Hair Highlights

Hair Highlights: Salon

Heading to a salon for highlights is a great way to get professional looking results, especially if you want to go more than 2-3 shades lighter than your natural color. Salon personnel have experience helping to pick the right shade that compliments skin tone and eye color.

Salon stylists also are trained in several techniques of hair highlighting. Foil highlights involves painting color onto hair, and folding it into a foil. It is precision-based, hard to touch up, and time consuming, but produces great results. Another technique is bialiage, which is the simple painting technique. Chunking and piecing can create a trendy and customized look with thicker strands of color put in. Low lighting involves adding darker pieces to minimize brassy tones or simply darken hair.

To get the look you want, bring in a photograph or two of people whose highlights you admire. However, if your skin tone is significantly lighter or darker than those people, your results may not look the same. Making an appointment for a consultation with your stylist before doing the color can help the two of you achieve the best look. If you have never colored your hair before, ask friends for stylist and salon recommendations.

Home Highlighting

blonde hair

Because getting a salon highlight can be expensive and hard to work into a busy schedule, many people are choosing to use do-it-yourself home kits. With the many choices available, it is important to choose a kit that is easy to use and produces good results.

The L’Oreal Hi-Light Styliste line offers lots of options for color. Highlighting, low lighting, and refinishing toners for currently highlighted hair are all available in several formulas, depending on your current color. It also offers a precision brush for control, and how-to videos online. Many other brands offer similar options.

To pick the best color, follow these simple guidelines:

• Pink-toned people should avoid red shades
• Yellow-toned people may want to stay away from yellows or orange based colors
• Olive-toned people may want to go darker and use low lights

Always do an allergy test before dying your hair. Even if you have used the brand before, an allergy may have developed. Instead of using the gloves provided, you may want to purchase your own better-fitting gloves. Unless the directions state otherwise, apply color to dry, unwashed hair.

Hair highlights should go on the top layer for the best visibility. However, if you change your part or switch styles frequently, consider doing a layer or two below that to keep from looking unbalanced. Highlight from back to front, so you do not drag your arm through the colorant. Asking a friend to help with coloring can produce better results, as she or he can help with the back. When in doubt, leave the color on for less time instead of more.

Maintenance for Hair Highlights

Colored hair requires special maintenance. Chemicals used in hair highlighting damage the strands and can make hair dull, more prone to breakage, and frizzy. To keep hair in good condition, try these tips:

• Use a shampoo and conditioner for color treated hair. Pantene Pro-V Expressions and Dove Advanced Color Care Shampoo for Lightened or Highlighted Hair are two lines that offer products especially made for different kinds of color-treated hair.
• Deep condition hair once a week.
• Avoid chlorine when hair is colored — it can turn strands into shades of green. If you want to go swimming, put a leave-in conditioner on hair before getting into the water.
• Do not do another chemical treatment for 1-2 weeks. Over processing can cause hair to fall out or break off.

To keep hair highlights looking their best, touch up long hair every 6-12 weeks, depending on how drastic of a change from your original hair color. Shorter hair will show roots more obviously, and may have to be done every 4-6 weeks.