Can You Mix Purple Shampoo With Regular Shampoo?

Like many people with blonde hair, you want to use purple shampoo to adjust the tone of your hair.

But you are afraid that toning your blonde hair at home with purple shampoo may yield unwanted results, such as stained strands or discoloration. So you need a way to dilute your purple shampoo with regular shampoo and reduce its coloration effect.

So can you mix purple shampoo with regular shampoo?

The good news for you is you can do so by simply mixing purple shampoo with regular shampoo.

By mixing the two, you can lessen the effect of violet pigments and make them more suitable for regular use.

Can You Mix Purple Shampoo With Regular Shampoo?

Yes, you can.

As you know, shampoo is a hair cleansing product. It typically has a dense liquid form and contains detergent or soap.

Purple shampoo is just a toning shampoo that contains violet pigments. It helps you wash your hair and applies a certain degree of violet color to your blonde hair.

Both of their main functions are to clean your hair. So it is fine to mix them together.

The regular shampoo will increase the detergent and water content of your mixture, resulting in fewer violet pigments per dose.

Also, purple shampoo often doesn’t have as much detergent as regular shampoo. So by adding some regular shampoo, you will have more cleansing power.

Most shampoos have relatively similar formulas, so mixing them will not cause an intense detrimental impact on your hair. If your shampoos are from the same brand, there should be no risk.

However, mixing different shampoos may nullify their effects.

For example, you should not mix a shampoo for curly hair with a shampoo for straight hair.

It is because shampoos for curly hair often don’t have sulfate. Sulfate will make your hair dry faster, which is undesirable if you have curly blonde hair.

You probably have already taken care of this problem when choosing your purple shampoo anyway. But as a safety measure, check the top ingredients of the two products and do some research before mixing.

Your time on the internet is the price of hair care at home. Also, there is no need to mix the whole two bottles. Just mix them bit by bit every time you wash your hair.

Once you get the dosage down, you can start mixing some more beforehand to save time.

You plan to use your half-used regular shampoo bottle as a mixing vessel, so you may want to leave some of the regular shampoos behind. It is because you probably don’t need to use this mixture every day.

Keep reading to see what this mixture can bring to the table. 

What Happens If You Mix Purple Shampoo With Regular Shampoo?

You can use purple shampoos to adjust your hair color or achieve a somewhat violet shade temporarily. Its effect on coloration depends on the current color of your hair.

Also, the higher amount of pigment that your purple shampoo has, the more intense effect it tends to leave. It is quite tricky to handle a strong purple shampoo.

If it is too little, you won’t see any effect. Too much, you may end up with stained strands. On top of that, your hair’s porosity also plays a role in this.

Usually, it will require some trials and errors to nail the suitable quantity of purple shampoo for your hair. Using purple shampoo too frequently also may dull your hair and take the life out of it.

Diluting it with regular shampoo is one of the most convenient ways to cut down the coloration effect. You will have more room to find the correct amount of shampoo for each toning session. 

More soap and more water mean fewer violet pigments for your hair to contact and absorb.

Does Purple Shampoo Actually Affect The Color Of Your Hair?

Effects Of Using Purple Shampoo

Purple shampoo does have actual effects on your hair. It can help you get rid of the brassiness and brighten your hair color if you have blonde hair. The violet particles in it will neutralize the yellow color in your hair.

This shampoo can also help people with purple hair maintain their shade.

The Color Theory

To understand how purple toning works, let’s talk a bit about color theory!

According to this theory, colors that sit opposite on the color wheel will cancel each other out when mixed.

As you can see on the wheel chart above, the opposite of yellow is purple. That means purple and yellow will cancel each other out if you mix them together.

The more purple shampoo you use, the more violet particles will get into your hair. Violet pigments will eliminate the yellow on your hair to create a lighter shade of blonde.

When you go overboard with it, the violet will take over and give your hair an undesirable dark hue. But when used on different hair colors like dark green, it will have next to zero effect.

Some Techniques For Blonde Hair

Different types of blonde hair require different techniques when using purple shampoo.

• Natural Blonde Hair 

For a natural blonde shade, you may want to shampoo with warm water to open up the hair cuticle and rinse thoroughly with cold water to close up the cuticle. In that way, you can lock in the desired color.

• Uneven Blonde Hair 

If your hair has uneven shades of yellow in different areas, you should have different dosages of purple shampoo for each area.

The roots often are more yellow, so you can apply the shampoo directly with a thin nozzle. After that, use a brush to spread out the liquid evenly.

For the tips that usually are less yellow, it is quite good to use purple shampoo mixed with regular shampoo. The diluted mixture won’t overwhelm your light tips.

• Porous Blonde Hair 

Another hair type that requires caution when using purple shampoo is porous hair. It is because damaged hair with high porosity takes in colors way faster than usual.

For your porous hair, you should not leave your purple shampoo in for more than five minutes.

Excessive absorption can lead to purple patches around your head. But don’t need to panic; just wash your hair again with clarifying or chelating shampoo.

Things To Note When Using Purple Shampoo

If you want to keep it simple, you can use purple shampoo like any regular shampoo. However, there are few things to keep in mind if you want to make the best of its color-correcting abilities.

You wonder how often to use purple shampoo with appropriate frequency, how long to leave the shampoo on your hair and whether to use conditioner afterwards.

How and when to apply the above methods varies depending on the shade, dryness, oiliness and texture of your hair.

Below is some advice on how to use purple shampoo as well as a mixture of purple shampoo and regular shampoo. 

How Often To Use Purple Shampoo

It is not recommended to replace normal shampoo with purple shampoo completely. Because the cleaning properties are not as good as regular shampoo, you should only use purple shampoo once or twice a week and use regular shampoo the rest of the days.

Overuse of purple shampoo may lead to a distasteful shade of darker blonde. It is because every time you wash your hair with purple shampoo, it will eliminate some of the yellow in your hair.

If your hair turns brassy very easily due to high porosity, more frequent use of a toner may be suitable. In that case, a mixture of purple shampoo and regular shampoo will become quite handy.

Adding a regular shampoo to your hair care routine is beneficial as it will enhance the washing power of the purple shampoo as well as inhibit excessive color correction.  

Time To Leave On Hair

Normally, you want to let your purple shampoo sit for 5 minutes.

If you rinse your hair immediately, as you would with regular shampoo, it will not have time to absorb the violet pigments in the shampoo.

For intense yellow tones or yellow-orange tones, the waiting period may have to extend to 30 minutes. Anything lighter than that should not have purple shampoo stay on for too long.

Be careful when leaving purple shampoo on your light-shaded hair, like silver hair or platinum blonde, for more than 15 minutes because it tends to leave some lilac staining.

Use A Conditioner After Purple Shampoo

Shampoo and conditioner are a great pair. It is generally beneficial to use a conditioner as a treatment after washing your hair. A conditioner is an agent that helps moisturize your hair with silicones, oils, and emollients.

For this case, a conditioner is even more needed. Purple shampoo is harsher with your hair and tends to leave it dry. A conditioner will help you to replenish moisture and nourish your hair.

A purple conditioner may have some positive effects on your hair when coupled with purple shampoo, such as accelerating the neutralizing and brightening process. 

Conclusion

That was our answer to the question of can you mix purple shampoo with regular shampoo.

You can mix them to subdue the effect of the purple shampoo since they require fewer violet pigments in some cases, such as porous hair or light blonde hair tips.

Usually, it is safe to use two shampoos together. But you should check out their ingredients to avoid situations where one shampoo nullifies the conditioning effect of the other.