The term “silver shampoo” initially sounds like a kind of temporary tint. In principle, you can use it exactly like one, but its actual purpose lies elsewhere: After bleaching dark hair, it often happens that the new hair color has not yet reached the desired shade of blonde, but a slightly yellowish color remains. This is exactly what the silver shampoo eliminates when used and thus ensures the optimal color result without having to bleach the hair a second time.
THE POWER OF SILVER SHAMPOO - HOW DOES IT WORK?
The shampoo takes advantage of its slightly violet coloring during the exposure time. In terms of color theory, complementary colors – i.e. colors that are exactly opposite each other on the color wheel – balance each other out. In concrete terms, this means: You can combat a yellow cast in your hair with violet-colored shampoos or dyes. To get an overly intense red tone, use: GREEN!
The challenge with tints is not to put too much of the artificial pigments into the hair; Otherwise the opposite extreme happens: the yellow or red cast is gone, but you now have a silvery to violet or green touch - depending on what you used. The advantage of silver shampoo is that although it looks very colorful, the pigments themselves are rather weak, so an “overdose” is avoided.
ARTIFICIAL COLOR PIGMENTS IN SHAMPOO - HOW THEY WORK
The reason why the silver shampoo works well and intensively is that your hair is stressed by bleaching it. The outermost layer of your hair is made up of a cuticle that looks like a pinecone when viewed under a microscope. If the individual scales are close together, the hair is healthy; the surface feels smooth and the light reflects better, giving it a nice shine. However, if the scales stick outwards, the hair is damaged. Because of the bumps it doesn't shine and it feels rough. This is exactly what happens after the bleaching process.
When you massage in the silver shampoo, you not only transport the pigments “on” but “into” your hair, under the small scales that protrude outwards. A conditioner that evens out the hair imperfections (by filling the gaps created by the open scales) then seals the pigments in the hair, reducing or eliminating the yellow cast. The surface then also appears smoother again; On the one hand, the conditioner ensures that the silver shampoo has a long-lasting effect and, on the other hand, it provides more shine.
SILVER SHAMPOO APPLICATION
The use of effect shampoo is exactly the same as you are used to with nourishing, moisturizing and anti-dandruff shampoos: you wet your hair and first massage the shampoo well into your hair. Then leave it on for a few minutes; Depending on the intensity of your yellow tint, just two minutes may be enough. If there is a strong yellow nuance, you should leave it on for a little longer. Then rinse the shampoo out thoroughly.
It is recommended to use silver shampoo about two to three times a week, but only on the second hair wash and not immediately after visiting the hairdresser. Wait a week or two first - when the pigment gradually evaporates, you can use the silver shampoo for the first time. For the first wash of your hair, you should still use conventional shampoo that is suitable for daily use, as this helps with the cleansing process. Only in the second pass does the shampoo take care of either the care or the effect. The shampoos can of course also be combined: If your hair color becomes a little too cool after the second use of silver shampoo, then next time use regular shampoo without artificial pigments.
PRINCIPALLY, THE SILVER SHAMPOO IS VERY UNPROBLEMATIC TO USE.
However, if you know that you are allergic to certain ingredients in cosmetic, hair and skin care products, you should pay attention to whether they contain these substances when purchasing them. Depending on the manufacturer, the recipes differ, which means that certain brands of silver shampoo are better tolerated than others. But don't worry: Even if you have an allergic reaction to a shampoo, not all of your hair will fall out immediately - in most cases, the skin only reacts to shampoo with redness and a slight itching. Cooling helps.
Some people have already used silver shampoo on naturally blonde hair. In such cases, it simply acts as a type of tint that gives your hair a silvery glow. But: In order for silver shampoo to work on natural hair, it has to be naturally VERY light, since the shampoo is just a shampoo; and no intensive tint. The pigments are therefore correspondingly weak. If your hair is also perfectly healthy - i.e. has a completely closed cuticle - the pigments only lie around the hair and disappear again with environmental influences (for example if your long hair rubs against the backrest when you sit). It can happen that the great shimmer disappears after just one or two days.
SILVER SHAMPOO OR SILVER CONDITIONER - WHICH IS BETTER?
If you have stronger yellow tones, you should use both products in combination. The conditioner can then leave on overnight; However, we strongly recommend moisturizing the next morning (without shampoo - simply rinse out the silver care with cool water.
Why cool water? Because warm water stimulates the cell function of the skin. The skin cells expand, and that's exactly how your hair reacts. If you want the cuticle to remain closed and your hair to feel smooth, you must always rinse out any conditioner with cool water. The warm water (before shampooing) opens the scales and ensures that the pigments from the shampoo and care products can penetrate the hair better. The care should ultimately keep it closed so that the pigments can no longer escape so quickly.
CHALLENGES OF USING SILVER SHAMPOO
When using silver shampoo, always remember that a chemical reaction is taking place in your hair. This chemical reaction occurs to a greater or lesser extent depending on the initial hair color. If your hair has several yellow hues of varying intensity after bleaching, then the shampoo will also produce an uneven result. In order to achieve a uniform color result, at least the initial hair color - after bleaching and before shampooing - must already be uniform. Otherwise, your hair will remain yellow in some places, silvery to lilac in others, and occasionally strands will emerge that are the right color.
You should also definitely know what type of silver shampoo you are using. Pay attention to the color of the substance: If the shampoo is dark blue-violet, it will give off a particularly intense yellow-orange color cast. However, if it is only light purple, then your hair should already be very light; Light purple shampoo is too weak for an orange color cast, but in the worst case scenario, the wrong silver shampoo can make your hair look mossy green! A chemical reaction still occurs in the hair when it is used, regardless of whether the shampoo is strong enough to remove the yellow cast.
Silver shampoos can be real helpers, but you shouldn't use them “just like that” and without background knowledge. As already mentioned, the original hair color is crucial when using it. If it is uniform and even, the shampoo will also give you an even result. The problem that arises from a green color caused by the wrong silver shampoo is:
At some point, your hair will be so chemically stressed that no more color pigments will stick to or in the hair. Any corrective coloring or tinting is therefore completely useless, as your hair color will look exactly the same after the correction as it did before: green.
