Do you find yourself wondering what to do with your hair next? Are you unsure whether to get a new haircut or add some color? We’ve all been there!
If you don’t feel like cutting your hair but are looking for a change of scene (in the mirror), why not add some dimension to your locks with hair highlights.
There are numerous kinds to choose from, from balayage highlights, ombre highlights to babylights.
There is a lot to take into consideration when deciding whether to get a blond touch to your locks, such as the safety of the highlights, the effects of hair dye on your hair, and the price of the initial treatment plus the cost of the essential aftercare treatments.
Then finally, you’ll actually need to decide which highlighting hairstyle you like and which one will suit you. That’s why we decided to create a gallery of the best hair highlights for you to browse through to help you choose the right hairstyle for your look!
So continue reading in order to get inspired and check out our list of the best types of hair highlights, ideas, styles, products, along with frequently asked questions for you to consider.
Hair Highlights Ideas and Styles
Are you ready to get inspired? We’ve compiled the most trendy hair highlights ideas and styles with images for both women and men that will make you want to book an appointment with your stylist today!
From ash blonde ombre babylights to pulp riot rainbow highlights, we’ve got all the popular highlight hairstyles for you right here.
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Types of Hair Highlights Explained
In the world of hairstyles, hair coloring is an overwhelming style to keep up with. There are so many different trends nowadays to choose from! So in order to keep you in the loop and get you familiar with the types of hair highlights trending today, we’ve created a detailed list below.
Here is the complete list of all the different types of hair highlights, with images, explained to keep you up to date.
1. Babylights
Babylights is a fantastic color technique for giving your locks a lighter look without entirely changing your hair color. Hairstylists use a fine color method to mimic the dimensional hair color as seen on children’s hair.
Hair highlights can be achieved in natural or unnatural permanent colors. However, for babylights, the goal is to create a tone as natural-looking as possible in order to complement and blend in with your authentic hair color.
Moreover, stylists focus on making natural child-like hair highlights by creating a fresh and delicate hair color. Imagine a blonde child sitting under the sun, those natural blonde highlights are what babylights set out to achieve!
How to Create Babylights
Babylights are delicate highlights created by fine coloring techniques to mimic naturally highlighted hair by the sun. Babylights can be applied to both long and short hair and follow a thorough color method guide:
- Part the hair into 3 sections, 1 bottom section, and 2 top sections
- Follow the hairline as a guide
- Color micro-fine strands of hair
- Neatly pack with foil
2. Balayage Highlights
Developed in the 1970s by a French colorist, balayage highlights focus on creating a completely natural look. The ultimate objective is to have sun-kissed hair, not a block of colored sections.
So, if you plan on going for a balayage style, make sure your hairstylist is meticulous with their creative vision! This color technique requires a very creative mind using a bleach formula and a free-style hand. Read on to learn how to create balayage hair highlights.
How to Create Balayage Highlights
The term balayage is French for the word sweep or paint, which basically describes the technique of how these highlights are applied:
- Paste color dye onto the hair with a brush
- Do not follow a guide
- No highlight cap is needed
- The colorist makes a judgment call on where they best believe the highlights should be situated
3. Flamboyage Highlights
A contemporary highlighting technique, flamboyage is a fresh hot fashion trend and a low-maintenance hair coloring process. Basically, this newer hair highlighting technique literally means flamboyant balayage, so it focuses on bringing more hints of color to your hair.
How to Create Flamboyage Highlights
Flamboyage is a blend of ombre and balayage, where the hair is colored using transparent adhesive strips instead of the traditional foils strips:
- Use adhesive strips
- This will make the coloring process easier and faster for the colorist
- Neatly pack sections of the hair into the adhesive strips
- Waiting time is less than traditional foil techniques
4. Ombré
Ombré highlights are achieved by blending color from the root to the tips in a gradient method, but with darker roots and lighter ends. These highlights are one of the trendiest and most popular coloring techniques because of their attractive blending style.
How to Create Ombré Highlights
The goal when creating ombré highlights is to build a natural transition from darker roots to lighter tips:
- Decide where the lighter color will start
- The colorist will use a brush
- Start at the ends and work up to the faded section
5. Sombré Highlights
The sombré hair highlighting technique is basically just a more subtle ombré. If you’re uncertain about getting highlights but still drawn to a lighter color, this is the best choice for you.
How to Create Sombré Highlights
Sombré highlights are designed to create less contrast between the roots and the tips of your hair, but add just the right amount of color to brighten your hair and make it stand out:
- Blending technique is more gradual
- Incorporate different shades similar to your natural color hair
- Use free-styling balayage technique
6. Chunky Highlights
As the name implies, these hair highlights are chunky. You can decide on any color to create this look by incorporating multicolored streaks along the strands of your hair. With this particular style of hair highlights, make sure to retouch the color after a month or two, as hair dyes can fade after this time.
