How To Highlight Your Own Hair Without A Cap

@caused.way / Design past Camden Dechert

Nosotros've all been in that location: Using a boxed color from the drugstore to hold y'all over until your next in-salon appointment or to get some serious root coverage. But when it comes to highlighting your own hair, well, the stakes are much college. Highlighting is not something a professional colorist would ever advise you to practise from dwelling. Information technology'southward a multi-step process that requires a lot of detailed attending and a conscientious, watchful heart (and hand) every step of the way.

Even though a lot tin can get wrong, if yous've already made up your heed that you're giving to give calm highlights a effort, nosotros want you to at least do it every bit safely as possible. Since experts agree that it isn't safe for those who desire to lighten all of their hair more than than two shades at home, we're going to focus on how those with existing highlights (or hair color in the blonde family) can bear upon up their color by highlighting only where the hair parts and the pieces that frame the face.

Meet the Expert

KC Carhart is a glory colorist at Chris McMillan Salon in Beverly Hills.
Cara Craig is a leading colorist at Suite Caroline Salon in Soho.

Read on to learn how to highlight hair at home like a pro.

01 of 10

Consult With Your Colorist

@dphue

If you can't wait for a professional to exercise the task for you, you lot need to at least talk with 1 beginning. Consulting your colorist will not simply assistance you to gain some sort of understanding of what you lot're about to practice, but information technology's an opportunity to collaboratively come upwards with a strategic approach.

Craig cautions that when highlighting your pilus at home, you could end upwardly with a completely different color (because the box photos are never the same), odd placement, a blonde that is fashion too warm and doesn't match the rest of your hair, or color that is mode besides night. "I stay in touch with my clients and volition troubleshoot their individual situations," she says. "My advice would exist to communicate with your colorist and get their recommendation. They know you and your pilus."

Some brands, like L'Oreal'southward Colour & Co, will offer a free consultation with a professional colorist to assistance you accept your all-time step forward with at-dwelling hair colour. Even if you don't have a trusted get-to colorist, if there's someone you love following on Instagram, or a colour brand y'all're leaning towards using, send them a DM request for advice. Most in-person consults are going to exist gratis of charge anyhow, and then asking over due east-mail or online is no different so long as they have a good photo of your current color, preferably in natural lighting. The goal all professionals have at the end of the mean solar day is to brand a contribution to skilful hair, and to help people experience their all-time.

02 of x

Find Your Colour Kit

@colorandco

Later on talking with a pro, you should accept gathered some good information to help you move forward, such as your current base color or level, and potentially even a specific product recommendation. Now, at that place are two ways to touch up your highlights:

The showtime way is with single-process color. That means you lot have one colour awarding, rinse, and you're done. Ordinarily, single-process is best for an allover change, or for root bear upon-ups to conceal gray hair. If your hair is light plenty, you may be able to pull this off (with your colorist'due south blessing, of class). If you get the single procedure color route, exist sure to apply a semi- or demi-permanent color to help your colour fade over time versus leaving a longer-lasting stain on the hair that will create more work to correct subsequently. FYI: These tin only be used to darken your hair or modify the tone.

A single process is really but going to change the shade of your hair one to ii levels, which volition be easier for lighter base colors that are already within the dark blonde family unit. If your natural base of operations color is super dark, this isn't going to be your route to lighter strands. Call back, "this is more of get-you-by-til-your-colorist-can-come across-you tutorial," says Carhart, "not the time to meet if you look good equally a DIY blonde." Since this option doesn't entail any bleach, "you'd have to piece of work pretty hard to burn your hair off," Craig tells the states. So at least that rules out one of the many potential risks.

All highlighting that's done in the salon is typically washed with bleach. Bleaching is more likely to cause serious impairment if you aren't conscientious, such as burning the hair off as Craig referenced above. When y'all use bleach, it's considered a double process task because there are two steps involved to get your desired result: bleaching and toning. The bleach is going to strip your strands of their electric current shade, lifting color out a few levels lighter, and the toner is going to and so re-eolith the desired tone. It's a much more intensive procedure for beginners, let alone for doing it yourself at dwelling house with no help. Even in the salon, it'southward pretty rare to find a professional using this method without an extra set of hands profitable them, so let that be telling of why this method isn't typically advised for DIY.

Earlier resorting to touching up your ain highlights at abode, try an at-home gloss or toning handling starting time. While they won't lighten your roots, they tin help tone down unwanted brassiness betwixt appointments, improving the overall look of your highlights. Squad Byrdie loves the Matrix Total Results So Silver Mask ($26) and the Kristin Ess Signature Gloss in Wintertime Wheat ($fourteen).

03 of 10

Gather Your Materials

@matrix

Go to (or gild online from) a beauty supply store like Sally'southward to get together your supplies, or see if your colorist tin order materials for you lot and yous can reimburse them through Venmo (if you do something like this, we'd suggest including a tip).

