Not just a blonde: highlighting on light hair

Enhancing your natural color and adding dimension is the goal of highlighting light hair, not just going blonde. When it comes to light hair, the ultimate aim of highlights is to achieve a polished yet youthful appearance. Whether you’re a light brunette or a natural blonde, highlighting can give your hair a little extra shine and movement.

There are various methods to experiment with, ranging from delicate balayage to sharper foil highlights. Every technique provides a distinct result, enabling you to personalize your appearance. Explore the selection to determine which best suits your skin tone and style. With the correct technique, highlighting can enhance any light hair color, so it’s not just for blondes.

Therefore, if you’re considering adding some brightness to your light hair, keep in mind that the best highlights are those that blend in well with your natural hair color. The key is to strike the ideal balance between the new tones you introduce and your base color. Cheers to highlighting!

Highlighting Technique	Description
Classic Highlights	Subtle lightening of sections for a natural, sun-kissed look.
Balayage	Freehand painting of highlights for a blended, more gradual transition.
Foil Highlights	Highlights wrapped in foil for more contrast and precision.
Babylights	Very fine highlights that mimic the delicate, natural lightening of children"s hair.
Ombre	A gradual fade from dark roots to lighter ends, creating a soft, blended effect.
Sombre	A softer version of ombre with a more subtle gradient between dark and light.

Features of highlighting on light hair

I want to clarify what hair highlighting is first. The idea behind partial coloring, or "highlighting," is to change the natural and contrasting colors of curls or areas near the base. Since the dye only affects individual strands, this technique is regarded as gentler than full-blown hair coloring. Hair highlighting has many uses; it can entirely transform a girl’s appearance or just slightly update a monochromatic color. Additionally, it looks particularly intriguing on light hair.

Gorgeous highlighting gives blondes a new lease on life by adding volume, making the hairstyle more fashionable and luscious, bringing attention to the best parts of their appearance, and camouflaging bad hair. Furthermore, highlighting on sandy, blond, or white hair—on any tone above the fifth—allows for subtle to "rejuvenate" the image overall and conceal the first gray hair.

This staining method works well on a range of "bases," including warm wheat and Beige tones as well as cool blondes like platinum or ash. Regarding the actual color of the dye, it can be any shade that is related to natural or contrasting, or it can even be used to highlight dark strands when the hair is actually darkened rather than lightened. Regarding the latter, I will elaborate further.

What does dark highlighting look like on light hair of different lengths

It is absolutely untrue that light hair won’t require prior bleaching in order to achieve dark highlighting. Yes, you must bleach the strands if your blonde hair is artificial. Yes, you will need to bleach if you need to match the tone with exactitude in mathematics. Here are some vivid photo examples of how "highlighting" can look different on blondes depending on their haircut. Please be aware that colorists frequently opt for unique shades rather than traditional brown hair.

Long hair

The colorist can use his creativity to "play" with the color of the hair strands and try out different highlighting techniques when there is hair below the shoulders. For instance, you may go for delicate creativity, a sophisticated coloring technique like caramel balayage, or the traditional ash highlighting on long, light hair.

Experts at SalonSecret provide a life hack. It would be wise to stop using stylers after lightning, but if you find this intolerable, use L’Oréal Professionnel Pro Longer, a product with extra heat protection. The purpose of the cream was to ensure that, even with very long hair that is prone to split ends, you do not have to give up on styling and color experimentation.

Medium hair

All of the same highlighting options that are available for long hair are also available for bob, shag, ladder, and cascade hairstyles. The most fashionable options are closed highlighting, which dyes only the inner strands of hair, and contouring, which highlights the edges of the face. If you’re talking about highlighting light-colored, medium-length hair with bangs, you can only color the strands in contrast on the bangs.

Experts at SalonSecret provide a life hack. Protective styling must be applied to the ends of the hair even before using a hairdryer, as highlights will unavoidably cause some damage to them. Redken Fabricate 03 is for textured hairstyles.

Short hair

Short strands gain visual volume and lightness from highlighting. Colored highlighting on light hair and partial highlighting on the top of the hair or bangs work best on pixies and bobs. Hard to believe, but the airtouch and shatush techniques work pretty well for your length.

