HAIR HIGHLIGHTING & LOWLIGHTING TECHNIQUES

Women have been manipulating their hair as far back as Ancient Greek times by using all sorts of substances found in nature. But since technology has evolved into something wonderful, women and men are now able to use at-home coloring kits or even visit a salon to change their hair color. And there are a variety of hair coloring techniques to choose from, including highlights and lowlights, which we’ll discuss in-depth below.

What are They?

When you decide to get highlights, you are changing your hair color by using a lightener or dye to color small sections of the hair. Highlights are most popular in the summer months to give your hair a nice glow, and choosing the right hues can boost your complexion.

You have four types of highlighting and lowlighting techniques to choose from including the following:

• foil highlights,
• hair painting (bailage),
• frosting,
• chunking.

There are also four different formulas to choose from:

• temporary,
• semi-permanent,
• demi-permanent,
• permanent.

Lowlights are sometimes referred to as twilights, and they do just the opposite of highlights. By choosing to add lowlights to your hair, you’re adding darker tones for a less dramatic color difference. These are less noticeable than highlights when you choose a color only 2 or 3 shades darker than your natural hair color. The lowlighting process isn’t as well known or used as the highlighting process; however, in some cases, lowlighting is the better option. It’s the best choice if you’re wanting a change, but don’t want it to look too dramatic.

Tri-Color Technique

You can get both highlights and lowlights, which is a process called tri-color service. This is no doubt the best option for you if you’re wanting a natural-looking color treatment. When using the tri-color technique, it’s best to apply more highlights to the top layer of the hair than lowlights because having more lowlights underneath gives your hair more depth and dimension.

It’s not suggested to perform a tri-color at home by yourself because it can become complicated when you’re dyeing hair darker. But if you ignore the warnings and do run into a problem with at-home tri-color, you might need to use a corrector to fix the problem. Salon stylists have experience in lowlighting, and will also have the products ready to fix your hair with no extra cost to you.