How to Highlight Hair

Highlights can give you a wild or elegant look, without all the hassle of bleaching or dying. Unlike bleaching and dying, highlights only color a part of your hair, so they're much less damaging. But they're also much more complicated to do well. This guide will show you how to highlight hair to get the look you want.
Highlighting Tips
1. Find a color that works for you.
2. Use a good conditioner for several weeks before you highlight.
3. Decide whether to highlight with a brush, cap or other method.
4. Don't shampoo for a day or so before you highlight.
5. Do a test strand before highlighting.
6. Brush your hair thoroughly before highlighting.
7. Wearing gloves, apply your highlight mixture.
8. Let it sit for the specified time.
9. Rinse it out. Use conditioner.

Introduction
- Bleaching or dying your hair is a great way to make a dramatic change to your appearance, but these processes can be very damaging to your hair.Wikipedia: Hair coloring Fortunately, you can also get some amazing effects with highlighting, a process that's much less damaging than bleaching or dying because it only colors parts of your hair.CareFair.com: Highlight Your Hairstyle
- Highlights can be as subdued or outrageous as you wish.LovetoKnow: Hair Highlighting Ideas You can use them to give your hair a little extra sparkle, or you can go for a more attention-grabbing look. Getting highlights in a professional salon can be very expensive, but this guide will teach you how to highlight hair, save yourself a bundle and look great.Wikipedia: Hair highlighting
Step 1: Before You Highlight
- Before you can get started highlighting, there are things you'll need to know and decisions you'll need to make.
1. Before you do anything to your hair, think it over very carefully.
  - Think about whether the color you're considering is really going to look good on you.How To Do Things.com: How To Choose a Hair Color That Suits You
  - Some looks just won't suit your coloring.eHow: How to Choose Hair Highlights for a Dark Complexion For instance, if you have naturally ruddy skin, reddish highlights won't be very flattering.
  - Experiment with a picture of yourself in PhotoShop to see how different hair colors would look on you.Tutorialoutpost: Adding Hair Color Highlights to Your Photo
2. Seriously consider whether you would be better off having your highlights done by a professional at a salon.LoveToKnow: Highlighting Your Hair
  - Even if you've previously bleached or colored your own hair before, don't assume that doing your own highlighting will be simple.Hairfinder: Effects of Highlighting
  - If you can afford to have your highlights done by a professional, you probably should.CareFair.com: Perfect Highlights
  - If possible, talk it over with a salon professional for recommendations about what products and methods would work best for you.Helium: How to choose the right shade for your highlights
3. Some women worry about bleaching or highlighting their hair when they're pregnant. Fortunately, research suggests that doing it should be very safe.Babycentre: Is it safe to colour or perm my hair during pregnancy?
  - If you're still concerned, talk to your doctor before highlighting.
Step 2: Prepare to Highlight
1. No matter what highlighting method you use, you will need to assemble the following materials before highlighting: hair dye, fitted latex gloves, a plastic or glass bowl, a towel, conditioner and a wide-toothed comb.eHow: How to Apply Highlights to Your Hair
2. When you go to buy your highlighting supplies, stick with major brands like L'Oreal.L'Oreal: L'Oreal official site
  - These brands have been used safely by millions of consumers, so they're going to be more reliable than smaller brands.SoYouWanna.com: Soyouwanna Dye Your Own Hair?
  - Even if you're interested in unnatural colors like green or pink, stick with a big, reputable company like Manic Panic.Manic Panic: Manic Panic official site
3. Use conditioner and a good, clarifying shampoo for a few days before you do your highlights.eHow: How to Choose Highlights That Complement Your Coloring
  - This will clean your hair and also flush out any traces of hair care products, so your hair will be more receptive to the highlights.
4. Don't wash your hair for a day or so before you highlight.
  - A little bit of natural oil in your hair will help to protect you from any chemical damage from the highlighting.
5. As a beginner, you should probably stick to more subtle highlights, one or two shades lighter than your natural hair, to minimize the risk of damaging your hair (or just looking bad).iVillage: Do Your Highlights Look Real?
6. Brush your hair carefully before highlighting.wikiHow: How to Do Your Own Highlights
  - Any tangles in your hair will make it difficult to apply the highlights, and the results will be less effective.
7. Before you highlight, test the process on a strand of your hair.CareFair.com: Highlights or Dying
  - Make sure your hair becomes the color you want, and you don't have an allergic reaction to the highlight mixture.
Step 3: Highlighting

