Ever since I went from my natural dirty blond to almost-white blond, I often relate to that excitable blond emoji lady in the pink shirt with her hands on her head. Really—it's a very fun hair color. But going blond is never easy—even if you're already blond to an extent—and now that I'm in highlights overdrive, I'm more aware that my shampoo and conditioner should address any potential brassiness.

There are a couple of really great, oft-mentioned purple shampoos and conditioners that come in deep eggplant-y shades. They do their job very well if you use them once a week. If you use them more than that while in a state of hyper-blond, your hair can take on a slight purple tint, which is what happened to me. Looking for some guidance, I emailed Colleen Flaherty of Spoke & Weal, who does my highlights—she quickly confirmed that I needed to cut back on the Shimmer Lights:

'You wouldn't want to use a purple shampoo every day because your hair shaft has different porosity throughout the strand and can pick up the purple unevenly and possibly progressively.” And if that happens, the accidental gradient (oh hi, ombré, is that you, again?) of purple wash on your hair might take professional color correction to clear up.

But the thing is, I wash my hair every day, and I only want to use one shampoo and one conditioner. So I started searching for a pair that I couldn't accidentally “overuse.” That pair is R+Co's Sunset Blvd Shampoo and Conditioner. They're both significantly paler in color than most purple products, which means they fight brassiness well, but also that you can use them as often as you like without worrying about unnatural buildup. They don't strip hair of moisture, and both come in photo-centric bottles that remind me to Instagram more than once every five days. Now that I'm all out, I keep forgetting to Insta, and my latest shower thought has been that it's time to reorder.

—Claire Knebl

Photographed by Tom Newton.

Go for blonde with the best fair-hair drugstore shampoos. Or, consider lightening up (no bleach required).