How to Create Chunky Highlights
Chunky hair highlights can be created by continuing the chunks or streaks of color down the entire length of the hair. If not, this highlight style can be created by applying some highlights to the top of the head while richening the ends of the hair with a more sold color:
- Divide hair into top and bottom sections
- Apply color with a brush
- Utilize the traditional foil method
7. Frosted Highlights
Frosted highlights are somewhat similar to chunky highlights. They are achieved by lightening the tips of your hair to create a multi-dimensional effect, usually using a platinum blonde dye. You’ll recognize frosted highlights on every boyband member in the 90s!
With this particular set of highlights, your roots will start to grow out in a month or two so it’s important to retouch the frosted tips every six to eight weeks.
How to Create Frosted Highlights
You don’t color all the hair at once with frosted highlights. Instead, this highlighting method is often used to enhance the natural color of already lightly colored hair:
- Use a highlighting cap
- Pull the strands of hair from the holes in the cap
- Apply the hair dye to the visible strands of hair with a brush
8. Ribbon Highlights
Similar to the balayage method, ribbon highlights focus on adding some dimension and depth to the hair. This hairstyle is perfect for those with naturally wavy or curly hair as it’s intended to just follow the flow of your natural curls.
How to Create Ribbon Highlights
Hair highlights can be a daunting endeavor if you are worried about a certain shade not suiting your natural look. However, with ribbon highlights, you can have a low-maintenance hairstyle that compliments your natural tone with its simple color method:
- Begin with a solid color base
- Weave a lighter shade throughout the entirety of the hair in a ribbon-like pattern
- Use a brush without any foil techniques
- The colorist will use a backhanding technique with their hand to brush the product back up to the root
9. Foil Highlights
Foil highlights or foiling is created by taking strands of hair and wrapping them into a foil for concentrated lightning. This is a great option if you’re looking for a more lifted color rather than blended hand-painted highlights.
As foil highlights focus on creating a full head of highlights rather than sporadic streaks of color, you can expect to pay more for this treatment than the other highlights on the list.
How to Create Foil Highlights
In comparison to the balayage method that gives you a natural blend of colors, the foil highlighting technique will give you a more uniform finish:
- Part hair into different sections
- Apply color to the hair using a brush
- Use sheets of foil to separate thick or thin pieces of hair
- This traditional coloring technique takes longer than the other highlighting methods on the list
Hair Highlighting Products
Looking for a great highlighting kit to transform your hair yourself from the comfort of your own home? We’ve compiled a list of some of the best hair highlighting products available on the market right now.
Check out this table we’ve created of the best kits for hair highlights available on the market for DIY hair coloring at home:
Frequently Asked Questions on Hair Highlights
We get a lot of questions from our readers worldwide about hair highlights, which we’ve answered below in order to help you with the decision that highlights are an awesome hairstyle option to go for.
Do highlights fade after washing the hair?
No, hair highlights do not fade after washing your hair. However, the color may start to fade in a month or two after applying. This is due to the fact that highlights are applied using bleach, which can fade after a while.
Do highlights ruin your hair?
As long as you utilize a decent aftercare treatment, hair highlights will not damage your hair. Highlights and semi-permanent dyes are not harmful, but that does not mean they do not have consequences. Using them can alter the inner structure of the hair, thereby making your hair look dull and dry, particularly if you often color to hide white or gray hair roots.
Are highlights permanent?
Hair highlights and other color treatments have four categories: temporary, semi-permanent, demi-permanent, and permanent. Hair lightened with bleach or permanent color will be lasting until the hair grows out.
How much do hair highlights cost?
The cost of hair highlights varies from salon to salon. However, on average, you can expect to pay approximately $75 for partial hair highlights and around $100 for full highlights. In addition, babylights can cost you a price of $120, and some salons charge more depending on how long your hair is.
How often do I need to have my highlights retouched?
The majority of people find that they need to have their hair highlights retouched every six to eight weeks especially when they want to retouch their roots. Since the average hair growth is 1/2-inch per month, at the end of eight weeks you will start to see your natural hair grow out.
Can I get hair highlights without using bleach?
In order to create highlights without using bleach formula, you must use a 40 volume developer or a product that is 40% peroxide. These highlight developers can be quite harsh, so it’s important to invest in a high-quality developer in order to get the best results.
Wrapping Up on Hair Highlights
To sum up, deciding on certain types of hair highlights can be challenging as there are many aspects to consider. First, you may have a ton of questions surrounding the safety of highlights and hair dye on your hair, and then there’s the durability of hair highlights to consider.
On top of that, you’re going to want to know the price for a set of hair highlights along with the cost of aftercare treatments that you will need following your color treatment.
Then finally, you need to decide which highlighting hairstyle you like and which one will actually suit your style. Luckily for you, you’ve got our article as a reference for the best advice and examples of different types of hairstyles that are trending right now, so that you can look and feel your best.
If you’ve any more questions regarding hair highlights, styles, ideas, treatments, or prices, don’t be afraid to ask in the comment section below so that we can get answering you as soon as possible.
Or if you’ve any tips and suggestions on hair highlights, please feel free to reach out – we love hearing from our worldwide readers!
