Fanola No Yellow Mask: When the Mask Beats the Shampoo

Fanola No Yellow Mask is a rinse-out conditioning mask with a declared violet dye, Acid Violet 43, made to counteract yellow and brassy tones in blonde, bleached and grey hair. Use it after shampooing on towel-dried hair, leave it 3–5 minutes and rinse; pick it over the No Yellow Shampoo when you want to tone at the conditioning step rather than in the wash.

What is the Fanola No Yellow Mask?

Fanola No Yellow Mask is a conditioning mask that carries a violet dye to counteract yellow and brassy tones in blonde, bleached and grey hair. The ingredient list on our 1L listing names the dye as Acid Violet 43. It goes on after shampooing and rinses out, and Fanola says it "untangles, nourishes and moisturizes the hair". Violet sits opposite yellow on the colour wheel, and opposites neutralise each other.

We list it in three sizes: Fanola No Yellow Mask 100ml, Fanola No Yellow Mask 350ml and Fanola No Yellow Mask 1L. The public prices are £4.05, £8.24 and £13.60 at the time of writing; logged-in trade accounts may see different prices. The listing says the mask "contains violet pigments that counteract unwanted yellow and brassy hues" and leaves hair "soft, silky, and manageable".

How do you use Fanola No Yellow Mask?

To use Fanola No Yellow Mask, shampoo, then towel-dry your hair until it is damp. Fanola's own directions are: "After washing the hair with the anti-yellow Shampoo, put on disposable gloves and apply to the lengths and ends of towel-dried hair. Leave on for 3-5 minutes and rinse carefully." Our listing adds that the mask should go on evenly.

Neither Fanola nor our listings give an amount or a time longer than 5 minutes. Fanola's directions call for gloves, so wear them.

No Yellow Mask review: is it any good?

On everything that can be checked, it is what it says it is. The ingredient list opens like a conditioner's, with water, caprylic/capric triglyceride, cetearyl alcohol and cetrimonium chloride. It declares a violet dye, takes 3–5 minutes after shampooing, and at the time of writing costs £8.24 for 350ml. Judge the result on a strand test, not a star rating.

The downsides. Fanola's directions call for gloves. A Procter & Gamble patent application notes that when grey or white hair is toned with blue or violet direct dyes, the result in general comes out more blue or violet than needed, so strand-test first. The 1L listing's ingredient list also includes amyl cinnamal, a substance UK cosmetics law requires to be named on the label above set levels, and methylchloroisothiazolinone with methylisothiazolinone, a preservative mixture the same law allows as a preservative only in rinse-off products. If you react to either, check the label.

Should you use the mask or the shampoo?

The shampoo is the wash step and the mask is the conditioning step. Our 350ml shampoo listing suggests using the shampoo weekly to keep bleached blonde cool between colour appointments, and, for dry or damaged hair, combining it with "a nourishing mask or leave-in conditioner". So if the tone is drifting warm and the hair also feels dry, the mask is the step to add.

For the pigment itself, start with what No Yellow shampoo is.

What does the shampoo do that the mask cannot?

It washes your hair, and its toning can be pushed further with time. Fanola says the shampoo's pigment gives "an increasingly intense neutralizing effect the longer it is left on". Our 350ml and 100ml shampoo listings allow longer than 5 minutes; the 1000ml listing gives 3–5 minutes only. Fanola No Yellow Shampoo 350ml costs £6.73 at the time of writing, and its listing suggests pairing it with "a hydrating conditioner" or the No Yellow Mask.

The EU's scientific committee on consumer safety (SCCS) assessed Acid Violet 43 as a non-oxidative, semi-permanent hair dye, for use at up to 0.5% on the head, and noted that a sensitising potential cannot be excluded. For how violet pigment cancels yellow, see how purple shampoo works, and for timing, how to use purple shampoo.

Can you use both in the same wash?

Yes. Fanola's own directions for the mask start after washing with the No Yellow shampoo: gloves on, apply to towel-dried lengths and ends, leave 3–5 minutes, rinse carefully. Our listing for the Twin Pack 2 x 1000ml gives a shampoo time of 1–5 minutes "depending on the desired toning effect", then the mask on towel-dried hair "from roots to ends" for 3–5 minutes, and suggests "once a week or as needed".

Do not overdo it. A Milliken patent notes that dye in a toning shampoo used daily keeps building up, taking bleached hair past the wanted tone to violet or blue. Our 100ml and 350ml shampoo listings and the twin pack suggest once a week.

The verdict, as a decision rule

• Tone drifting warm between colour appointments: the shampoo, once a week, which is how our 350ml shampoo listing suggests keeping bleached blonde cool.
• Tone drifting and the hair feels dry: follow the shampoo with the mask. Our shampoo listing suggests a nourishing mask for dry or damaged hair, and Fanola describes the mask as untangling, nourishing and moisturising.
• Toning only the lengths and ends: the mask, which Fanola's own directions apply to the lengths and ends (our twin-pack listing says roots to ends).
• You want a leave-in rather than a rinse-out: the No Yellow Incredible Foam, which its listing calls a "lightweight" toning foam for wet or dry hair, with no rinse step.
• Hair reads orange, not yellow: blue sits opposite orange on the colour wheel, so look at a blue-toned product. Read blue shampoo for orange tones first.
• Bands, patches or a colour correction: talk to a professional colourist.

Common questions

What conditioner should I use after Fanola No Yellow shampoo?

Fanola suggests the No Yellow Mask, which tones and conditions in one step. Our 350ml shampoo listing also allows "a hydrating conditioner". The No Yellow Incredible Foam and No Yellow 2 Phase Potion are alternatives with no rinse step in their directions.

Is this the same as the Wonder No Yellow Mask?

No. The Wonder mask has its own ingredient list. The Wonder 1000ml listing declares Acid Violet 43 too, but also Hylocereus undatus fruit extract, which the No Yellow Mask's list does not include. The Wonder 350ml listing claims an "acidic pH" (no figure) and allows 3–5 minutes "or longer for deeper toning". See No Yellow vs Wonder No Yellow.

Can the mask turn my hair purple?

It can leave a violet cast if you overshoot, just as the shampoo can. Acid Violet 43 is assessed as a semi-permanent hair dye, and a 2022 review of hair dyes says semi-permanent colour "is generally retained over several shampoo applications", so a cast fades over a number of washes rather than in one. Stop toning until it softens.

Is the 1L mask worth it over the 350ml?

On price per millilitre, yes, if you will use it up. At the time of writing the 1L works out at about 1.4p per millilitre against about 2.4p for the 350ml. The twin pack, £25.60, costs the same as the 1000ml shampoo and 1L mask bought separately, so buy it for convenience, not a saving.

Always follow the instructions supplied with the product. Patch-test where the manufacturer requires it, strand-test before changing your routine, and speak to a professional colourist if you are unsure about a correction.