7 best products for blonde hair 2021: avoid brassiness with help from Josh Wood, Loreal, and Kérastase
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Everyone yearns for that glossy, just-left-the-salon look, but when you’re blonde - be it natural, or bottled - it’s impossible to obtain it just by using your average shampoo and conditioner.
Those with golden tresses need to be especially careful when it comes to hair care. It takes dutiful attention to ensure you avoid brittle, dry hair, brassiness, or yellowing, especially if you colour your hair.
A good routine - as tailored as your skincare regime - is essential if you want your highlights or balayage or natural colour to stay as fresh-looking as possible in between salon appointments.
The most common complaints for blonde hair maintenance are - as above - brassiness, dryness, and dullness.
Thankfully hair technology has evolved to combat these issues brilliantly. The right ingredients, such as hyaluronic acid and glycerin, can impart much needed moisture, while colour correction can return iciness to waning platinum, or rid that yellowing tinge from honey blonde gone bad.
Shop judiciously, and you’ll avoid the dread hair breakage that can come from being golden haired.
Here’s our pick of the best products to keep blonde hair fresh in 2021:
Made especially for lightened, highlighted or grey hair, this luxurious shampoo and conditioner combo aims to gently hydrate parched strands while illuminating blonde tones.
The shampoo’s clever formula, which is enriched with hyaluronic acid, Edelweiss flower and high concentrations of antioxidants, purifies hair from pollution and removes dulling agents.
Used with the nourishing conditioner, which has a light lavender hue to refresh colour, hair becomes soft and lightweight.
Although on the pricey side for both products, you only need a small amount of each and the results are well worth the money.
Our reviewer found their hair felt clean, but still hydrated, while brassy tones were banished leaving a salon-fresh colour.
Those with blonde hair know all too well the struggle of keeping away unsightly yellow undertones.
If you seek a cooler, brighter colour in-between appointments, look no further than this ultra-pigmented purple mask.
In only five minutes, the product works to correct and neutralise unwanted brassy tones while wheat protein, amino acids and glycerin combine to moisturise locks.
We found the dark purple hue of the product intimidating, but the formula was easy and non-messy to apply and it didn’t stain our skin.
Used once a week, we saw a notable improvement in lightness and hair felt refreshed.
This innovative product is unique to the hair care market and a game-changer as you wait for your next salon visit.
It’s a semi-permanent hair treatment that refreshes blonde colour and stops fade while nourishing and conditioning tresses.
The mask’s light purple hue ensures brassy tones are neutralised, giving that just-highlighted look.
We found this product to be incredibly effective at refreshing hair colour and adding shine.
After just one use, yellow tones appeared to disappear and were replaced with that sought-after icy-blonde colour.
Those with long hair may need to use a lot of product for full coverage, but the results last for a few washes.
The hard water from your shower could be dulling and yellowing your blonde colour without you even realising.
This pre-shampoo treatment aims to filter out those harsh minerals and metals - like copper, iron, magnesium and iron - found in water that can build up in hair over time.
Step up: the award-winning Dream Filter, which works to lift unwanted substances away from your locks in three minutes to reveal fresh, brightened blonde tones.
Our reviewer found this product to be a great alternative to purple shampoo, if you find those bright violet hues intimidating.
Hair was noticeably lighter and less brassy after a single use, while it seemed to keep locks grease-free for longer between washes - an added bonus.
It’s expensive, but a little goes a long way.
Those with frizzy, uncontrollable hair know all too well the daily struggle to try and tame it, especially in humid conditions.
This problem can become especially tedious if you colour your hair, as certain chemicals leave it porous and prone to humidity, which causes the dreaded puffiness.
Acting like a protective cover, this ultra-light spray repels moisture and seals individual strands to leave tresses smooth all day long.
We were seriously impressed by this product and found it did exactly what it promises, although it needs to be sprayed liberally to fully saturate the hair.
Our tester applied it as the last step in her haircare routine before blow-drying since the product is heat-activated, and her usually coarse locks became smooth, soft and manageable with less frizz.
While we all understand the importance of using a regular hair mask, finding the time to apply it and wait for it to work its magic can be difficult.
That’s where Living Proof’s overnight treatment comes in.
Applied at night to dry or damp hair, this mask quickly sinks in and gets down to work while you sleep using the power of time-release conditioners.
After our reviewer washed her hair the next morning (the product does set quite hard), her blonde colour appeared more vibrant and shiny, while frizz and dryness was definitely reduced.
What’s more, even after shampooing a few times the results seemed to last. This glorious product works equally well on brunettes, redheads, the black and silver haired, too. A winner.
This purple shampoo is one of the cheapest we’ve come across, but you get a fair amount of bang for your buck.
Used in place of your normal shampoo once or twice a week, the dark purple hue will help to neutralise yellow and brassy tones in blonde coloured or highlighted hair instantly.
This was one of the stronger toning shampoos our reviewer has used, but that only meant the results - a much brighter and fresher icy tone - were apparent after only two uses, and the product wasn’t as drying as some other purple shampoos.
But be warned: using this more than necessary will cause build up and will turn cool tones to ash.