Highlighting at home on your own

Lightened strands refresh the hair color, visually rejuvenate the face, allow you to disguise gray hair and add zest to the image without a serious change of image. Therefore, for many years, highlighting has remained one of the demanded services in salons. And the availability of professional tools and devices allows you to do highlighting at home on your own.

Methods for home dyeing strands

1. Traditional highlighting using foil or thermal paper. It is often resorted to in salons, and it is also easy to make it yourself at home. To achieve the desired effect, the colored strands are "packed" in foil. The method is suitable for owners of hair of any length.
2. Highlighting through the cap. One of the simple and popular methods in which a “headgear” with many holes is used. The downside of this method is that it is suitable exclusively for owners of short haircuts.
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3. Outdoor dyeing, i.e. without the use of foil or thermal paper. It is believed that this is how you can achieve soft color transitions and the visual effect of burnt hair. The strands are processed with the coloring composition with smooth brush movements, they are often painted in a chaotic manner. Without special skills, it is quite problematic to carry out such a procedure on your own.
4. Highlighting with fleece. To achieve soft color transitions, the strand is first combed, and only then the coloring composition is applied to it with light and careless strokes. The procedure is quite difficult to perform at home without special skills.
5. Highlights in a circle. This "folk" method is used quite rarely, but it is still worth mentioning. A circle is made from the material at hand, in the center of which a hole is cut. Strands are pulled through this hole and they are already treated with paint.
6. Highlighting with a comb. A composition is applied to a comb with rare teeth or a special comb and distributed over the curls, combing them.

   

   

   
   

   The result of such staining without preliminary preparation can be unpredictable. Therefore, in this way it is better to lighten the strands by no more than 1-2 tones.

7. Highlighting with elastic bands. Produces a trendy ombre effect. The hair is divided into parts and several ponytails are made. Then paint is applied to the tips.
8. "Pigtail" highlighting. Suitable for lightening curly or wavy hair for a couple of tones when you want to create a sun glare effect. The hair is braided in pigtails and the coloring composition is spread over their surface.

 These methods allow you to achieve good results even for those who do not have special skills and experience in hairdressing.

Highlights with foil

What is required for him:

• lightening composition (a mixture of powder and oxidizer): for light brown and light brown hair, the oxidizer should be 6–8%, for dark and difficult to dye - 10–12%, for weakened ones - 4%;
• a brush for applying the product (some get by with a regular sponge or toothbrush);
• foil: suitable for both special, which is sold already in a cut form, and household in a roll;
• an ordinary comb, as well as a comb with a long narrow handle for pulling out a lock;
• gloves;
• glass or plastic container for paint;
• a cape that protects clothing from paint.

By the way, today in professional cosmetics stores you can buy already formed kits for home coloring. They have everything you need for the procedure.

Carrying out the procedure

It's good if you have an assistant to color the back strands. If not, sit between the front and rear mirrors. Then you will be able to clearly see all the areas to be painted. So, let's look at how to do highlighting with foil at home step by step.

Instructions:

1. First of all, cut the foil into strips about 7-10 cm wide and a few centimeters longer than your hair, put a cape or towel on your shoulders. Dilute the coloring composition, following the instructions.
2. Divide your hair into several zones (side and back), each of which secure with a hair clip. For greater convenience, the curls can be divided into 6-8 sections: 2-4 in the central part of the head, as well as 2 parts in the side zones. It is also better to separate the bangs, if any, from the entire mass of hair. You can start coloring from the bottom strand on the back of the head, moving up, or from above, down.
3. Use a long comb to separate the first strand. Using the darning method, select several narrow strands of the same width from it. Wrap a piece of foil 5-10 mm and place it under the selected strands so that the fold is at the root zone (this will prevent the dye from flowing onto the skin and unpainted hair).
4. Dip brush into the dye composition and process the selected hair, stepping back from the roots about 0.8-1 cm. Then fold the foil in half, covering the colored strand. For a better hold on the foil, wrap it on the side cuts.
5. Separate another strand and secure it with a clip so that it does not get in the way (you do not need to paint it).
6. Color the next strand using the method described above. Repeat this procedure over the entire head, alternating between treated and untouched strands.
7. For light lightening of light brown and light strands, the product can be kept on the hair for no longer than 15–20 minutes. If you need to lighten dark strands, it will take 30 to 45 minutes.
8. Gently remove the foil and rinse your hair well with warm water and balm. Use a tinting balm if necessary.

