Right from highlighting a little strip to changing the complete look of your hair, highlighting your hair is one of the most dynamic ways to change your appearance. It can change your look entirely.
In this post, we will discuss “how to highlight your own hair at home?”
There are various kinds of hair highlighting right from balayage to traditional foils. But this whole process consumes a lot of time and it is really expensive – going up to thousands of dollars.
What can be done then?
Well dyeing your hair at home can save you a good amount of time and most importantly, it’ll save you money.
Home highlighting kits can be found in stores at very cheap prices and are a great way to color your hair.
I was looking through solutions for how to highlight my own hair to save myself the hassle of spending all my money just because I had a family function in line. So I asked myself, can I highlight my hair at home?
What do you think I found?
I found the best ways to highlight my own hair in several ways. Want to know how?
Without any further ado, let’s get into the topic.
Types of Hair Highlighting:
There are various types of hair highlighting and their results vary according to the procedure followed.
1. Foil Highlights
This is one of the traditional ways of highlighting your hair at home and it has been used by hairdressers and Does It Yourself enthusiasts across the globe for many years.
In this procedure, the highlighted strip of hair is covered with aluminium foil during the time of coloring.
This foil traps the heat in that region and makes the process of highlighting faster. It also makes sure that the color does not spread, giving you very precise highlights.
What Do You Need?
- Highlighting kit (You can find it in any drugstore)
- Hairbrush
- Rubber Gloves for applying the color
- Sectioning clips
- Hair tinting brush
- Aluminium foil
- Rat Tail Comb
- Colour Safe Shampoo with Conditioner (Again you can purchase this at any pharmacy)
Process Of Applying The Colour:
- Mix the hair dye according to the instructions mentioned on the packet.
- Remove all tangles and knots from your hair for effective application of color.
- Put on the runner gloves before applying the dye. Don’t touch the dye directly. Part your hair in the middle.
- Make sure that the strips of foil you are cutting are 4 inches wide and 2 inches longer than the length of your hair.
- Now, here’s the tricky part. You need to divide all your hair into 3×3 inch squares and section that with the sectioning clips.
- You can remove the clips from a section of hair that is right on the front side of your head.
- Now get the rat tail comb. Hold its tail exactly parallel to the mid partition section. Pull up all the hairs from that part so that you pick up all surface strands of that particular section.
- Now, place a strip of foil cut earlier under that slice and make sure that the end of foil is placed right at the root of that section.
- Then apply hair dye in this section right from the roots to the ends.
- After you ensure that the color is applied thoroughly, fold the foil placed beneath it in half from the bottom edge of the hair till the top edge. Fold it the same way one more time.
- There is going to be an outside edge remaining of foil. Fold it inwards and secure it with the sectioning clip.
- Repeat this process on all the sections of hair which you wish to highlight.
- Let the color sit on your hair for the duration which is mentioned on the packet.
- Remove the foils and wash off the dye with color-safe shampoo and conditioner.
2. Hair Painting (Balayage)
Hand-painted highlights aka balayage are very popular right now. There are various reasons for it. But the reason that we love it it’s stunning appearance.
This technique makes the color seem so flawless that it gives a mirage as if the hair has grown that way.
But since it’s so beautiful and flawless, there has to be a little glitch. Well, it’s not easy to balayage your hair. It is done by highly skilled professional hairdressers.
What can be done to make it simple?
That’s what we are here for. Here’s a simple procedure with which you can balayage your color without a lot of hassle. Let’s get into it.
What Do You Need?
- Highlighting Kit
- Rubber Gloves
- Flat Paddle Brush
- Hair Tinting Brush
- Sectioning Clip
- Colour-safe Shampoo and Conditioner
Process Of Applying The Colour:
1. Mix the color according to the instructions specified on the packet.
2. Put on your rubber gloves and as stated earlier never touch the color or dye mixture without wearing them.
3. Part your hair in the middle and clip up half of it with sectioning clips.
4. Coat the bristles of your padded brush with the dye with the help of a hair tinting brush.
5. Now, run this coated brush from various sections of your hair from midsection till the end section of your hair.
6. Flip the brush and then run it through the back of the same section of hair.
7. Always apply more products on the roots than the upper end of your hair.
8. Keep applying dye in your hair with the help of a brush till you have covered every section of your hair. Make sure you are applying the color all the way from the roots to the top and make sure that the color you are applying is a little further down in some sections and a little further up in some sections. This gives the balayage a natural and flawless feel.
9. Unclip the other half of your hair and repeat the same procedure there as well.
10. Leave the dye for the time period mentioned on the package and then wash it off with color-safe shampoo and conditioner.
