The Florida-specific problem
Fixing brassy blonde in Fort Lauderdale
Brassiness is not your colorist failing. It is warmth underneath showing through as the toner wears off - and in South Florida sun, salt water and chlorine strip toner faster than almost anywhere. A gloss puts the tone back in about thirty minutes.
Most people wait too long and book a full color instead, which costs four times as much and lifts hair that did not need lifting. If your blonde has gone warm but the lift is still where you want it, you need toning, not highlights.
Getting it right
What to do between appointments
Purple shampoo, twice a week at most
Daily purple shampoo is the most common mistake we see. It over-deposits, dulls the blonde and can push it lilac. Twice a week is plenty.
Sulfate-free, always
Sulfates strip toner. If your blonde goes warm within two weeks of a gloss, your shampoo is usually the reason.
Rinse after the ocean and the pool
Salt and chlorine both sit in the hair and keep working. A plain water rinse straight after does more than any product.
Book the gloss before you need it
Six to eight weeks, on schedule. Waiting until it looks bad means you are booking a correction rather than a top-up.
Common questions
Questions we get asked
A gloss every six to eight weeks, sulfate-free shampoo, purple shampoo once or twice a week, and rinsing after the pool or ocean. Humidity itself does not cause brass - sun, salt and chlorine stripping the toner does.
Six to eight weeks typically, less if you swim regularly or wash daily with a sulfate shampoo.
In practice they overlap. Both deposit tone without lifting. A gloss also adds shine and a little conditioning, which is why we usually reach for it.
Yes. Gloss deposits rather than lifts, so it is safe over extension hair - though extension hair takes tone differently from your own and we account for that.
Next step
Book a gloss
About thirty minutes, versus a full color you did not need.