Highlights: How To Get Professional Results At Home

Highlights can bring dimension and style to uniform-colored hair. Costing upwards of fifty dollars at a salon, it’s no wonder that you’re entertaining the idea of doing yours at home. When done properly, DIY highlights can look as good as their professional counterparts. By simply following some easy instructions, you can have gorgeous, natural looking highlights that are sure to turn heads.

First of all, highlighting kits are available at most drug stores. Never use regular hair color to highlight your hair! While I don’t recommend using out-of-the-box colorants to complete a full-head color application, most highlighting kits you can buy at your local supermarket can produce excellent results.

There are two types of kits- the cap and hook kit, which provides a plastic hair cap and a hook that looks like a knitting needle, or a brush kit, which uses either a large ‘mascara’ type brush or a brush folds in the middle and coats hair from both sides. Both kits are useful, but for a highlight novice, I recommend using a cap and hook application. In the box you will find a cap that covers your entire head, that has hundreds of tiny holes in it. Using the hook, you will pull portions of your hair through multiple holes. You can pull a lot of hair out of each hole for drastic highlights, or a little bit for a more subtle look. In most kits, the cap will have a guide that tells you where to pull from if you want ‘face framing’ or ‘all over’ highlights. This process can be a little painful, and needs to be done on dry hair that hasn’t been washed within the last 24 hours. Once all strands have been pulled out successfully, simply mix the highlighter according to the directions and apply to all hair on the outside of the cap. Leave the cap on while the highlights develop in accordance with box directions. Keep tabs on the highlights by watching them in a mirror every five minutes or so. When desired lightening has been achieved or when all time allowed has expired, remove the cap and wash hair with a mild shampoo. Apply a moisturizing conditioner and style as usual, using low heat devices.

If you choose to use a brush kit, you will be highlighting only the top layer of your hair. Simply mix the highlighter according to the instructions and apply to the top layer of hair in sections ranging from ┬╝ inch to 1 ┬╜ inches thick. Stick to three to five sections on each side of the head. Leave to develop according to instructions and rinse with a mild shampoo. Use a moisturizing conditioner and style as usual, also with low heat devices.

With a little knowledge and patience, you can achieve salon quality highlights at home, and save yourself a ton of money in the process. You should also have the equipment needed. In doing DIY, it doesn’t have to be expensive. You can check some helpful and cheap tools at impactdriverguide.co.uk/makita-impact-drivers. This website is one of the reliable online platforms when it comes to DIY projects at home.