So there you are in your favourite salon and the colourist has done the biz with balayage or highlights. Often, at this point, you’ll be told it’s time to apply a toner (or, a bit confusingly, it might be called a gloss or a glaze…). Despite being beauty editors we’ve mostly just lain back over the basin and thought of really very little – certainly not asked to be reminded what a toner is… (or a gloss or a glaze).

So here’s the thing: ‘A toner is any product that changes the tone of your hair colour, for instance to keep highlights fresh and sparkling or soften a raw, over-bleached colour into softer, creamy tones’, explains colour expert Tracy Hayes at Salon Sloane. (Scroll to end to see an example of Tracy’s colour work.) ‘For instance, actress Anya Taylor-Joy’s long hair was lightened to a raw bleach then toned to a soft, warm, glowing blonde.’ At the same time, toners condition the hair to shiny, glossy manageability, Tracy says.

And just to clarify ‘gloss’ and ‘glaze’: these are just different terms for products that give much the same effect but they are less permanent, Tracy explains, and will fade more quickly with shampooing. Toners are used on pre-lightened hair to give tonal shade to the blonde. Glosses and glazes are ideal as a finishing touch for every shade from blonde through brunette to redhead to give a luxurious high gloss finish to the colour. They can also be used to freshen colour in between salon visits.

Although toners have been around for decades, a combination of technology evolving to give fabulously effective products and the effect of the pandemic pushing us into more low maintenance colour has brought toners of all kinds to the forefront.

‘Lockdown changed our habits, tipping us into wanting minimal upkeep and being happy with a more lived-in look,’ says Tracy.  (Think Alexa Chung who actually got there long before lockdown.) These days, we might, for instance, opt to have a full colour overhaul only every three to four months but pop into the salon for a toner uplift every six weeks to keep the colour sparkling and hair maximally glossy and luscious.

When you’re whisked off for a toner at your hairdresser, it’s likely to be a semi-permanent tint that’s very gentle on the hair, tweaking the colour, enhancing the condition and shine to give what our friend, the legendary make-up artist Barbara Daly, calls ‘rich hair’, which always made us chuckle.

With toners, Tracy explains, ‘you can make the recipe personal to each client’. The professional versions are categorised by numbers (1 to 7) and the colorist may use one or a combo to marry the tone, depth of colour and shine with the cut to the most flattering effect. This ‘toner mixology’ needs pro training and is really not something to try at home – much better to stick with a colour mask like the Wella version, suggests Tracy - see below for more on these.

The great thing nowadays is that there’s a range of in salon toners that are also formulated to use at home. It could be a DIY colour-enhancing shampoo & conditioner – we’re old enough to remember those little metallic sachets of Hint of a Tint, probably the first incarnation of at home toners, but now they are infinitely more sophisticated. (Oooh! Just googled Hint of a Tint to find ‘vintage’ ones available on eBay. The only current ones are for horses…)

Violet is the most popular colour-enhancing shampoo for counteracting ‘playboy blonde bleached brassiness’ and Tracy recommends Kevin Murphy (and there’s a retail version called Blonde.Angel – yes!!) It can also enhance some greys – actually there is a range of products for that sector as it becomes increasingly on trend to keep your grey and encourage it to silvery gorgeousness…

Colour masks also count as toners. Salon Sloane often pops on a Wella Color Fresh Mask to give a luxe finishing shine – and you can get an at home version of that too, to keep up colour and condition. The brand calls this a ‘Hair Glossing Treatment’ and I can report that it does just does that. I tried Golden Gloss and not only was it easy as pie but it gave a fabulous soft sparkle to the colour and a shine that my husband pronounced ‘lustrous’. (Result!)

For festival fun shades à la Georgia May Jagger, Tracy suggest Fudge Paintbox, semi-permanent colour in seven shades from Lilac Frost through Coral Blush to Turquoise Days, which usually lasts up to a maximum of 20 washes.

A few guidelines re skin tone: if you tend to sallow skin, avoid golden tones. If you are rosy pink, go for cooler tones. Porcelain skin is lucky with most hair colour.

One thing not to do is to put a toner over orange, warns Tracy. Sometimes bleach fails to remove darker pigments in your hair and you end up with unflattering brassy orange tones. It could also be down to a build-up of synthetic chemicals or minerals in your hair – salt water or chlorinated pools can also trigger the same effect. Ideally, talk to an experienced colourist about how to treat it; they might recommend a violet shampoo to tone it down but do take expert advice.

Toners are temporary – and the time they last depends really on how often you wash your hair. If you’re a town dweller into daily washing, the effects will go pretty quickly. Living in the country as I do, where the clean air means I wash my hair every five to seven days, the sparkle and shine will last much longer. (Which is A Good Thing as visiting London to get my hair done takes about seven hours there and back.) So for all of you who’ve come out of lockdown wanting maximum gorgeousness for minimum upkeep, toners could be the way to go.

Below is an example of Tracy Hayes’ colour work at Salon Sloane - did we say GORGEOUS?!

Prize Draws