Industry Pros Share their Top Toning Tips

Hair Toning Tips

Proper toning practices are a must to ensure pristine color results. Enter our handpicked advisory board of pros: they're sharing their tips that'll help you achieve stunning, consistent color every time. 

Always pre-tone before applying silver/gray formulas. Pre-toning is when you use either a violet shampoo or an anti-yellow toner before applying silver formulas. This ensures your canvas is void of all yellow tones and will get you the cleanest results. In the color wheel, violet cancels yellow. Most silver/gray colors are blue- or green-based, so any yellow left in the hair will alter your silver for an undesirable result. - framesi Italian style team member Jessica Roth 

Try mixing a darker tone and adding a Clear to your toning formula. Why? Because free radicals often cloud the cortex of the hair, which prevents maximum color shine. Integrating a Clear into your formula helps to enhance shine and color reflection that free radicals deplete. - Surface educator Jammie Thompson 

Since wet hair appears darker, I always recommend drying a section until it’s at least 70 percent dry before choosing your toning formula. Then, assess the level of lift and underlying pigment exposure in the truest, most natural lighting you have available so you can formulate as needed. - Rusk artist Hana Norris 

Hair is a natural fiber that reacts to color very differently from the roots to the mids and down to the ends. The roots will grab color vibrantly, the mids less so and the ends are the most porous, grabbing color cooler and darker. Tossing one toner formula all over the hair will often lead to hot roots and drab ends. Adjust your toner to lighten and warm as you progress down the hair for even, balanced results. Zotos artistic director Mike Petrizzi 

As hairstylists we love to break the rules, but there’s a crucial toning rule that you need to understand in order to get the best results possible. Color doesn’t lift color. If you lift to a level 7 and want a level 9, you cannot use a toner to lift those level 7 pieces two levels. I generally choose a demipermanent, ammonia-free color to tone with, and this color is intended for deposit-only. You can only tone for the level you’ve lifted to, or go darker. Trying to lift and tone at the same time will result in unwanted warmth. - Schwarzkopf Professional tbh-true beautiful honest team member Carly Zanoni 

 

[Image: iStockphotos]

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