I have a natural color of light brown; level 6. I have hi-lift highlights, alternated with bleach. Bleached hair tends to turn brassy because of the minerals in tap water. I've been using this duo for about 2 weeks, and alreay see a brightness in my highlites. Great duo, I can't live without! Thanks Aveda.

Hopeless for reducing brassiness in blond hair. Basically, it's the wrong shade...far too blue and nit enough purple. Dried my hair out, expensive...total hype from the company...

This was not the best violet shampoo that I have used. It dried out my hair and didn't maintain my blonde highlights at all. They became brassy quickly and not silvery or vibrant at all like they had with much cheaper violet shampoos. Don't waste your money on this stuff.

This product works great! My hair is naturally a medium ash brown, but after years of having it highlighted followed by a DIY dye job attempting to go a few shades lighter (dark blonde) all over, my hair was left with all kinds of unattractive orange tones. I wanted to let my hair "rest" and grow out a bit before another attempt at color correction, so I bought the Blue Malva shampoo & conditioner to see if that would get my hair to a shade I could live with. The results are subtle and gradual, so don't expect a miraculous change on the first use, but I am very happy overall with this product line. The shampoo is not at all drying for me (as some reviews have stated), and the conditioner left my hair shinier and softer than before. My husband turned to me the other day (after I'd used these products for about four times) and said, "Whoa! Your hair isn't orange any more!" That's all the proof I need that Blue Malva works. Very pleased, despite the high cost (about $50 with tax for the 1 liter shampoo and tube of conditioner) of these products - I'd say they're worth it. continued >>

I love the Blue Malva line -- I first used it in middle school and came back to it as an adult to tone down orange tones / brassiness in the growing out, color-treated ends of my hair. My natural color is a medium ashy brown, but when my hair gets longer, and the ends become damaged -- even when not color treated -- it can turn reddish / brassy, completely different than my roots. Blue Malva IS effective at toning down the brassiness -- it does not work immediately, but it definitely works over time, particularly when used with the conditioner. As an added bonus, it also smells great. It is no longer available in a size smaller than 1L (you can buy a pump for $1 or $2), but my bottle lasts at least six months with daily use -- not bad!

Suprisingly, one of the few blue conditioners that really takes away brassiness in my hair while actually conditioning it (not like shimmer lights which smells so bad and does not condition well at all). I have not used the shampoo, I use Pravana Pure light blue SULFATE FREE shampoo (a great product - only blue toning shampoo I could find without sulfates). The aveda blue malva conditions better than I expected. It seems to have grown on me - in a good way. At first I did not think that it was moisturizing enough, but now it seems to be doing a good job. It really knocks out those brassy tones - sometimes a little too well. You do need to be careful that you don't turn those dry ends purple! No worries though if you do - one shampoo and you are good to go.
EDIT: This can def. dull your hair if used too often. I rotate with other conditioners. I also need more moisture right now so i mix with other deep condish.
EDIT 11/3/10: Finished it up and don't know if I will be buying again. It def. toned things down but in a dulling way. It helped when I needed it for my very orange/brassy undertone, but I felt like it just subdued all of the highlights in my hair a little too much.

I bought this shampoo awhile back because I used to make mistakes all the time when dying my hair blond. It never seemed to make much of a difference in neutralizing brassy tones. Also, I find that it can be somewhat drying. I don't have much need for this type of shampoo since I have gotten better at coloring my hair, but I have still used it from time to time and never really notice any special qualities. My hair is always exactly the same tone after using it. It does smell nice and clean. I don't remember the price but I don't think it was very expensive. I will probably not repurchase. The bottle I have now is still pretty full and I'm not sure I will finish it.

LOVE this stuff!
I'm naturally dark brown but I just recently re-blonded my hair. After using other average color protecting shampoos, my stylist told me to start using this stuff since she noticed my hair was turning yellow (yikes!). So I went to my local Aveda salon and got both the liter shampoo and conditioner. No, the shampoo is not that moisturizing, but then again, a shampoo's main usage is simply to cleanse, and you receive your moisture from your conditioner. Now I usually have very frizzy, full, easily breakable hair but I LOVE this conditioner! To me it conditions beautifully. I only wish they had it in a liter size since I have a lot of hair, I use a lot of the conditioner. The Aveda stylist told me to use the shampoo every time I wash, and the conditioner every other time, but I use it each time regardless. My hair has never gotten purple-y or blue. If you need more moisture, use a deep conditioning treatment weekly and a leave-in daily.
If you have fake blonde hair, you HAVE to get this! It will save your color.

I use this daily. I have highlights in my hair that range from a honey shade to platinum and Blue Malva helps to keep them toned. I love the conditioner which really helps to make the color pop; it's softening without weighing hair down and keeps it moisturized.

