I purchased the One ‘n Only Shiny Silver Ultra Conditioner from Sally Beauty after having some highlights added to my hair that were a little brassier than I’d wanted. My hair tends to get brassy quickly, so I like to have something on hand to tone it back down. It was about $9.00.
It’s designed for white, silver, gray, bleached, frosted, and blonde-tinted hair, because the purple counteracts the unflattering yellow and orange tones that can show up in those hair colors. The idea is that the purple will neutralize those shades.
I think it works to a degree for toning down the peachiness in my hair, but it doesn’t work well as a conditioner. I wonder if I would’ve done better by adding a tiny bit of Manic Panic in a purple shade to my own highly moisturizing conditioner.
So far, I’ve used the conditioner as directed, leaving it in for around two or three minutes before rinsing it out, and tried to address the dry hair with leave-in products. I’ve also tried mixing it 50/50 with another conditioner I have and like, but the results weren’t very good there.
The purple was diluted and less effective, and the concoction was less moisturizing than the conditioner I mixed this product with. The next step is to add some Moroccan oil to the purple conditioner and see if that helps.
I’m on the fence about whether I recommend this product or not. Yes, it tones the brassiness down a bit, but my hair doesn’t feel any better after using it than it would have if I’d skipped conditioner completely.
There isn’t a wide selection of purple shampoos and conditioners to choose from, so aside from making your own, this may be one of the better options. It just needs tweaking in order to moisturize while getting to work on those yellow and orange tones.
Photo credit: Sally Beauty
