Our shower has pretty hard water, combined with blonde hair, means that after a couple of washes my hair becomes pretty brassy. As my hair was getting more and more minerals deposited with each wash, the brassier/more yellow it would get. Which is fine if that’s what you’re striving for. However, as I have extremely pinky red undertones in my skin, the only way blonde tends to work on me is if it’s cool (usually ashy or platinum). Since I’m trying to stick to mostly sulfate and paraben free shampoos and conditioners, I lean more towards purple treatments.
For the past few years, I had been an ardent user of Lee Stafford‘s Hot Shots 4 Blondes. I loved how the ginger in the formula would warm your scalp when you let it sit and absorb. I loved how it brought my hair back to perfectly ash from that brassy ugly yellow color it would become. When I had long hair the amount in the ampoule was perfect, and when I cut my hair super short I was able to get two uses out of each one. The only thing I didn’t like about it? That the packaging had really annoying capitalization issues. I threw out the box as soon as possible because I was afraid looking at that type face would give me a brain aneurysm…
Unfortunately, on my last trip to repurchase these. They were just gone. They weren’t at Ulta, or at Ulta online, nor any other online place I frequent that ships to the US. (It still appears to be available at Boots in the UK. So for those across the pond with blonde hair, I definitely recommend giving these a shot.) This launched my attempt to find a replacement. Quest for the new HG Purple Treatment was go.
First up on the chopping block was the Rita Hazan Ultimate Shine Breaking Brass. It smells a little more ammonia-y since it is also a gloss treatment. The plus is that it’s sulfate free! It pumps out as a foam, and it’s really easy to work into your hair. However, it does not seem as potent as the Hot Shots were. I think this is much more of a maintenance product than a treatment product. If you wash your hair every other day or more, this would be perfect. However, since my hair just doesn’t tend to get that greasy, and is pretty dry anyways, I tend to only wash my hair once or twice a week. So the Rita Hazan makes my hair really shiny, but doesn’t do much for the brassy. So the hunt continues. Or I will just stock up on the Hot Shots 4 Blondes the next time I visit the UK.
Are there any purple treatments that you like? If interested in giving it a go, you can find the Rita Hazan Ultimate Shine Breaking Brass here.
♡Em
