Highlighting. How to make yourself at home for dark, light, blond, short, medium, long hair. Step-by-step instruction

Highlighting allows you to update the image without changing it drastically. And if earlier this process could only be carried out by professionals, now you can do highlighting to yourself at home, without having special skills and great experience.

How to find the right color

A well-chosen shade in a hair style can add radiance and freshness to an image. Otherwise, the opposite effect will be achieved: all irregularities and redness will become visible on the skin, the face will begin to look sick, and the look will become dull.

It is better to adhere to the rule when at a time the color changes by no more than 2-3 tones from the base. It looks more natural and even if a mistake was made, it can be easily corrected the next time it is stained.

Most often, the shade is matched to the color type of the skin. To find out which hair tone will look best (warm or cold), you need to look at your skin: is it pinkish or beige? In the first case, it is better to give preference to cold shades, in the second - warm.

The color type can also be determined by the color of the veins on the wrists: if they are blue or light blue, then you need to paint in cold shades. If the veins are greenish, then give preference to warm shades.

Blonde hair is the easiest to color and does not require strong lightening. For a warm color type, honey, golden or caramel tone is suitable. For cold - beige, ice or silver. However, it is worth remembering that the Nordic blond visually adds age and should be worn very carefully.

Red-haired with fair skin, lightening the strands is suitable, which will give the desired effect of glow and freshness. All shades of red and red are suitable for green and brown eyes. Woody shades look more natural. The red color strongly highlights all the redness on the face, freckles and age spots.

It is better to use bright shades for young girls, and not for older ladies.

All shades of chocolate and cognac-caramel tones (warm), eggplant and black wing (cold) are suitable for brunettes. Chestnut is a versatile color that suits almost everyone. These are chocolate, coffee and nutty shades, as well as caramel, honey and amber. To hide gray hair, natural light wheat shades are suitable. If there is not much of it, the usual toning can help.

Features of coloring depending on the length of the hair

So that the result does not disappoint, you should pay attention to some features:

• long hair can be streaked with foil strips 5-7 cm wide... Hair that is not needed at the moment can be taken into a ponytail or pinned with clips. After painting one part, other curls are released and the highlighting procedure continues.Natural smooth overflows look best on such hair;
• on short hair contrasting colors with clear boundaries look great. Thus, you can radically change the image by painting only a few strands. A symmetrical pattern looks best, in contrast to long hair, where chaotic coloring is welcome;
• medium length hair is suitable for both contrasting overflows and natural. Any of the staining options, if the shade of the paint is chosen correctly, will look good.

Small or frequent?

The width of the strand and the frequency of the gaps between them directly depend on the quality of the hair and the desired effect. Rare is most often used for thick hair to emphasize color depth and volume. For thin and weakened hair, frequent highlighting is suitable, where the width of the strand and the gap between them are 1-2 cm.This way the effect of more hair is achieved and the visual volume of the hairstyle is added.

Frequent highlighting for a couple of tones changes the overall shade of the hair, as it lightens from 40% to 60% of the total volume. For a smoother transition after the lightening procedure, you can tint your hair again in one color. Of the minuses, one can single out a large labor input and a long preparation.

This method perfectly masks gray hair and is often used to restore natural color.

With rare highlighting, large strands are painted. Depending on the staining technique, the transitions between shades can be contrasting or smooth and natural.

Highlighting in this version is quite difficult to do for yourself at home. It is also worth noting that there will be practically no volume effect with such coloring, so the method is not very suitable for thin hair.

Materials and tools for home highlighting

For self-staining, it is better to choose professional kits intended for home use. The mixture must be mixed strictly according to the instructions immediately before application. It cannot be stored and reapplied.

At home, highlighting is best done with undyed hair, because the result will be more predictable. At least a week should pass since the last staining. During this time, the hair will at least partially recover, and the dye is sufficiently neutralized so as not to affect the new one.

The darker the hair, the more concentrated bleach solution you need to use. Maximum 12%. Accordingly, for light hair, it is better to choose weak solutions.

For highlighting at home, you will need the following:

1. Coloring set consisting of lightening powder, developer, brightening cream and nourishing mask.
2. Comb or stripper to highlight the strands to be lightened.
3. A ceramic, plastic or glass bowl for diluting chemicals. Metallic will not work because the reagents can react and lead to unintended consequences.
4. Brush for applying clarifier and paint.
5. Rubber or polyethylene gloves.
6. Shoulder cover to avoid staining your clothes.

