So, do you fancy a change of look? Maybe you’re considering lightening and brightening up your hair. If you’ve never had highlights before and you feel a bit nervous, fear not, ROCK PAMPER SCISSORS presents the first-timers guide to highlights for all you newbies.
Highlights are achieved by applying streaks of colour in the form of a dye or paste, usually containing peroxide or a bleaching agent to thin sections of the hair, evenly around the head. The effect can be dramatic or subtle depending on the colour of the base and the contrasting highlight; it’s a popular alternative to a full, all-over dye which is also known as single process colour. If you have a good natural hair colour that doesn’t wash out your skin tone, highlights can be a great way to simply enhance and brighten up your look; alternatively, highlights can also be applied to pre-dyed hair. As explained in this article, http://www.sofeminine.co.uk/hair/lowlights-vs-highlights-f89948.html, highlights are a great way to add depth, texture and accents to your hair.
You can opt to have highlights applied to just the top layers of your hair; this is known as a ‘half-head’ and is generally cheaper and quicker than having highlights throughout your hair (whole-head), which is really only necessary if you have very layered hair or wear your hair up a lot.
Peter Lamas describes the different techniques used to apply highlights, the most common of which is with foils. The sections of hair are placed on a strip of foil, brushed with the lightener or colour and then folded into the foil to develop. For very short hair, sometimes a cap is used which has small holes through which strands of hair are pulled and then coloured.
So, which highlight shades will work best for your hair? According to totalbeauty.com, it’s important to know if cool or warm tones work best with your natural colouring. Work it out by holding swatches of silver and gold against your hair to see which looks best.
Although it is possible to highlight your own hair at home, we at ROCK PAMPER SCISSORS think it’s advisable to go to a salon for your first time. You can discuss the best shades for you with a professional colourist, watch the application techniques in action and ask for tips on ways and products to maintain your beautiful, newly highlighted mane.