How to Darken & Highlight Hair

Go to a salon for any difficult processes.

With the invention of highlighting caps and combs, many people turn to at-home methods of highlighting hair. But placing highlights on top of newly darkened hair causes blonde to turn red. If you want to highlight and darken your hair at the same time, you need to turn to foil highlighting, which allows you to separate "virgin hair" (unprocessed hair), darkening part of it and highlighting another part. You need to involve a friend to help you do an at-home foil highlighting process.

Things You'll Need

• Brush
• Salon foils
• Tail comb
• Color brush
• Dark hair color
• Light hair color
• Shampoo
• Conditioner

Instructions

1. Brush hair to remove any tangles or knots. Do not wash hair; you should apply color to dry hair only.

2. Fold salon foils a quarter from the top. You want to prep at least twenty foils for your highlighting process.

3. Pull block highlights using your tail comb. Make sure the base of the highlight does not coincide with your part. If so, everyone can see the beginning of the highlight, giving the hair a "streaky" look.

4. Place a foil under the hair you wish to highlight.

5. Brush your highlight color onto the hair you wish to highlight, covering the hair completely.

6. Fold the highlighted hair into the foil, so that it does not touch any of your dry, untreated hair.

7. Repeat this process for each highlight you wish to add.

8. Apply, quickly, darkening hair color on all un-foiled hair, using your brush or a bottle. Make sure that none of the dark hair color leaks into the foils. Wipe color from the skin around the ears, neck and face. Allow colored hair to process for the length of time indicated on your hair color.

9. Rinse dark hair without opening foils. After all of the color is rinsed out (when the water runs clear), remove foils and rinse highlight color.

10. Shampoo and condition hair, using products specifically for color treated hair.

Tips & Warnings

• Hair coloring involves chemical processes. For complex hair coloring, hire a trained professional. Coloring your own hair can result in unattractive hair, color mistakes and even scalp damage.

• Always wear proper safety equipment while coloring hair, including a smock, gloves and towels.

References

• Clairol Professional: Foil Highlighting
• Hairpedia: Throw Out the Highlights Add in the Chunks