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You are here: Home / Hair Color Guides / Hair Highlights – The Ultimate Guide

Hair Highlights – The Ultimate Guide

February 6, 2012 By Anthony Anders 13 Comments

Brunette with lighter hair highlights

Whether giving Mother Nature a nudge, or taking your enhanced hair color to the next level, highlights can add interest and dimension to your style! From selecting subtle streaks or going for bold splashes, highlights allow you to personalize your color and add a touch of flair to your hair.

First Things First

Now first off I want to stress that when you start to venture into the highlighting (or low lighting) game, the skill levels needed increase dramatically! Since this is a technique of taking strategically selected pieces of hair that coincide with the chosen hair style, it is best to not do this as your first attempt at cosmetic enhancement. Although it can be done at home, skilled hands are essential. Without proper technique, bad color can happen to good people!

That being said, highlights can perform a variety of benefits. Not only do they add depth, movement, and eye-catching color complements, in some cases they can actually extend the time between retouches.

Woman with natural blonde highlights

The highlights will have a tendency to diminish the visible line between your natural hair growing in and the chosen color – unless of course you have opted for a shade at the opposite end of the color spectrum.

The highlights visually ‘break up’ the line of demarcation, and many people feel that they get a little while longer between tune-ups as the noticability of the regrowth is lessened and looks a bit more natural.

(NOTE – Most color services still require attention between the four and six week mark!)

For those with baby-fine or silky hair, highlights (whether alone or partnered with another color service) will add a bit more ‘oomph’ to the hair fabric. Many feel that the extra volume they are able to achieve is well worth the highlights regardless of the cosmetic noticability. Also by adding two or more colors in your highlight palette, you can add the illusion of having more hair as the density issue is overshadowed by the interest created by the infusion of new colors.

Your options in highlights vary, so here are some of your choices if you decide to take this route:

Frosting Caps

Woman having highlights through a frosting cap

Many have heard of the ‘frosting’ caps of days of old. In small cases (very small), these can still work. But take note, you are best to have short layered hair – the thicker the better; if not, you better have a tough scalp and pain tolerance (the hair is yanked through a small rubber hole in a cap with a crochet hook), and you are best to not really care much about the outcome aside from the fact your hair is going to be lighter. So, in short– ‘caveat emptor’ (let the buyer beware!)

Foil Highlights

Woman with foil highlights

Among the most beautiful highlights are the strands you receive from the skilled hands of a professional. Often foils are used to isolate the chosen strands that allow them to process without the color bleeding. This skill is one that requires training, dexterity, and an artist’s eye.

However, it goes without saying that this will cost you, and the bills can add up if you go to a premium salon. Often foil highlights can be one of the priciest of salon services (for a full head.) A quick insider tip – upon consultation, you are often able be able to get a ‘sample’ by only doing a few sunny strands along your part line or to frame your face. You can always turn up the brightness too, so when sampling, baby-steps are recommended.

Panel Highlights

Woman having thick highlights in salon

Panels, splashes, and veils (there are many names) are larger sections of color than can be few centimeters or more in width. They are for a more dramatic effect and are often used to make a dramatic color statement.

These are harder to retouch, so I also recommend consulting a professional on this method. Since this technique also looks good by using a few different colors that complement one another, this may also cost you more than single process applications.

Balayage Highlights

Salon colorist giving balayage highlights

Balayage (derived from the French word meaning ‘to sweep’) is a beautiful, natural method of hand-painting randomly selected strands of hair to mimic the sun shining on the hair.

The impressionist style of painting is harmoniously placed to bring out the most of the style. The color is painted in soft, sweeping strokes, and the regrowth is almost undetectable as the color seems to just ‘appear’. Since this often uses a very strong chemical product it is my recommendation you do not try this at home! Even professionals must have a skilled touch and keen eye (and a paid insurance policy) to pull this off!

Go forth and highlight!

Although costly at times in a salon (do your research), it is my professional opinion to keep highlights out of your kitchen (without practice – a lot of practice) as it can cost you a car payment to get fixed if done incorrectly.

Choose what you would like to see in your style and then match the method accordingly. Browse through many hair color photos and see what catches your eye. It is best to fit the technique to the desired end result. Highlighting and low lighting (same technique, just adding darker pieces) are a great way to tweak and personalize your hair color statement.

Whether alone or in tandem with another service – highlights will bring out the best in your hair color!

Hair Highlights - The Ultimate Guide, 4.6 out of 5 based on 9 ratings

Filed Under: Hair Color Guides

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Comments

  1. Cat says

    November 5, 2011 at 5:02 pm

    i have been getting my hair colored for years and still dont understand the difference between low lights and hi lights. ha

    Reply
    • Lorenzo says

      January 17, 2017 at 3:33 am

      Its just as the words tell: Hi is lighter, Lo is darker!

      Reply
  2. Susie B says

    November 5, 2011 at 5:04 pm

    Hey Cat,

    I used to have the same problem, thank God for Anthony! In fact, a Highlights v Lowlights article might be a good idea… 🙂

    Susie x

    Reply
  3. aya says

    November 22, 2012 at 11:37 am

    I wish I found this blog before I had my hair colored!
    I got my hair dyed the other day, I asked my hair dresser for a brown color , yet it turned reddish! Is there any way I could remove the red tones?
    I appreciate your help

    Reply
  4. Susie B says

    November 23, 2012 at 7:42 pm

    Hey Aya,

    A lot of brown hair dyes do have red tones in them, I’m sorry you didn’t get the result you were looking for!

    There are a couple of ways to remove tones such as dying your hair. You could go back to the hair dresser to ask them to use a toning treatment that will help to pull out the red. Or you could dye your hair with a darker neutral brown (look for the product that is marked #N on the box).

    I hope this helps, let us know how you get on!

    Susie x

    Reply
  5. Gail Belinger says

    January 4, 2013 at 4:12 am

    Studies show liver damage from hair dye.

    Caps give safe youthful enhancement and prevent allergy.

    Reply
  6. Susie B says

    January 7, 2013 at 12:35 pm

    Thanks for this information Gail!

    Susie x

    Reply
  7. Mikaela says

    May 31, 2013 at 1:37 pm

    Hi I got my hair done and loved it but it went gold and I
    hate gold I have fare skin but red and have blue eyes what colour
    do I go that want go gold I still want to be level 5 or 6 at my roots ta mikaela

    Reply
  8. sophie says

    August 15, 2013 at 5:31 am

    how to dye my hair like demi lovato”s hair?

    Reply
  9. Karen says

    June 21, 2014 at 3:32 am

    The new customizing cap with interactive
    imaging is incomparable. softer blended results
    in contrasting melded tones, using the color-coded cap.

    Reply
  10. Vanessa says

    June 30, 2014 at 7:39 am

    The hair coloring and the highlighting services really increased in these recent years. The hair coloring services varies according to the view of customers and stylist. There are different colors and color combinations using in this. Thanks for sharing these information to us.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Auburn Hair Color | HairColorCode.com says:
    June 29, 2014 at 7:30 pm

    […] for red-heads, as these will help to look after your hair whilst also adding further tones and highlights to the hair to keep it looking shiny, healthy and […]

    Reply
  2. Ombre Hair Color | HairColorCode.com says:
    June 29, 2014 at 7:34 pm

    […] is sometimes also referred to as ‘balayage’, which is a French freehand coloring technique where the dye is literally painted onto certain […]

    Reply

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