stubborn hair that doesn’t let go of its brassy or yellow tints easily. If your hair is a little more delicate or if you are less experienced when it comes to hair coloring, you are best off avoiding these and sticking to gentler hair toners that can be used more frequently.
Hair Toner Masks
If your hair needs extra attention, opt for hair toners that come in the form of a treatment mask. They are usually supposed to sit in the hair for 30 minutes-2 hours, and they tone the hair while also conditioning it and seriously nourishing it.
Such hair toners can be used more frequently than stronger, hair dye-esque ones, and tend to be very gentle on the hair. They can be used as often as twice a week.
Mixable Hair Toners
Some hair toners, like the IGK blonde drops, are meant to be mixed into something else. In the case of the IGK product, it should be mixed into a leave-in product like a styling cream, while in the case of more heavily pigmented purple toners, a little bit should be mixed into a product that will be rinsed away like a hair mask or conditioner.
These are excellent choices if you prefer to tone your hair on a regular basis with something gentler, or if you like to play chemist at home. Regular semi-permanent purple hair dye can also be used as a mixing medium, and mixed into hair conditioner.
Leave-In Hair Toners
Some hair toners are meant to stay in the hair, so they can work throughout the day to slowly shift your hair’s undertones. These tend to be the weakest toners, which is why it is perfectly okay to use them throughout the day, and to use them multiple days a week. They can be used in conjunction with stronger hair toners that should only be used on a monthly basis.
Photos via @rossmichaelssalon, Sephora, Ulta