Nuances

• Before removing the foil, unpack one of the strands to check if it has lightened enough. If the desired effect has not yet been achieved, increase the time. But don't keep the paint for longer than 45 minutes.
• Hair in different areas can be lightened at different rates. If some curls are dyed badly, and the rest are already white, you can speed up the process by "drying" the poorly clarified strands with a hot hairdryer.
• It is better to divide the procedure of highlighting very thick and porous hair into several stages. For example, first treat the back of the head, and then, after washing off the paint, go to the frontal zone.

Highlighting medium length hair with foil - video

Highlighting with a hat

What you need:

• Hat with holes. You can purchase a special one for highlighting. Or use a swimming cap, a simple plastic bag. Depending on the desired result, holes are cut randomly or in a checkerboard pattern.
• A hook for pulling out a strand (knitting or a comb with a thin handle will do).
• Lightening composition.
• Gloves, cape.
• Brush for applying the coloring composition, container for paint.

Carrying out the procedure

This highlighting is popular due to its simplicity. You can avoid common problems such as foil slipping and color unevenness as a result.

But right away it is worth saying that in this case it will not work well to do highlighting on long hair. The optimal length of the strands is no more than 15–20 cm.

How to carry out the highlighting procedure through a hat at home?

Here's a step-by-step guide:

1. Put on the "headgear" first. Pull thin strands out through the holes. If you want to achieve intense highlighting, use absolutely all holes, medium - pull your hair through every second hole, light - through every third.

   

   

   

   
   
2. Prepare the coloring composition. Use a brush to paint on the strands. To prevent the composition from flowing under the cap, apply it, slightly stepping back from the hair roots.
3. For a weak lightening for a couple of tones, it is enough to wait about 15 minutes, for a strong one - a little more than 30 minutes. But do not keep the mixture on your hair for more than 45 minutes.
4. After the required period of time has passed, leaving the hat on your head, wash off the paint from the strands.
5. Then remove the cap and re-wash your hair with shampoo and conditioner. After the procedure, it is advisable to let the curls dry naturally.

How to do highlighting through a hat with your own hands - video

What to do after the procedure?

Immediately after highlighting, you can treat your hair with a toning balm. With its help, you will achieve the desired shade of the strands, for example, pearl, honey or wheat. Also, toning will help get rid of yellowness, which so often has to be dealt with after lightening. In addition, a tint balm will help make color transitions more natural and correct some color imperfections.

• If you are not satisfied with the result of highlighting, do not rush to immediately repeat the procedure or completely repaint your hair. Otherwise, you risk "burning" them. You will have to wait at least 1.5-2 weeks before re-chemical exposure of your hair. If the resulting color looks disastrously bad, use a mild tinting balm.
• Bleached hair requires special care. He consists in the use of special products for bleached hair, nourishing balms and masks, protection from the sun and thermal effects.
• The next highlighting procedure can be done in about 1.5–3 months. Moreover, it is not at all necessary to re-discolor the strands along the entire length; in most cases, you can do with root highlighting.

What is worth knowing? Helpful hints

1. If your hair is too weak and depleted, it is better to skip the procedure. Discoloration will only make the situation worse. In addition, highlighting on such hair will look sloppy.
2. Highlighting is best done 2-3 days after shampooing. If you have oily hair, then the procedure can be carried out the next day after washing.
3. At least 2 weeks must have passed since the last dyeing, otherwise you risk ruining your hair. If you dyed your hair with henna, then the result obtained can be completely unpredictable.
4. Very thin highlighting on thick hair often resembles gray hair. If, on the contrary, you have thin and thin hair, wide highlights will not look very harmonious on them.
5. There are highlighting techniques, in the process of which not one shade is used, but several at once. It looks interesting and fresh. For beginners, it is better not to experiment and give preference to highlighting using one tone.
6. If you want the highlighting to look soft and natural, choose a paint that differs from the base color by no more than 3 tones.

Considering all these recommendations, you can easily make high-quality coloring, significantly saving on the services of a hairdresser. But do not forget that highlighting is stress for the hair. Therefore, in order to preserve the beauty and health of the curls, you must provide them with high-quality and complete care after the procedure.