Highlighting Your Hair

Highlighting your hair is an excellent way to update your look while granting your complexion a more revitalized and youthful appearance.

Bright highlights.

Sun kissed locks invoke an image of youthful caprice, and highlighting your hair is a convenient way of feigning time at the beach without the presence of harmful ultra-violet rays. If hair highlights are done properly, not only will your hair be brightened, but your face and overall skin tone will adopt a more invigorated glow.

Highlights can also contribute depth to the hair. But depending on your hair type, certain trends of streaks should be avoided altogether or attempted only by a salon professional. Face framing highlights are the best for brightening the complexion, but you will want to select colors that warm and flatter your skin tone.

Your hair color and desired look are important to consider when highlighting your hair. Highlights are not precisely the same as hair streaking measures. Highlights are generally used to enliven one's hair and face, and this type of hair coloring is intended to look natural. Well suited highlights will often include up to three different colors during the highlighting process. In fact, your stylist may even create lowlights, which are darker than your natural color and are woven into the hair in order to provide your strands with depth and contrast.

When highlights are expertly done, your hair can actually grow out easily to about an inch and a half without the presence of strikingly dark roots. This is because much of your natural hair color should remain during the highlighting process. These highlights are typically referred to in salons as "partial highlights", and in the event of partial highlights, only the top portion of the hair is highlighted.

Brunette hair can never easily become blonde without threatening the natural intent of the highlights. When highlighting your hair it is important to maintain realistic expectations regarding the lighting effect. Chocolate brown hair will easily come alive with the presence of chestnut highlights. Auburn locks may benefit from fiery red streaks. And, of course, light brown to dark blonde hair looks sensational with the presence of honey and golden highlights.

Highlights seem to invoke images of earthy and glowing blondes. But the truth of the matter is: platinum highlights should only be considered when the natural hair is an ash or ash-toned dark blonde. The darker the hair, the more red pigment is contained in the strands. Therefore, the lightening process will render heavily orange and red tones. It is difficult for dark hair to become blonde without severe damage to the hair shaft, and frizzy strands and split ends are rarely a hit.

Asian, Latin, or thick types of dark hair can never achieve natural blonde highlights without the provision of an all-over lightening base color. Even in this case, dark porous hair types will endure severe cuticle damage during the coloring process.

Highlighting your hair is considerably more complicated that an at-home color job. You may do fairly well at coloring your own hair, but the addition of defining and face framing streaks takes more time and care. A steady hand is necessary for the individual painting of strands. More importantly, a high-quality conditioner should be employed beforehand in order to avoid chemical over-processing. Ojon hair products have several palm-oil based conditioners that aid in the protection and rehabilitation of cuticle breakage.

If you have curly hair it is advisable to blow-dry your strands straight before applying the highlighting bleach. Straight hair will streamline a more even highlighting job. Also, the bleaching chemicals need to be of a steady consistency. Too thin, and the bleach will run. Too thick, and the bleach will make for a troublesome application.

In order to prevent drastic results, it is advisable to only highlight your hair one to two shades lighter than the hair's natural base color. A salon professional will be able to employ a few tricks that will allow for a more natural looking lightening effect, but unless you can boast professional experience or credentials, it is best not to strain your strands. Subtle changes can be more easily corrected.

Keep in mind that permed or chemically processed hair is more porous than untreated hair types and, therefore, color may not be absorbed evenly. Semi-permanent colors can aid in the highlighting process, but it is still important to wait a few weeks after a chemical process before highlighting your hair..

• Hot Hair Styles for Guys
• Hairstyle Ideas for Curly Hair
• Short Hair Cuts Pictures
• Hair Removal Quiz
• Healthy Hair Quiz

• Emo Hair Styles
• Emo Hair Style Pictures
• Layered Hair Styles
• Pictures of Emo Hair Cuts
• Short Hair Styles

• Hair Highlights Gallery
• Highlighted Blonde Hair Turning Green
• Blonde Hair Highlights
• Chunking Hair Color Techniques
• Hair Highlights