5 Surefire Ways to Keep the Brassiness Out of Blond Hair—Straight from Beyoncé and J.Lo’s Colorist

The Best Defense Is a Good Offense

Protecting your color from the harsh elements is step one for keeping your hair from developing a brassy hue in the first place. “Sun, the environment, pollution and color fading can cause hair to go brassy and oxidize,” says Hazan. “UV rays do the same to your hair as they do to your skin.” Living Proof Restore Perfecting Spray ($28) protects color and chemically treated hair from UV and heat up to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. 

The Shower Culprit 

Despite your best efforts to keep your color fresh, just the simple act of taking a shower can change the look and tone of your color. Blond hair is very porous and more easily absorbs the buildup of copper, chlorine and minerals like calcium and magnesium in hard water that can discolor your blond and dull your shine. “Well water can also turn hair brassy and orange,” says Hazan. “I recommend getting filters if you have this problem.” The T3 Source In-Line Shower Filter ($70) removes 95 percent of chlorine, calcium, zinc, cooper and other harmless elements that are easily absorbed by color-treated hair. 

The Daily Fix

To combat the external elements that wreak havoc on your color, use a daily treatment to treat fading and brassiness. “The best way to prevent brassiness is to use a gloss like my Rita Hazan Ultimate Shine Gloss in Breaking Brass ($26) every time you wash your hair,” advises Hazan. “I created this gloss to prevent hair color from getting brassy. It also happens over time so you have to do something that counteracts any environmental problems that occur. Use this every time you wash your hair to prevent brassiness from happening.”

Moisturizing Is Key

“When your hair gets dehydrated, it loses essential vitamins and nutrients, then you lose the pigment,” says Hazan. A repairing shine spray like KEVIN.MURPHY SHIMMER.ME.BLONDE ($28), with its six Australian fruit extracts, Babassu oil, bamboo extract and soy bean oil, can counteract yellow and gold tones while softening and moisturizing dry and damaged hair.

The Color Correction

If all else fails, Hazan recommends going back to your colorist to make slight adjustments to your tone and coloring. If you’re prone to discoloration and purple shampoos and treatments aren’t working for you, going one shade up or down can be the ultimate fix. “If your hair gets brassy, go one shade darker because it means your hair is not capable of being that light,” adds Hazan, “Or talk to your colorist about going even lighter to break through the brassiness.”