Additional tools:

1. A hairdresser's hat with holes through which you can evenly highlight strands of hair.
2. Hook for pulling strands out of the hat. For this, a regular plastic crochet hook is quite suitable. You can use the long handle of a hairdressing comb instead.
3. A wide-toothed comb for distributing the dye over the head during coloring.
4. Foil strips in which the colored curls will be wrapped.
5. Hairpins and clips made of plastic, elastic bands.
6. Vaseline or oily cream to protect the skin from redness at the hairline.

Choosing a comb

There are different types of combs that are used for highlighting:

• an ordinary comb with frequent teeth on one side, on the other - a thin long handle, with which you can select a strand of any width is the most popular comb among hairdressers.But work with it is slower and there is a high probability of uneven selection of strands;
• comb with hooks designed to highlight small strands. Looks like a regular comb with sparse teeth with hooks at the ends. Before using it, you need to select the curl that you want to highlight, insert a comb on top and move it a little to the side so that the strands stand out;
• comb-fence specially designed for home coloring. Most often, it has three sets of teeth of different widths, with and without hooks. To use it, you need to select a strand on the head and enter the comb from the bottom up. Strands that fell to the base of the comb and are intended for dyeing;
• comb-spatula separates fine, frequent strands and helps in distributing dye along the length of the hair. Looks like a scoop with fine teeth;
• stripper. It is a comb with several columns of teeth, which has a special nozzle with gaps. With its help, the paint is distributed over the comb. This comb is most often used for root highlighting, as it allows you to achieve even indentation and thinly colored strands. To use a comb, you need to put a nozzle on it, take paint on the brush and apply it over the nozzle. Remove it (some of the paint remains on the comb) and run through the hair in one motion;
• regular comb with sparse teeth is also good for highlighting, but with it the result will be more unpredictable, and the paint will not lie as smoothly as when using professional tools.

How do I test for an allergy?

An allergic reaction test should be performed before each procedure. You need to prepare the mixture according to the instructions, and apply a small amount to the bend of the elbow.

If nothing happened within half an hour, you can start staining.

Preparing hair for highlighting

Highlighting cannot be carried out on absolutely clean hair, as its natural protection is lost. It is better to wash your hair 1-2 days before the procedure. To avoid redness on the skin of the face, you need to smear the forehead and temples near the hairline with petroleum jelly. This will prevent the chemicals from harming the skin.

Cover your shoulders with an unnecessary towel or old T-shirt to protect your clothing. Behind you need to place a couple of mirrors, and provide free space around so that nothing interferes during the procedure.

Prepare brushes, a cap (if required), a comb and containers for mixing clarifier and paint. Put on rubber gloves and prepare the mixture according to the instructions, strictly observing the proportions.

It is better to start highlighting at home for yourself from the back of the head along the parting towards the forehead.

For the correct action of the highlighting solution, the room where the staining is carried out must be at least 20 degrees. If the hair has been discolored before, it is better to use a gentle tint shampoo for their safety. But then the staining process will have to be carried out much more often - up to 2-3 times a month.

Technique of staining through the cap

1. A special hairdressing cap is put on the head. Depending on the desired effect, the frequency of the selected strands is selected, which are pulled out with a fine comb or hook.
2. A clarifier is applied to the turned-out strands.
3. Wait for the time indicated in the instructions.
4. Without removing the cap, wash off the solution. Take it off and rinse your head well.
5. Apply a regenerating mask or conditioner.

Highlighting yourself with foil

1. All hair is divided into zones and secured with hairpins. It is better to start along the parting from the back of the head.
2. The foil should be specially designed for hair coloring, food grade is too thin. The length of the strip exceeds the length of the curl by about 20 cm so that it can be conveniently wrapped up.
3. Select several strands, put the edge of the foil at the root under the curl and paint with a brush.Fold the foil around the edges to avoid dyeing adjacent hair. Wrap it up, folding it 1-2 times. Proceed to the next row.
4. After distributing the paint over all hair, wait for the time indicated in the instructions.
5. Try to wash off the clarifier from each strand without removing the foil from the rest of the curls.
6. After the initial rinsing, completely wash off the paint.
7. Apply a hair structure restoration product.

Highlighting with a comb

1. Prepare a mixture, a comb with rare teeth or a special one (stripper), cover the shoulders.
2. Apply the paint to the comb and in one stroke, run along the entire length of the hair, starting at the roots.
3. Spread the paint all over the head. Wait for the time indicated in the instructions.
4. Wash your hair thoroughly with shampoo and apply a regenerating agent.

Highlighting with elastic bands

1. Divide your head into zones and pick up each in a ponytail using regular hair ties.
2. Prepare mortar and brush, cover shoulders.
3. Apply the product to the ends of the tails, wait as instructed.
4. Rinse your hair well and apply a regenerating mask or conditioner.