There are various methods of highlighting your hair. We'll touch on several of the most popular.
Highlighting with a Brush
- Using a brush is one of the simplest methods for highlighting your hair.How To Do Things.com: How To Highlight Your Hair
1. Note that this method works best if you have longer hair. If you have shorter hair, you would be better off with the cap method described below.How To Do Things.com: How To Highlight Hair
2. You will need a small acrylic paintbrush, half an inch or a fourth of an inch wide.eHow: How to Apply Highlights to Your Hair
  - A small brush will enable you to be precise with your color application.
3. Before you get started, carefully go over the instructions that came with your highlighting supplies.
4. If possible, always have a friend help you with any hair treatment.eSSORTMENT: Tips on dying your hair yourself
  - A friend can reach the parts of your head that are hard for you to see.
5. The highlight process can be messy, so you should probably work in the bathroom.
  - Wear a towel around your neck, and dress in old clothes that you don't mind staining.eHow: How to Protect Clothes Before Dying Hair
  - Wear rubber or plastic gloves.
6. Part your hair in the same place you usually do.eHow: How to Get Great Hair Highlights At Home
  - This way, the highlights will work with your typical hairstyle.
7. Mix the highlighter ingredients to the consistency described by your kit.
  - Mix the color in a plastic or glass bowl, never a metal one.WikiHow: How to Go from Black Hair to Blonde Hair
8. Starting from the back of your head, begin applying the product to the parts of your hair you want to highlight.Women's Healthcare Topics: Bring Out Your Hair's Natural Highlights
  - By starting from the back, you won't have to worry about accidentally smearing parts of your hair you already highlighted.LoveToKnow: Hair Highlights
9. You can apply the mixture in thin streaks for a more subtle effect, or apply it more thickly for chunky highlights.wiseGEEK: What are Chunky Highlights? You can also mix it up, with both thin and chunky highlights.
10. Keep checking on your highlights throughout the process.
  - Use a paper towel to clean some of the mixture off a strand of your hair. If it's already as light as you want, you might be done even if the directions specify to leave it on for longer.Cosmopolitan: She hue dares to do it at home(May 23, 2008)
11. Wait for the amount of time specified by the product.
  - Never leave the product on your hair for longer than the directions specify.
12. When you have finished highlighting, rinse thoroughly and use conditioner to help keep your hair from drying out and to help the color set.Hairfinder: Hair Conditioners & Conditioning Treatments
Highlighting Using Pull-through Caps
- Pull-through caps, or applicator caps, are handy things that you can use to very accurately target just the parts of your hair you want to highlight.eHow: How to Highlight Hair Using a Cap
1. Applicator caps are widely available at drug stores and beauty supply stores.
2. These caps are covered with little holes, and they come with metal hooks. Put the cap on and use the hook to pull strands of your hair through some of the holes.How To Do Things.com: How To Bleach Your Hair
  - The cap will protect the parts of your hair you don't want to highlight.Helium: How to choose the right shade for your highlights
  - Unless you want a very extreme effect, you shouldn't pull your hair through all of the holes.eHow: How to Highlight a Man's Hair
3. Put on plastic or rubber gloves before you apply the highlighting product.
4. Apply it to the strands of hair you've pulled through the cap.
5. Let the product soak in for the time specified by the kit's directions.
6. Rinse out the product and use conditioner.
Highlighting Using Foils
- Foiling hair is a popular method used in many salons. eHow: How to Separate and Foil Hair When Coloring Strips of foil are used to seperate the hair into different sections, so complex color effects can be achieved.
1. It can be expensive to have foiling done in a salon, so many people are tempted to try it at home.
2. While there are various online guides for how to foil your own hair, foiling hair is complicated and risky. We don't suggest you try to do it yourself. You should really have it done by a professional.MSN Lifestyle: Break Out of Your Hair Rut
Highlighting Using Natural Methods
- If you are concerned about the chemicals in highlighter kits, there are natural ways to highlight your hair.Kidzworld: How to Get Sun-Streaked Hair These methods include using beer, chamomile tea and lemon juice.SheKnows: Natural hair highlights
1. This lemon juice method is simple: you just put a little lemon juice on your hair and then spend some time in the sun. Hairfinder: Lemon Juice, Highlights & Lowlights Nature takes care of the rest.
  - You must already be blond, or close to it, for this process to be effective.CareFair.com: Bring Out Your Natural Highlights Naturally
  - If you try this on brown hair, your hair will probably turn orange.WikiHow: How to Highlight Blonde Hair
Step 4: After You Highlight
- Congratulations, you're done highlighting!
1. Detangle your hair with a wide-tooth comb, then dry off with a towel and a blowdryer.Hairfinder: Foil Highlighting
2. If you are experiencing problems, call the number listed in the directions for your product and ask a company representative for help.
3. After you get highlights, you should probably refrain from getting a perm or other hair treatments for several weeks.AllExperts: Topic: Hairstyling (June 5, 2007)
Conclusion
- While some complicated highlighting procedures, like using foils, are best left to professionals, you can get great results by doing your own highlights at home. Whether you're looking for a subtle change or a totally new look, highlights can get you there without damaging your hair the way that coloring all of your hair can. Approach highlighting carefully and follow these tips, and you should be looking great!