How Does Hair Toner Work?

Toner is what we call pigments that are used to correct color, otherwise know as toning the hair. The pigment is no different from other pigments. It's simply called toner because it is used in the toning process.

Toning works using color theory. Let me explain color theory in a way yo might be familiar with: Makeup. When you have purple bags under your eyes, what do you use to cover them? A yellow concealer. The yellow cancels out the purple and balances the color. No more bags. This is because purple is opposite yellow on the color wheel. The same works for red. Got red blotches on your face and want to hide them? Use a green concealer. Green is opposite red, and will cancel it out, leaving you with color balanced skin.

Let's say you bleached your hair as far as you can bleach it, but it's still orange. This is very common with darker hair. The melanin is all gone, but the color of the hair shaft is still a brassy orange. To cancel it, you apply a blue violet pigment and deposit just enough of it to cancel out the orange. Done correctly, the hair will be white. Done incorrectly, the hair will be grey or purple. This is called over-toning.