How to Choose the Perfect Highlights

Highlights are a great way to brighten (or the case of lowlights, deepen) both your hair color and overall look. There is also less chemical damage done to your hair since it is not an overall process. But choosing what kind of highlights can be daunting. Which technique and color is right for you?

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Skin tone analysis
• Hair assessment
• Hair colorist or at-home kit (the latter for the more experienced!)

1. Determine your skin tone: do you have warm or cool undertones? This is necessary to determine because your highlights should complement your skin tone, or you can risk looking washed-out. There are a couple of ways to determine this. If you have warm skin, you usually tan easily and/or you look better in off-white clothes and gold jewelry. If you have cool skin, you usually burn easily and/or you look good in true white and silver jewelry. I've found that a simple way to get an outside, professional opinion is to ask cosmetic sales reps in department stores.

2. Decide if you are going for a natural or dramatic look. Some women prefer "stripe-y" looking highlights, while others want them to blend in for a sun-kissed look. I've tried the at-home kits a few times, and the result has usually been "stripe-y." For a more natural look, I would definitely go with a professional hair colorist.

3. The length of hair is also important. If you have short hair, a rich, all-over-color can have more an impact than highlights. Longer hair benefits more from highlights, especially those that frame the face.

4. Understand that there are several different types of highlights: there is "baliage" (aka hair-painting), "lowlighting" and the most ubiquitous, "foil" highlights. Baliage takes a random, spontaneous approach, and if done right, results in some chunky but natural looking highlights, as if you sat all day in the sun. Baliage highlights usually has a softer hand than the foil technique, which strands of your hair are covered in color and literally wrapped in foil, so that the foil technique results in more dramatic coloring. Lowlighting is the exact opposite of highlighting: instead of lightening your hair color, you darken strands of your hair. It can beautifully deepen you hair color if you go four shades or less darker. Otherwise, the result can be too jarring and severe.

5. In selecting the colors, keep in mind as well certain other factors such as your lifestyle, age and occupation. Off-the-wall highlights that greatly contrast with your natural color look great on young faces, but might not agree with the professional setting of your job. There are a few no-fail looks, though, that have universal appeal: for instance, dark-brown to black hair look great with red highlights. And depending on your skin's undertone, dirty-blond to medium brown looks great with golden highlights.

Tips & Warnings

• Root growth is inevitable. Though some celebrities don't mind sporting some darker roots, highlights has the advantage here: full hair color can need retouching as soon as a month, while highlights can continue to look great for up to three months!
• Highlights are much harder to apply than regular, single-process hair color. Unless you have some experience (and a steady hand!), I would always turn to a professional than a home kit.
• If your hair is overly processed (aka permed or straightened, or single-processed), consult with a hair professional first to assess its damage.