Nearly unmarried-process touch-ups are going to come up in a box or kit that includes everything for you: Your gloves, instructions, mixing solutions, and application bottle. Again, I will emphasize not to become started with a single procedure color just because it seems easy and straightforward. You must make certain this is advice directly from your colorist. Carhart reminds united states, "it could exist 10 times harder and at least twice as expensive afterwards for your colorist to fix box dyes."

For a double process bleach-and-tone, your materials should include:

A color castor
A minor mixing basin
Bleach
Peroxide
Some foil. Carhart suggests using kitchen foil and cut into 4" x six" rectangles
A rat-tail comb
Latex gloves
A color greatcoat or towel and prune

When choosing a peroxide, Carhart says to keep information technology "low depression depression!" Keeping a low volume will help ensure you don't fry your hair off, and it leaves more than hope for your colorist to fix any potential mistakes fabricated. "We can't reattach your pilus if it'southward been cleaved off!" says Carhart. "If your hair is naturally light (blonde to low-cal brown), 10 volume is the highest you should go," she advises. A level x book peroxide will lift one level lighter and a level xx volume will safely lift two. "If your pilus is naturally darker (medium brown to black), employ twenty volume."

Mix your bleach and peroxide into a thick, but blended consistency. You don't want it to be too runny or soupy. Make certain your gloves are on even while mixing. If bleach touches the skin, it will fire. Bleach will stain your apparel too, so be sure to put your cape on for protection right away.

04 of 10

Perform a Strand Examination

@bleachlondon

A strand test is when you take a small sliver of hair and apply your color solution to see how it turns out before going all in. Before yous do this, brand sure your pilus is make clean. You want clean hair that'due south product-complimentary so there isn't any buildup or barrier on your strands that inhibit penetration.

If you do a strand test, specifically with bleach, be sensitive to maintaining your foil placement. Endeavor to get a good look at the strand to approximate if it's the level of brightness you were expecting, just be sure to leave your foil in place until it'southward time to remove and rinse. "[Strand tests] could cause bleed marks if people are removing the foil and trying to put the hair back in," says Carhart. "I would simply open the foil slightly and look at information technology. When it looks yellow or pale xanthous, information technology'southward ready. The quickness or slowness of the chemical reaction will depend entirely on the private," she explains. "Typically, light hair lifts faster and night hair lifts slower."

If you're doing a full bleach and tone, you can examination your entire process on this strand. It sounds like a lot of actress work, and it is! Just meliorate to take the time and risk a single strand that tin easily be hidden, versus going in at the roots that are nigh visible only to realize it was not at all what you expected. The key to checking your strand test, according to Carhart, is "minimal touching."

05 of 10

Choose Your Method

@bleachlondon

There are a lot of ways to physically highlight the hair. When you go to the salon, your stylist might use foils, they might do balayage (with a brush), or they may fifty-fifty backcomb your ends before using foils so stick y'all nether a dryer for an hour. None of that is going to happen for a home application.

Techniques like balayage and backcombing are meant to lighten the ends and highlight all-over. Plus, with those techniques, you don't demand to have your ends touched up much at all. "I pigment balayage highlights so the abound-out is smooth and seamless," says Craig, "so a few more months of roots won't be the cease of the globe. Your hair probably looks practiced."

Recall: this tutorial is the last resort to salvage y'all between visits. You will only exist dealing with your roots.

With that in mind, Carhart suggests using a foil technique for bleaching. The amount of fourth dimension you exit information technology on for will be dependent upon your colorist's advice. Merely y'all can check the foils every v to 10 minutes to see how it'southward lifting (with minimal touching, of course).

If you determine to use a single procedure color kit or a one-stride tool, similar DP Hue'due south Blonding Brush ($28), simply follow the directions that come in the packaging.

06 of 10

Section Your Hair

@koivistokarlsson

Per Carhart'south advice, you're going to start by clipping your pilus into three sections: the two sides (from the back of the ear, forward) and the dorsum. Even though you're sectioning all of your hair, "I would recommend doing every bit footling equally possible," she says. "But highlight the 'T-zone' where you lot part your hair and effectually the face." That back section can basically be clipped away safely.

Though you'll but exist doing a minimal corporeality of upkeep, keeping all of your pilus sectioned keeps you organized and helps to avoid whatsoever unnecessary messes or unwanted mess-ups. Subsequently your strand test has shown promise, you lot can do i or two layers of foils in the "T-zone" every bit Carhart suggests, right at the surface of your parting.

"While I would avoid doing this in general," says Carhart, "I would avert going near the back of the head at all costs." The parting area and hairline are the only working zones. Sectioning is only meant to go on your work area clean and organized.

07 of 10

Paint Your Strands

Since every single procedure application is going to have unique directions of its ain, and likely a user-friendly applicator, nosotros're going to use this space to discuss how to achieve a highlight touch-upwardly by using the foil method that Carhart suggested.

