Hair Color
Highlights and lowlights
If you’ve ever sat in the sun and ended up with a head full of blonde, gold, or red streaks, you know what highlights are: stripes of color that are lighter or brighter than your own. Highlights can be as subtle or dramatic, as thick or thin, or as few or plentiful as you like. They grow out gracefully and, because they can go from 2 to 4 months without attention, are terrifically low-maintenance. Highlights are created with permanent hair color that is painted onto, or combed into, small sections of hair. To create dramatically lighter highlights, double-process color can be used. Lowlights are the near-opposite: a darker color is painted onto the hair to create contrast. Lowlights may be used to tone down hair that is overly light.
Do not use darifying shampoos if you use any type of hair color. The can leach color pigment from treated strands. Dandruff shampoos and formulas for oily hair can also strip hair color from strands.
Double-process color
Have you always dreamed of having pale blonde hair? If your locks are dark blonde, any level of red, or any level of brown, you’ll need double-process color to get what you want. Double-process is so named because hair is first bleached of all (or nearly all) color. Some people choose to leave hair in this state, but a more polished option is to treat your decolorized tresses with a semipermanent or permanent hair color in the blonde shade of your choice (champagne, wheat, ice, moonlight there are quite a few options). I suggest going with the semi-permanent color. It’s less damaging to hair and gives you room to experiment with various shades until you find the one you adore.
