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31.10.2025
Let's Decode the Perfect Colour Toners for Blonde Hair
By: Zara Kenyon
Decoding the right colour toners for blonde hair isn't always an easy task – and that's why clients need pros like you to make their dream shade possible. Each salon brand has its own approach to blonde toning, and at Wella, our mission is to make your job simpler. That's why all Wella Professionals colour products come in a wide array of shades, carefully numbered to help you hit the right depth and tone.
So, discover the permanent and demi-permanent formulas designed to give you total creative control – from icy platinum to warm honey, and every blonde hue in between...
What Does a Toner Do for Blonde Hair?
Personalizes Your Client's Colour
First and foremost, a blonde hair toner is used to perfect your client's shade. Whether they want a veil of caramel hues or a cool ash pigment, toning is the key to unlocking dream colour.
Blends Highlights, Balayage and Ombre
Whether your client wants ombre hair or a balayage, a blonde hair toner helps to blend the root area with the lightened sections, creating a seamless, natural finish.
Corrects Orange or Yellow Tones
The toner colour corrects hair by following the rules of the colour wheel, where violet counteracts yellow hues, blue neutralizes orange tones, and ash cools down unwanted hints of red.
Injects Dull Hair with a Beautiful Shine
A colour toner for blonde hair also gives lengths and ends a beautiful boost of shine, from the vibrancy of Color Touch to the lit-from-within glow of Illumina Color.
Understanding Wella's Numbering System: How to Choose Blonde Toning Shades
All Wella Professionals colour products follow the same numbering system, making it easy to shade-match your clients across Koleston Perfect, Color Touch, Illumina Color and Shinefinity. Here's how the colour numbers are structured:
- Every colour number is divided by a forward stroke.
- The digits before the stroke denote the depth.
- The digits after the stroke represent the tonal direction.
- If there's just one number after the stroke, that is the major tone.
- If there are two numbers after the stroke, the first is the major tone and the second is the minor tone.
When you're toning blondes, you want shades at a depth level of 7, 8, 9 or 10, with 7 being the darkest blonde and 10 being the very lightest.
Then, you can custom-pick the major and minor tones that best enhance your client’s hair. From cool to warm and violet to gold, here's what the different tone numbers mean:
- /1 is ash (blue/green) – for neutralizing orangey/red tones.
- /2 is matt green – for cooling down red warmth.
- /3 is gold (yellow) – for adding rich, golden warmth to hair.
- /4 is red (warm) – for creating copper and strawberry blondes.
- /5 is mahogany (red/violet) – for cooler reds.
- /6 is violet (cool) – for balancing unwanted yellow tones.
- /7 is brown (red, yellow, blue) – for your bronde (brown-blonde) formulas.
- /8 is pearl (blue) – for neutralizing orange tinges.
- /9 is cendré (blue/violet) – for cooling yellowy-orange brassiness.
What Hair Toners are Best For Blonde Hair?
For Pure, Balanced Blondes: Koleston Perfect
If pure pigment and long-lasting colour are the goal, tone your client's blonde with Koleston Perfect. One box of this iconic permanent toner is sold every second worldwide – and for good reason. It's a tech-driven formula, featuring Metal Purifier to neutralize harmful metals in the hair, ME+ dye technology to reduce the risk of developing a new allergy to hair colour¹, and Ultra Precision colour technology for pure, balanced results with natural depth and shine. Plus, it gives your client up to 100% grey coverage, so they can enjoy their beautiful blonde without a silver stray in sight.
For Inside-Out Luminosity: Illumina Color
If your client wants the benefits of a permanent toner, but with soft hues that bathe hair in light, Illumina Color transforms their blonde beautifully. Like Koleston Perfect, it offers up to 100% grey coverage and Metal Purifier, but it also creates a sheer colour that radiates a healthy-looking sheen. How, exactly? MicroTones mimic the natural highs and lows in your client's hair, while Microlight Technology protects cuticle clarity to allow light to enter the hair shaft. The result is a blonde shade illuminated from the inside out. When glow is the goal, this is your go-to formula.
For Vibrant, High-Shine Blondes: Color Touch
With a similar finish to Koleston Perfect, but in a demi-permanent toner, Color Touch delivers true-to-tone vibrancy, no matter the condition of your client's hair. The ammonia-free², vegan formula is perfect for those who like to switch up their shade frequently, with a wide range of warm, cool and neutral blondes that fade beautifully over 28 washes. It also harnesses Metal Purifier to ensure more reliable results and up to 70% grey coverage³ for seamless blending.
For a Translucent Veil of Blonde: Shinefinity
Gloss up your client's blonde with a Shinefinity Colour Glaze. The lustrous demi-permanent toner locks in a zero-lift, zero-damage, translucent veil of colour. For soft hues with brilliant shine they can feel, there's no formula quite like it. It leaves hair up to 250% shinier⁴, and up to 50% softer and smoother⁵ in a single service.
For Lifting and Toning in One: Koleston Perfect Special Blondes
For a single-process service, lift and tone your client’s hair with Koleston Perfect’s palette of Special Blondes. In a range of cool and warm tones, they offer a no-bleach, gentle, controlled lift that takes hair up to five levels lighter. Each shade is also infused with nourishing lipids that condition the hair fiber, so whether you’re painting highlights, balayage or an all-over colour, these one-step blondes care for your client’s hair.
What Hair Toner Takes Yellow Out of Blonde Hair?
A violet toner is the key to neutralizing yellow hair and brassiness. This is because purple sits opposite yellow on the colour wheel, meaning the two hues cancel each other out. So, when choosing a hair toner for a client dealing with yellow hair tinges, look for the number 6 after the stroke, which means it features violet undertones. Meanwhile, ash blonde toner colour corrects hair that's leaning too orange or red, with the coolness of the ash pigments bringing balance to brassy blondes.
Pro tip: Remind your clients to maintain their blonde in between salon visits with a purple shampoo. INVIGO Blonde Recharge Cool Blonde Shampoo helps tackle yellow tones at home, keeping them at bay until their next touch-up appointment.
Is Purple Shampoo the Same as Toner?
No, purple shampoo is not the same as a blonde toner. As a pro, you know this already, but it's worth reminding your clients so they don't try to fix intense brassiness themselves. While a purple shampoo can work wonders at balancing out unwanted warmth, regular salon toning appointments are essential to keep their shade clean, fresh, and true to tone.
Next up: teach clients how to maintain blonde hair with our complete shade-protecting guide, featuring tips and tricks for every shade.
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Looking for more hair colouring inspiration? Discover pro formulas, up-and-coming trends and transformative care tricks on the Wellastore blog.
¹ FOR PEOPLE NOT ALLERGIC TO HAIR COLOURANTS. Although the risk of developing a new allergy is reduced, there remains a risk of allergic reaction that can be severe. Always ask your stylist to perform an Allergy Alert Test 48h before each colouration. Strictly follow safety instructions. If you have ever experienced an allergic reaction to hair colourants, you should not colour. ME+ is present in specific shades of Pure Naturals, Rich Naturals, Vibrant Reds, Special Blondes and Deep Browns of the Koleston Perfect brand.
² Except Color Touch Plus which is low-ammonia.
³ Only with Color Touch Plus.
⁴ Versus untreated bleached hair.
⁵ Instrumental testing versus our regular demi-permanent colour.
