The first time I bleached my hair, I was surprised by the bright yellow-orange fro. But no worries! Because now, it's time to neutralize those brassy undertones with a toner. (This is an essential step for blond, light to medium brown, and pastel colors.)
While my freshly bleached hair is still wet, I use Wella Color Fresh in 8/81 as a toner. I slather it all over my head and emulsify it, leave it on for 20-30 minutes, then rinse with cool water.
A bit about toners: your toner is meant to cancel out a brassy undertone. It does this by masking your yellow or orange hair with the opposite color on the color wheel. Purple is directly opposite to yellow, while blue is the opposing color to orange.
For Wella's shade numbering system — for example, "8/81" — the first number indicates the shade (8/ is a medium blond), the second number indicates the major tone (/8 represents pearl/blue), and the third number indicates the minor tone (1 represents ash). Here's a breakdown of all the shade and tonal numbers by Wella that you need to know:
Tones: /1 (Ash), /3 (Golden Yellow), /6 (Violet), /7 (Brown), /8 (Blue/Pearl), /9 (Blue/Violet)
Shades: 6/ (Light Brown), 7/ (Dark Blond), 8/ (Medium Blond), 9/ (Light Blond), 10 (Platinum)