Experts at SalonSecret provide a life hack. Short haircuts with bright strands quickly disappear, revealing the yellow backdrop. Purple departures will then save the day. Try switching to Redken Blondage, a purple-pigmented shampoo with a balanced pH, in place of your usual shampoo as soon as you notice any yellowing. Alternately, use a Kérastase Ultra-Violet mask from the Blond Absolu line to enhance your beauty regimen. Whichever highlighting technique you select, this range enables you to personalize your care.

There is so much more to experiment with when it comes to highlighting light hair than just traditional blonde tones. This article explores how various light hair tones, ranging from delicate pastels to deep caramel hues, can be enhanced with delicate yet elegant highlights. It all comes down to striking the ideal balance between adding dimension and depth to create a unique, personalized look that defies the stereotype of the typical blonde.

Types of highlighting on blondes

The range of highlighting styles can be confusing, but there are a few key differences to note, including the dye application direction, strand width, color palette, and even dyeing zones. Let’s talk about the various dyeing techniques that colorists and their clients like to use on the light hair in the picture.

Small

The technique is unique in that it covers up to 60% of the total hair volume in dye or tones the chosen area almost entirely; on the crown, the lightening is almost exactly where the root zone meets the crown. Small strands of highlight are frequently advised for people with thin or sparse hair because they create the illusion of thicker hair. The method is also known as frequent highlighting.

Experts at SalonSecret provide a life hack. Using a nourishing mask twice a week can help prevent dryness and brittleness after lightening by slowing down the color washout. These come in specific ranges for people with colored hair. L’Oréal Professionnel Vitamino Color and concentrate Biolage Colorlast is our selection.

Rare

This kind of highlighting, which is typified by a few contrasting strands that provide the appropriate accents to the haircut, is possibly the mildest. Rare highlighting comes in a few different forms, like coloring the top hair, bottom strands, frontal strands, hair ends, zonal highlighting, and traditional "feathers."

Experts at SalonSecret provide a life hack. Care products designed to smooth and shine the hair strands can help prevent uneven porosity after rare highlighting. This is how the L’Oréal Professionnel Blondifier Gloss range’s shampoo and conditioner work.

Light

The technique’s primary benefit is that it causes the least amount of damage to hair because light highlighting is done with a safe lightening composition that doesn’t contain ammonia and doesn’t go deep into the hair. One striking example of this group of techniques is French balayage. This delicate technique is similar to rare highlighting, except instead of dying the root zone, a few strands are dyed closer to the ends.

Experts at SalonSecret provide a life hack. With oil Matrix "Egyptian Hibiscus" Oil Wonders, the captivating subtlety of color after light highlighting will linger on you longer. Use it on dehydrated hair prior to washing.

Large

Gradient and asymmetrical haircuts go very well with thick strand highlighting. Basically, the master gathers hair strands that are at least 2-3 cm wide and dyes up to 70% of the hair’s overall mass. You end up with an extremely vibrant and dynamic image!

Kérastase, Cicaextreme Continue reading

Experts at SalonSecret provide a life hack. Wide-stroke bleaching can exacerbate hair sensitivity; ceramides and lipids work well to combat this issue. A high lipid content was observed in the Kérastase Cicaextreme shampoo cream.

Subtle

Painting thin hair strands at tiny intervals—the hair will probably still need to be lightened—is known as thin highlighting. In addition, the strands extend up to 5 mm, making them virtually translucent in the palms, preserving the organic appearance. Additionally, without altering the natural pigment of the hair, this type of coloring effectively covers up unwanted gray hair. The darning method is specifically used for balayage fine highlighting. Airtouch and veiling are going to give more intense lightening or darkening.

A life-saving tip from SalonSecret’s experts. Try switching to the Matrix Unbreak My Blonde range right away after dying. Its primary characteristics include a citric acid-based formula and a warm, Mediterranean scent. The latter helps to fortify the connections within the hair.

Two-color

Using and alternating two contrasting colors, such as white and chestnut or yellow and blue, is the fundamental component of the technique known as "highlighting in two colors," "two-color," or "double." Within the confines of a single technique, similar shades of the same palette also work well together, but the result is more straightforward and organic-looking.

