10 Tips for Highlighting Your Hair?

HEALTH BLOG: Highlighting can lighten up your look, provide some new depth to your hair, or make any boring hairstyle look trendier. So, if you have made up your mind for adding a little colorful zing to your hair, then keep these few tips in mind to give you that clean and trendier look.

1. Choosing Well: Before you start the highlighting process, you should decide whether you wish to do it yourself or get the help of a professional. A professional can guide you as to what color and style of highlighting would suit you. But if you are thinking of getting it done by none other than yourself, then spend enough time deciding on the right kind of color and style of highlighting that would suit you best.
2. Type of Highlighting: There are way too many professionals who are experts in highlighting because it is kind of an art that can be mastered with practice. However, with an array of products available in the market today, highlighting can be done at home itself. You can get yourself a good look by adding thick blocks of contrasting color or adding lighter shades in thin strips. You can even go in for a technique known as "low lighting," where the natural or darker tones of your hair are enriched, at the same time adding some highlights to your streaks.
3. Getting the Right Shades: Always keep in mind that highlighting is done to complement your hair and not make it look blotchy. Never choose a shade that is more than three times lighter than the natural color of your hair. The perfect blend would be to get a shade that is two tones lighter.
4. At the 'Beauty' Shop: Once you have decided on the color and style of your highlights, you can venture out on a shopping spree. Before the actual purchase, do have a look at the expiry date of the product. Also consider the right size of the product you need to buy depending on the length of your hair, because once opened, these products cannot be reused.
5. Other Purchases: Purchasing a set of new gloves for better protection is advisable. Although these highlighting kits come with brushes, it is better to go in for a separate acrylic brush (1/2" and 1/4" sized ones used by artists) for better control.
6. Before Starting: Make sure you choose an appropriate place to color your hair, where it will be easier to clean the mess. Put on some old clothes so that you don't repent smearing them with color. Do keep some towels or wraps on your shoulder to protect them as well as to avoid messing the place when you are at it.
7. Actual Coloring: Make it a point to wash your hair two days before going in for the process. Do not wash them on the day you are getting the work done. The reason is that if your hair is washed a good two days prior to coloring, then it will contain natural oils that will help protect your hair from the damage of coloring.
8. Getting It Clean: Apply the color only on the upper layers of your hair so that the hair underneath remains untouched, giving them more depth as well as retaining their natural look. Start from the back of your head and then go forward. If you have thin hair, then applying highlights along the curves of your stylized cut will make them look thicker and fuller. On the other hand, if you wish to lighten up your hair, then adding highlights throughout, focusing on the hairline and bangs will do the trick. Adding a few sober highlights along your bangs and on the sides of your face will brighten up your skin tone.
9. After the Process: Do not shampoo your hair for the next 48 hours to help retain the color. Avoid daily shampooing, hitting the pool, or overusing some styling products. Condition your hair regularly and touch up on the color every two to three months.
10. General Tips: Highlighting should not be done on a head that contains more than 25% grey hair, as it could turn out really patchy and ugly. Also, hair with henna treatment and metallic tints should not be highlighted.

Just follow the few tips above and you will be all set to make heads turn with those perfectly highlighted locks.

Source: lifemojo.com

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