From Ash to Ice: Find and Maintain Your Perfect Platinum Blonde Shade

We’d argue that few hair colors make a statement quite as well as platinum blonde hair. Whether icy and cool-toned or slightly warmer and softer, this pale blonde hair color is versatile and infinitely flattering. And while maintaining a platinum mane can take a bit of elbow grease (especially if you’re starting out with a darker shade), it’s well worth the effort.

If you need proof, we’ve got it. Here, we’re sharing a few of our favorite platinum blonde hair ideas to inspire your next salon visit. Plus, you’ll learn a little bit about what it takes to maintain this wintry hue between touch-ups. The road to platinum lies ahead.

1. All-Over Platinum Blonde

If you want a statement mane, there’s no better way to do that than with a full head of pure platinum: It’s bright, it’s confident, and it’s full of sass. Achieve your dream blonde hue with L’Oréal Paris Féria Hyper Platinum Advanced Lightening System Bleach in Platinum Bounce. The DIY bleach kit lightens hair up to eight levels in a single application, delivering brilliant blonde results for all hair types. Plus, it comes with a toning purple conditioner to help neutralize your brassy tones and keep your platinum pure.

2. Cool Platinum Blonde

Traditionally, platinum blonde is fairly neutral in undertone. However, you can dial up the impact by opting for a cool version of the bright blonde hue. Look for something with silvery or pearly undertones, like L’Oréal Paris Féria Hyper Platinum Advanced Lightening System Bleach in Hyper Platinum. If you find your color becoming more warm than you’d like, you can also use L’Oréal Paris Féria Power Toner, Long-Lasting Anti-Brass Toner in Ice Blonde to cool down your hue even further. The conditioning toner eliminates brassy orange tones with results lasting up to three weeks.

3. Warm Platinum Blonde

One of the nicest things about platinum blonde is how versatile it can be once you know what shade works for you. If cool tones aren’t your thing, consider opting for a light blonde shade with warm golden or honey undertones. This slightly softer take on platinum is a bit more natural-looking than cool platinum and pairs beautifully with warmer-toned skin.

4. Icy Blonde

Icy platinum blonde is the brightest and coolest shade in the platinum family, often reading as white with subtle hints of champagne or silver. Depending on the shade you started with, such a drastic color lift will definitely take some extra care to prevent damage, but you can use treatments like L’Oréal Paris Elvive Total Repair 5 Power Restore Multi-Use Treatment to help strengthen your strands.

5. Silver Platinum Blonde

If you love the look of icy blonde hair, you’ll love silver platinum. This cool-toned hue has a noticeable pale silver cast that makes the color pop in an unexpected way. It’s an ultra-modern take on the traditional platinum hue that’s been popular for years.

6. Platinum Blonde Highlights

If the idea of jumping right in with a full head of platinum blonde hair feels intimidating to you, start off slowly. To ease into the icy hair color trend, ask your stylist to add soft platinum highlights throughout your base color. Opting for highlights means you don’t have to commit to a bold look, and allows you to play with different shades and highlight techniques like balayage to see what you like best.

7. Creamy Platinum

Also known as beurre blonde, this warm blonde hair color features a pale blonde base interwoven with warm, buttery highlights. The subtle, creamy color is soft, wearable, and ultra-flattering on those with naturally tanned skin.

8. Smoky Platinum Blonde

With a mix of silver, gray, and blue undertones, this smoky blonde shade is subtle, sultry, and sophisticated all rolled into one. It’s a look that works best on those going from a dark natural hair color and can be a great starting point for transitioning to a brighter platinum hue.

9. Champagne Platinum

Pop the cork on the platinum blonde trend by trying out this sparkly, drink-inspired shade. With its soft peachy undertones, champagne platinum is a versatile shade that allows you to experiment with light hair without going too cool. If you’re not ready to go full champagne, consider having your colorist hand-paint champagne highlights around your face for a hint of brightness.

10. Rooted Platinum

We’ll be honest: Platinum blonde hair is usually fairly high maintenance. If regular salon visits aren’t in the cards for you, consider opting for a rooted platinum hair color. By pairing platinum hair with dark roots, you’ll get all of the impact of a bright blonde shade, but with far less upkeep—it’s a win-win.

11. Platinum Pink

Because platinum hair is so pale, it allows you to easily experiment with tints—without committing to a full-on shade change. This platinum pink hue, for example, boasts all of the brightness of a traditional platinum blonde hair color, but with the faintest hint of pink for an edgy yet feminine finish.

12. Platinum Blonde Balayage

Getting a balayage is one of the best ways to infuse your hair with a bit of brightness. While it’s typically done with more natural-looking shades, we love how a platinum balayage wakes up deeper silvery hair—it’s undeniably cool.

Editor’s Tip: If you’re not sure which shade of platinum blonde would suit you best, test-drive your options with our Virtual Hair Color Try-On tool. And, if you’re planning on completing your hair transformation at home, head to the Haircolor Concierge to consult one-on-one with a color specialist who can give you personalized recommendations.

How to Care for Platinum Blonde Hair

Platinum blonde hair is stunning, but the bleaching it requires can cause damage to the hair. In order to keep your hair in prime condition, opt for a haircare system that’ll give your hair the support it deserves to look and feel its best. Post-bleach, we recommend ditching your usual shampoo and conditioner in favor of L’Oréal Paris EverPure Sulfate-Free Bond Strengthening Color Care Shampoo and L’Oréal Paris EverPure Sulfate-Free Bond Strengthening Color Care Conditioner. The powerful duo reinforces weak hair bonds to help strengthen damaged, color-treated hair from the inside out.

You may also want to consider adding a hair gloss into your routine, particularly if the bleaching process left your locks looking dull. Try L’Oréal Paris Le Color Gloss One-Step In-Shower Toning Gloss in either Clear or Platinum Pearl. It enhances hair color, deeply conditions, and adds tons of shine—all in one application.

What Does Purple Shampoo Do To Blonde Hair?

After bleaching your hair, you may notice it taking on a yellow or even orangey hue over time—that’s normal, and it’s what pros refer to as brassiness. You can fend off this brassiness by swapping in a toning purple shampoo and conditioner once per week.

On the color wheel, purple and yellow are directly across from each other, making them not only complimentary colors, but colors that effectively “cancel” each other out. Because of this, purple shampoos and conditioners help to correct unwanted brassiness in platinum blonde and silver hair (similar to how blue shampoo helps address brassiness on brown strands). As for which purple products to use, we’re fans of L’Oréal Paris EverPure Sulfate-Free Brass Toning Purple Shampoo and L’Oréal Paris EverPure Sulfate-Free Blonde Conditioner. Both contain violet pigments to help neutralize unwanted yellow tones and restore your platinum to its intended vibrancy.

Keep in mind that purple shampoo and conditioner shouldn’t be used daily, as over-using these color-depositing products can leave your mane with a purplish tint. In general, we recommend using your toning shampoo between one and three times per week, depending on how brassy your hair is. Use your judgment—and rock that picture-perfect platinum with pride.

Next Up: How To Care For Bleach-Damaged Hair