Kérastase, Chromatique More information

Experts at SalonSecret provide a life hack. Even though it’s highly desirable to give the strands more nourishment after highlighting, many women are afraid to do so. But in vain! The Kérastase Chromatique mask is designed with fine hair in mind, so it doesn’t interfere with the color’s ability to be protected from UV rays, air dried out by air conditioners, and weather surprises.

Three-color

It is evident from the name of this style of highlighting that colorists utilize three shades when coloring: pigments that contrast or fall within the same color range. By adding a few more intermediate tones, we can achieve a coloring that is extremely complex but still stunning.

Kérastase, Cicaextreme, and More

Experts at SalonSecret provide a life hack. Many functions can be combined into one care product, saving you money on bottles and jars after a big lightening. Kérastase Cicaextreme concentrated oil does just that—it fights porosity in hair, increases strand shine and softness, seals the cuticle, and restores volume.

Fashionable shades for highlighting on light hair

Toning and providing color are essential components of hair coloring in blond tones with highlighting. Bright tones and coloring strands in natural shades that closely resemble the hair’s natural color are both popular right now. Blondes who wish to drastically alter their appearance should choose option number one; girls who are not ready for such drastic measures should choose option number two. We’ve gathered the best pictures for each; save the ones you like and present them to your tutor!

Red

Blond hair in combination with a red shade appears quite striking and dramatic when highlighted with a hint of red or an intense red ombre. The most fashionable choice is the strawberry highlight.

Brown

Both noble light tones (like milk chocolate and warm almond) and richer, deeper dark shades (like coffee, bitter chocolate, and autumnal – woody – brown) work well for brown highlighting on blond hair.

Copper

Colorists recommend small amounts of copper highlighting for "warm" blondes with sandy, golden, light chestnut, or honey curls.

Blue

For those who are not ready for bold full-color coloring, blue highlighting can create an image of Malvina reminiscent of a fairy tale.

Beige

In addition to giving the blond depth and elevating it with lovely natural tints, this understated and "expensive" tone deflects attention from itself.

Ash

Ash highlights look great with light and medium blonde hair, giving the appearance of more volume and interest to the hair.

How to do highlights on blond hair?

• The hairdresser divides the entire volume of hair into zones using clips and starts highlighting from the back of the head.

• Using a comb with a thin tip, the hairdresser separates the desired hairs from the strand, places foil under them and applies a lightening composition with a brush, then the curl is sealed in foil.

• The procedure is repeated with the rest of the hair.

• After some time, the lightening composition is washed off, and a toning professional dye is applied to the strands. If blond hair does not require bleaching, then the selected strands are immediately dyed with permanent paint.

• After this, the hair is washed with technical shampoo and dried.

The process of highlighting blonde hair appears easy enough to do at home. But almost always, amateurish highlighting done at home looks sloppy and oversimplifies the entire image. For chic and superior coloring, SalonSecret experts advise reaching out to specific salons.

If you have light hair, highlights are a great way to improve your appearance without making major changes. Highlights can add depth and dimension to your hair, whether you’re a natural blonde or have light-colored hair, giving your look more dynamism and interest. Depending on the effect you’re going for, this technique can produce subtle, sun-kissed streaks or bolder contrasts.

Light hair complements a wide range of skin tones and personal styles, which is one of its many great advantages. To find the ideal match that accentuates your best features, try experimenting with a variety of shades, such as warm honey or soft platinum. Highlights can also help your face look more radiant and youthful by illuminating your entire face.

Furthermore, with the correct maintenance, maintaining highlighted light hair can be fairly simple. Maintaining the health of your hair and the appearance of your highlights can be achieved by using color-safe shampoos and conditioning treatments. Frequent touch-ups at the salon will guarantee that your highlights remain vivid and crisp, maintaining your put-together and fashionable appearance.

In the end, highlighting light hair is all about expressing yourself and bringing out your inherent beauty. You’re sure to find a highlighting style that looks great on you and adds that extra boost of confidence because there are so many options available. Accept the opportunities and savor the fresh perspective that highlights can offer your appearance.

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