The first time I bleached my hair, I was surprised by the bright yellow-orange fro. But no worries! Because now, it's time to neutralise those brassy undertones with a toner. (This is an essential step for blonde, light to medium brown, and pastel colours.)
While my freshly bleached hair is still wet, I use Wella Color Fresh in 8/81 as a toner. I slather it all over my head and emulsify it, leave it on for 20-30 minutes, then rinse with cool water.
A bit about toners: Your toner is meant to cancel out a brassy undertone. It does this by masking your yellow or orange hair with the opposite colour on the colour wheel. Purple is directly opposite to yellow, while blue is the opposing colour to orange.
For Wella's shade numbering system, for example, "8/81," the first number indicates the shade (8/ is a medium blonde), the second number indicates the major tone (/8 represents pearl/blue), and the third number indicates the minor tone (1 represents ash). Here's a breakdown of all the shade and tonal numbers by Wella that you need to know:
Tones: /1 (Ash), /3 (Golden Yellow), /6 (Violet), /7 (Brown), /8 (Blue/Pearl), /9 (Blue/Violet)
Shades: 6/ (Light Brown), 7/ (Dark Blonde), 8/ (Medium Blonde), 9/ (Light Blonde), 10 (Platinum)