Highlighting with braids

1. Divide the head into zones and weave pigtails from them, starting from the parting.
2. Apply the prepared clarifier over the braids.
3. Wait for the time indicated in the instructions.
4. Wash everything off with shampoo and apply a hair mask.

Hand dyeing without auxiliary items

Highlighting at home can be done to oneself without special combs and brushes. In the freehand technique, the clarifier is applied directly to dry styled hair.

There are 2 types of freehand highlighting: frost and glaze.

Rime looks good on curly hair, adds volume and beautiful transitions to it.

To paint in this way you need:

1. Wet your hair.
2. Dry with a hairdryer with your head down.
3. From above, lightly apply the prepared solution over the hair, while inside the strand you do not need to paint over.
4. After waiting, rinse your hair and apply a regenerating mask.

Glazing is more suitable for short haircuts:

1. Apply styling foam and dry hair with head down.
2. Apply the prepared highlighting solution to your fingertips and place it on the ends of your hair. This can be done in several stages, calculating the action time of the mixture according to the instructions.
3. Rinse your head thoroughly, apply a mask.

California highlights at home

Highlighting at home for yourself in the California style is not very easy to do, but it is quite possible. The main task here is to achieve a gradual transition from a dark shade to a light one, so that it looks natural.

The technique resembles an ombre, but the difference lies in a more uneven coloring, because the strands are taken randomly:

1. Select the strands in a checkerboard pattern along the parting.
2. Apply the paint gently with a brush to create a smooth transition. The dyed strand is not isolated from the bulk of the hair, so that the effect is more natural. So you need to color the strands in the whole head.
3. Wait for the time allotted in the instructions and rinse thoroughly.
4. Apply a regenerating agent.

Venetian variant

This technique is similar to Californian highlights, but with a sharper color transition and a stronger degree of base shade change.

Looks good on dark hair that can be tinted chocolate, honey, red, and so on up to white.

It is performed in the following order:

1. Hair must be clean. You can comb it with a thick comb to make the color transitions smoother.
2. After applying the composition all over the head, you need to wait for the time indicated in the instructions.
3. If a bouffant has been made, it must be combed before washing. To do this, conditioner is applied to the head. After all the hair has been detangled, you can wash your hair and apply a regenerating mask.

Shatush

This technique is similar to ombre, but with a more obvious contrast between roots and tips:

1. All tools are required except foil. Together with the clarifier, you need to prepare a toning agent.
2. Take randomly several strands of 1-2 cm around the parting, stab them and make a bouffant. Apply the clarifier, slightly stepping back from the roots. Do the same with the rest of the strands.
3. Wait for the time according to the instructions, rinse the clarifier.
4. Apply the tone and wait the right amount of time.
5. Rinse hair and apply a regenerating agent.

Basal highlighting

Highlighting at home to herself in this option is quite simple to do. Only the strands at the roots are colored.

Suitable for regrown hair, masking gray hair or freshening up the image without drastic changes. The rest of the hair is not dyed.

Highlighting procedure:

1. Prepare clarifier, tools, cover shoulders.
2. Separate several strands along the parting, put foil under them, paint with a brush and wrap a curl. Proceed to the next row. At the same time, it is not necessary to paint the entire length, it is enough to lighten a few cm from the roots.
3. After waiting for a time according to the instructions, wash off the paint and apply the mask.

How to achieve color without yellowness

It should be said right away that when bleaching dark hair, it is almost impossible to avoid a yellow tint. However, this is solved by subsequent toning of the lightened hair areas and proper care. But for light hair, the bleaching procedure is not always necessary, since it happens that ordinary toning is enough. However, yellowness can appear on such hair.

Highlighting yourself at home should start with the fact that a few months before it you need to give up perm, irons, curls, varnishes and gels, as well as shampoos containing sulfates. Lightening should take place on healthy hair.

To remove light yellowness, which has arisen due to improper staining or incorrectly selected paint tone, you can use special tint balms. They can partially or completely extinguish the yellow color in the hair.

But if the hair was lightened for the first time, the effect of the balm may not be at all. In this case, you need to either bleach again, or next time use paint with the desired shade.

Highlighted hair care

First of all, it is imperative to apply a regenerating mask to the hair after dyeing. It is included in professional paint kits. Next, you should use special products to restore and maintain colored hair.

You can also add vitamins B and D to shampoos and masks to improve the structure of the hair and its speedy recovery. Therefore, it is recommended to wait at least 2-3 months before the next staining.

The highlighting technique is quite simple to perform and therefore suitable for carrying out at home. And although it takes a little experience to paint itself, after a few tries everything will definitely work out.

Video about hair highlighting at home

Technique for highlighting hair to yourself using foil:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_YMjDgG7hw

Coloring with an ombre effect using braids: