Pre-Toning With Color-Depositing Shampoo—Here’s How It Works

Before you can create bold fashion color melts, you first need to create a strong, neutralized foundation. For BTC Team Member Sami Schneider (@samihairmagic), when stubborn tones won’t lift from her client’s hair, she trusts a color-depositing shampoo to get the job done. That’s right. Sami’s secret pre-toning weapon is Tressa Watercolors Intense Shampoo. Why? Find out below, then keep scrolling to see how it works!

Products Used

Watercolors Intense Shampoos

Color Protecting

Tressa

Why Pre-Toning Is Necessary

Pre-toning removes underlying pigments from the hair to create a more consistent canvas. Sami pre-tones often so clients are still left with a wearable tone once the color fades.

Why Watercolors Intense Shampoo?

It results in less damage on the hair, making it ideal to use on clients with porous and highly-processed hair.

Since lighteners can be harsh and glazes typically have a higher pH level, Sami likes to pre-tone with Watercolors Intense Shampoo because it leaves the hair feeling amazing instead of drying it out.

What Sami Does

For blondes and pastels, Sami pre-tones with Watercolors Intense Shampoo Silver because, “It works perfectly every time, canceling out yellow like a champ!” Check out a comparison in the below Instagram post!

A post shared by Colorado Springs Hairstylist✂️ (@samihairmagic) on May 27, 2018 at 6:21pm PDT

For clients who want a certain color, Sami will pre-tone with the matching Watercolors Intense Shampoo on Levels 7 and up to establish the base.

For stubborn pigments, Sami pre-tones with the opposing Watercolors Intense Shampoo to help neutralize the hair.

Need proof? Here’s how it works:

1. Before: Stubborn green tones wouldn’t lift from her client’s ends, despite doing a soap cap.

2. Sami then pre-toned the ends with Watercolors Intense Shampoo Pink and let it sit for 3 minutes. “As you can see, the shampoo toned out the green and left me with pink and lavender, which was exactly what I wanted,” says Sami.