Start wherever your natural parting is, either on the side or down the middle. "Begin by slicing super fine sections (like, see-through!) using your tail comb to weave some pieces of hair out," says Carhart. Identify the thinly sectioned hairs onto your foil, and stretch them downward taut against your head. Utilize your brush to gather a scoop of your bleach mixture and firmly press it downward onto your strands as if you were painting a thick stroke of acrylic paint with a paintbrush. You want information technology to exist rich and thick just even so spread out into an even layer. Y'all shouldn't need too much since the sections yous're working with are so fine. "Paint the bleach on your roots and avoid overlapping onto the blonde from your previous color chore," says Carhart.

When it comes time to apply around the hairline, accept a fine slice of hair out using your tail rummage and weave the aforementioned style Carhart advised with the departing. Then, place a foil against your forehead or cheek, and lay the finely sliced hair on top of the foil. "Make certain to saturate, but not over saturate. And then fold the bottom of the foil to meet the top, and corner in the tops of the sides a piddling flake then the foil doesn't sideslip." Don't be as well shy with saturation either. If your awarding isn't saturated, you'll accept a splotchy, spotty-looking bleach job.

While Carhart thinks that the hairline is the easiest to practice yourself, she warns that it still requires some serious hand-eye coordination. "If you lot have never mastered how to curl your own hair, then highlighting at dwelling house is definitely not for you lot."

The nearly important office of applying your bleach is to ensure it does not touch the scalp. "Attempt to get virtually ane/4 inch away from the root because bleach will expand," Carhart explains. "If it does, and y'all run into the product seeping out when y'all shut the foil, you will accept what'southward called a bleed marking (more than ordinarily known equally a cheetah spot)." If bleach touches the scalp or skin, rinse the area immediately.

Any hard-to-accomplish areas, Carhart simply says, "Don't do them."

08 of 10

Employ Your Toner

@biolage

Toner's job is to neutralize the intense yellow shade that appears from bleaching and make it look more natural. This is the undercover sauce that eliminates brassiness and other unwanted tones to aid you lot reach your desired outcome.

When information technology comes to your toner, "keep information technology simple," says Carhart. "Ideally I would attempt and take the foils out at a place where you don't need a toner. If your hair is blonde, this is much easier. You wait until the highlights are a pretty colour and then you lot take the foils off. If you're a brunette, y'all need to pay closer attending."

Carhart tells united states that the "sugariness spot" for darker brunettes is two to 3 shades lighter than their natural color. The safer, low-volume peroxide that we're working with for these at-home touch-ups will only lift you one to ii shades lighter. And so if you've been highlighting for a while and working with your colorist to go blonder from a super night natural base color, yous're better off resorting to throwing on a baseball cap and hiding those roots. If you lot're a dark brunette that merely needs a calorie-free touch-up at the roots, merely exist certain not to overlap the bleach onto your previous color job every bit Carhart warned before. The overlap could cause a funky color spot or potential breakage.

The potential of leaving the bleach on too long could also create a problem for your toning approach. "If you open the foil and the hair looks kinda red/orange, y'all're as well early on," Carhart warns us. The color y'all desire to see before you lot remove the foils to rinse is yellow. After the bleach has been thoroughly rinsed out, you'll use your toner.

09 of 10

Follow Up With a Deep Conditioning Treatment

Virtue Restorative Treatment Mask $32.00

Store

After any colour treatment or chemical treatment that heightens the hair's porosity levels, you want to be certain you're upping the conditioner and getting actress moisture dorsum into the hair. Y'all'll notice, especially after using bleach, that your hair feels straw-like, breakable, and extremely stale out, then a expert conditioning treatment is crucial.

Turn to your conditioner subsequently your toner is completely rinsed out and you've shampooed your hair. If yous followed Carhart'due south advice and passed on the toner, you could use a product like Davines Alchemic Conditioners in Silver, Golden, or Tobacco ($33) and allow that serve every bit your mild toner. That fashion, you don't accept to put yourself at chance of pulling the foils off too late. Blue conditioners volition aid neutralize the warmth if your hair pulls more orange or yellow. Otherwise, whatever deep workout treatment will work. Virtue'southward Restorative Handling Mask ($32) is some other slap-up option and volition assistance restore your pilus from the inside out.

Yous don't desire to skip this step—it'll add a heave of shine and softness to your strands that will help you feel like you just left the salon. Keep upwards this treatment until you lot lose that straw-like feeling when shampooing.

x of 10

Blow Dry out and Cross Check

@dysonhair

Now it's time to run into your best efforts in activeness. Blow dry around the hairline and role start, even if you didn't do a bleach-and-tone. Once you're lxxx-ninety percentage dry, grab a round brush or flat brush to aid you smoothen out the hair. Using a smoothing nozzle or concentrator will likewise help you go the hair to a place where you tin see things clearly.

If you notice any trouble areas, get your hair fully stale and smoothed out before contacting your colorist in a panic. You'll desire to provide some other photograph in good natural lighting, and the blow dry will help display things clearly. Worst instance scenario, you'll be back to foursquare one, waiting for a pro, but this time information technology will be for a color correction. But if you're extremely cautious and vigilant in following the steps above, yous might just pass with flying colors.