I really like the shampoo...keeps my blonde from yellowing. The conditioner is okay. It works for the color benefits for sure but its not that great at making my hair silky and conditioned. I like more moisture than it provides.

I have white bleached hair and I have tried so many different products and I keep coming back to aveda as the only product that makes up for the damage to my hair. It leaves it soft, stops it from breaking and stops it from drying out.
The blue malva shampoo is great. Fab. been using it for years and years.
Conditioner I use only when I do my roots. and maybe once or twice in between. if I used it all the time my hair turns lavander. If I was younger, that would be cool, but I'm 40 with an office job and the spectacularly coloured hair doesn't really "work" anymore. Not at this job anyway.
If I had non-bleached hair, I can see it working well. But bleached and/or grey hair should only use it as a brightening toner maybe once a week at the very most.
I wash with the shampoo about once a week. Can't wash my hair more than that or it'll dry out too much. Doesn't seem to add colour at all.

I've used this stuff for years and as far as I'm concerned its one of the best out there. I have shoulder length, baby fine hair. I'm not exactly a natural blonde (naturally dirty blonde/brown), but being very pale people think I am. Because I have brown tones in my hair, a couple of weeks after getting blond highlights, my hair would slowly change take on a orangish tinge. I used to go back and have them put toner on my hair.
When I discovered the Blue Malva Conditioner, I have never had problems with orange-ness. I don't bother with adding the expensive shampoo because the conditioner is concentrated enough. Every couple of weeks I lightly coat my wet hair with the conditioner and let it sit for 20-30 mins on my hair. My hair has never gone blue or purple from leaving it on for that long. I find if I leave it on for that long it lasts me at least a couple of weeks of great blonde colour.
People ALWAYS ask me how I get my hair this blonde. I think they assume that I'm in the salon every couple of weeks for touch ups. This stuff totally allows me to go a long longer between colours, and a bottle of it easily lasts me over a year (I don't have a lot of hair though).
Very highly recommended for all of the not so natural blondes out there!!!

I have never used this shampoo at home, but I go to an Aveda salon for color and my stylist has used it on me before. I use a separate stylist for haircuts and she has told me that this shampoo/conditioner DESTROYS hair. She says it has the same harsh chemicals found in cheaper brands and can break off color-treated hair with prolonged use.
I, too, hate when my blonde gets brassy due to hard-water but it's a necessary evil if you want healthy hair! Try a glossing treatment next time you color instead -- I find that really seals my color and keeps it fresh!!

I don't have brassy hair, and I was just using up that endless cabinet of 3/4 used abandoned bottles. Ugh! The smell! Maybe I'm just used to the synthetic smell of most shampoos, but its really hard to describe. "Natural" I guess. Shampoos clean and that's what it did, but other Aveda products I use smell much better!

This shampoo is so drying, and no wonder, it has ALS in it! That is a really harsh sulfate... and Aveda markets itself as natural and gentle!!
The shampoo was much more drying than other toning shampoos I've used in the past. It dried out my ends and lengths like crazy and the matching conditioner is nowhere near moisturizing enough to rectify the damage. In fact, the conditioner left my roots looking lank and greasy and my lengths and ends dry and poofy. I generally don't condition my roots since I have fine hair, but when using toning products I want to have even results and so I apply all over. But this stuff is terrible. I haven't had this bad of a hair day in ages!
Two toning products that I love are Redken Blonde Glam Pure Pearl and the discontinued Frederic Fekkai Correct shampoo (previously called Polished Platinum shampoo). Both are far and away better products than this Aveda stuff.

I like this shampoo. It makes my blond hair with highlight glow. It take the brassiness out. I would buy it again. But, then again... I use Aveda shampoo's only.

PROS: Good for those who want to keep the yellow/brassiness out of their hair.
CONS: A little too drying for my very dry hair (they possibly have a new formula, cause I haven't used this for many years.)

This is fantastic for silver hair or getting rid of brassiness. When I was trying to save money by using box color, this is the stuff that worked for "curing" my "hot roots." I would put this on my dry roots in the evening before going to bed, and it would reduce the red significantly. Nice minty/lavendar smell.

This shampoo is incredibly drying to my highlighted hair, but it does help to remove brassiness to some extent. I have both the shampoo and the conditioner, but I try to use them as seldom as possible ( a few times a month) and then follow with a deep conditioner. I don't think I'd repurchase this. I'll keep looking for something that does the same thing without the harsh side effects.

I love these products as a blonde whose hair tends toward strawberry. I use the conditioner once a week, and the shampoo when my blonde is really, really brassy. The conditioner smells like lavender.