3. Frosted Highlights
This term certainly takes you down memory lane. I hope you remember boys back in the 2000s who used to sport that dreaded blond strand just for the sake of looking cool.
Thankfully, this process does not resemble that in any way. In frosted highlighting, a special cap having a number of holes is placed upon your head and with the help of that, your hair is colored.
The result of this technique is a gorgeous hair color that blends with your natural hair and gives a seamless look.
What Do You Need?
- Highlighting Kit (There are special highlighting kits for frosted highlighting available in the market. Make sure the kit you are buying contains a highlighting cap and hooks).
- Rubber Gloves
- Hair Tinting Brush
- Colour Safe Shampoo and Conditioner
Process Of Applying The Colour:
1. Mix the dye according to the instructions specified on the package.
2. Put on the highlighting cap and rubber gloves.
3. Now, the tricky part, start pulling the section of hair from the holes on the cap with the help of a hook.
4. Now, you need to determine how much of your hair you want to color and the positioning of the cap. Once you are satisfied, you can start applying the color.
5. Make sure you are applying the color from the roots till the end. It can be tricky due to the cap.
6. Leave the dye on for the duration indicated on the package and then wash it with shampoo and conditioner.
4. Hair Chunking
Do you love a different vibe around your hair? Well, then you need to go for hair chunking.
Hair chunking creates a dramatic look. It is done the same way as regular highlighting but the only difference is it is done in thicker sections of hair.
This creates a contrast between the original hair color and the highlighted part. If done right, it’ll give you a funky look.
What do you need?
- Highlighting Kit
- Hairbrush
- Rubber Gloves
- Sectioning Clips
- Hair Tinting Brush
- Aluminium Foil
- Rat Tail Comb
- Colour Safe Shampoo and Conditioner.
Process Of Applying The Colour:
1. Mix the hair dye according to the instructions given on the package.
2. Now, repeat the exact same procedure as specified under the section foil highlights, just while sectioning your hair divide them into bigger sections and slice off more hair into the upper layer of each section.
3. Wash off the color afterward when the time required to process the color is up with a color-safe shampoo and conditioner.
These are the different ways in which you can highlight your hair.
But you need to take care of a few things while highlighting your hair.
Tips While Highlighting Your Hair:
1. Be Careful While Choosing The Product
It seems easier to use the color you are always using in the shade you want to highlight your hair. But it is not.
It’s always preferable that you use the special highlighting kits. Especially if you have dark hair and you are going for a lighter shade, you’ll need color containing enough amount of bleach to get that lift, unlike blonde hair where you can go for the bleach-free highlighting kit.
2. Always Opt For Strand Test
If you are a brunette, your hair color lifts up in stages. It goes from brown, then red, then orange, and finally turns to yellow.
So, you need to be very careful while changing your hair color from darker to lighter, your hair might get stuck somewhere in between red and yellow and acquire a blazing orange color.
That is why you should always start with a strand test. It will help you determine what amount and what type of hair color will give your hair the shade you are looking for.
If you think that the shade is perfect your mixture is ready to go. If you are going lighter then you can reapply the coat. But don’t go too light or it’ll seem unnatural.
3. Streak Hair The Right Way
The center-parted hair will go differently than the side-parted hair in this case. So you need to know how to streak your hair to get perfect and flawless highlights.
- On dry hair, apply the mixture on a one-inch section in the front. Keep the cream a few centimeters away from the scalp.
- Then as you work out to the middle of the hair then gradually thin out the sections to half an inch.
- At the under layers reduce it to quarter-inch pieces.
- Don’t be too paranoid about the placement of streaks. The coolest highlights are always asymmetric.
4. Introduce Your Hair To Moisture Again
After you have applied the hair color, your hair will dry out. It’s important that you reintroduce moisture in the hair.
After applying the hair color and keeping it for the desired amount of time, take every strand and wash it individually with a good color-safe shampoo.
After that, use a conditioner and keep it on for at least 5 to 10 minutes. If you are using hair color with ammonia in it, this process is even more important.
5. Using Hair Toner Will Also Help
Toning your hair always helps to enhance the contrast and makes it seem natural. You can use a home glossing kit for toning hair.
As stated, it is important that you choose the right hair color to color your hair. Always go for a shade darker than what you are expecting the outcome to be. You can go lighter from darker but it’s hard to go darker from lighter.
So, these were a few ways with which you can color your hair at home. It can be a bit complicated in the beginning. You might even face a few failures, hence why the strand test.
But once you get the hang of all the process and you get enough practice, you will save loads of money and time that you probably spend at beauty salons and boutiques.
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