Must have missed the original thread about this. I started using blue shampoo last fall. Finally got sick of coloring my hair and decided to let my gray grow out but turns out it's silver/platinum. The blue shampoo not only keeps it sparkling it also gets the gold tones out of the remainder of my brown and keeps it more ashy - a much better transition. It's like a reverse ombre and never fails to get compliments - wish I'd done it years ago!

Yes, the blue shampoo is for bleached hair to keep it from dulling Yrs back I went through a platinum phase

Yrs back I remember women using bluing on gray/white hair that gave it a blue cast - but the shampoo doesn't

I use it.. to keep my highlights ashy. I don't use it every day or even every week. I did use it this morning :) (Aveda Blue Malva)

My mom uses another brand but same concept on her gray. She's a gorgeous silver/platinum but it can get dull. The purple shampoo (it's really purple vs blue) gives it the boost it needs.

Are you guys talking about a particular brand? I have gray hair and for many years I've been using Joico Color Endure Violet. It's definitely a purple-violet, not blue.

I just googled Joico blue and/or purple and it looks to me like they might have a new line. You need to read the descriptions of both blue and purple. It sounds like the blue is for dark brown hair and the purple is for platinum and gray. If you're using a different brand, then I don't know what's up.

Although my hair was a dark reddish brown in my youth, it's finally silvered up nicely. Here and there I see a bit of yellow and the purple-violet really squelches it. If I don't use any other shampoo, I can pick up a purple tone in certain light, not *that* obvious, but I can see it a bit. So I just back off and use something like Neutrogena clarifying shampoo for a wash or two.

Everybody loves my hair color (I've made peace with it), so I guess it's working.

I'm reading this as I sit at the hair salon waiting for my color to finish. Blue shampoo - all I could think of is the blue haired little old ladies from my childhood. Though I recall seeing the Blue Malva at the Aveda salon. So I had a chat about it with the stylist and we agreed the ladies from my childhood used a rinse that gave them blue hair. It might have been called Fanciful or something like that. Maybe blue shampoo is a modern day version of that other stuff.

Wow, I remember Fanciful color, it was temporary used every shampoo. It came in many colors and was very popular with the gray hairs. My grandmother's sisters owned hair salon when I was a child, I was a frequent visitor. Most of their elderly customers used this color on their permanent waved hair.

Was fanciful in a pink cylindrical bottle? I think I remember buying it to change the colour of my hair as a teen and being very disappointed it didn't work.

I just started using Joico and I like it. I have greying hair that I always highlighted. Now that it is more grey, the highlights look too warm and the blue just tones the highlights down and makes them blend better with the grey.

Also, I'd like to know how it is that a person goes grey in less than 6 months. I figured this would be a long process, but Bam! suddenly I'm grey. Sigh.

Daisy, you're using the blue Joico? I might have to try some. I had tried numerous other brands to tone my gray until someone at a hair products store steered me towards Joico purple. Wow! I occasionally have to pop my white shower curtain in the wash when I splatter shampoo on it. It's dark and it's tenacious. Amazon has some good prices for Joico.

So, I guess it's not just my hair that's aging ... I just checked the bottle and it is not Joico, at all. It is John Frieda, Sheer Blonde Colour Renew. It is described on the bottle as being a "tone correcting shampoo". The colour is definitely more purple than blue.

Joico is a good brand. I bought Clairol Shimmer Lights. Both have really good reviews, but I think Clairol is cheaper. I watched a few youtube videos first that convinced me, along with Jen. We were talking about it in the Oakley topic about DH. lol.

I didn't have time to do it today, I hope I can do it in the morning.

I miss seeing the ladies with their purple hair. :)

Daisy, I think John Frieda is a good brand. I'm using his gloss on my hair and I really like it. I get the same silky feel like I just came from the salon.

I'm going to scale way back on the Shimmer Lights at this point. I'll use it once or maybe twice a week, just to keep the brass at bay, but I do think I was so excited about it initially that I overdid it and ended up with a weird purplish-gray cast to some of my strands. I don't want that happening again. As I said in another thread, you really have to experiment to see what works best for your own hair. I've read about some women who use it daily. I'll not be doing that. ;-)

I've been meaning to check in, but I pulled a muscle or two in my back and haven't been able to use the shampoo since I want to do it in the sink.

That's a good idea about scaling back. How long does the toner last, anyway?

Sorry you've hurt your back. Back pain is just the worst! Hope it's better soon.

My experience is that it tones until I shampoo the next time, and then there might be a faint trace of it (I believe it does tend to build up if used repeatedly), but it's still only temporary.

Mixed results. My son says it's more blonde, except I say it's more ash. A light ash. I can barely see the original highlights but it could be the lighting. I'll take the mirror outside in the sun tomorrow.

I'm definitely not upset but I think I was expecting more. I followed directions, washed once, then washed again and left it on for about 4 minutes. I used the purple conditioner too, but left it on for only a minute, and I think it says to leave it on 3 minutes.

If I want it lighter should I do it again tomorrow, or wait another day or so?

Oakley, I don't think anything that doesn't contain peroxide can lighten your hair.

Linelle is correct. Blue shampoo is not going to lighten your hair. It only will tone down the yellow or gold in the highlights. Depending on the lightness of the already bleached (highlights) hair, it can make it more ash (if the bleached hair isn't too light) or it can make it less yellow and a bit more white or silvery - on hair that is quite light. If your hair is really bleached out, it can turn it bluish. My guess is your highlights aren't terribly light (bleached/porous) so by leaving it on so long, it made it more ash and might even look bluish in the bright lights.

It will probably fade out and the highlights will look lighter again, if you stop using it for a while, a few days, a week, forever. Use it again if it starts to look yellowish or brassy.

You really should visit your hairdresser to get the highlights redone if you want it lighter.

Linelle and Oly are correct. Shimmer Lights has no lightening power whatsoever, but it can make your hair seem more "sparkly" as it tones down the yellow/brassy notes and picks up more of the silver/ash tones. It's possible to take on "ash overload" by using it too often, though.

Now I'm really confused! Again, I'm not at all unhappy with the color, it's not that noticeable anyway, but you said it "brightens" your lighter streaks, so I assumed it would make those streaks lighter. I need to look up the two words up in the dictionary. lol.

Yeah, when I said brighten I really meant that by reducing the yellow/brass (which tends to be sort of a dull, dead look), it "lifts" the appearance of the strands by giving them more of a silvery sheen.

Looking at my hair this morning I don't see the ash I thought I saw. I wonder if I should use it again just for the heck of it?

Whatever you decide...it's not permanent and can be washed out with a few sessions with a different non-blue shampoo. But if it's not "brighter" now, using it again so soon probably will only darken it.