How to Give Yourself Perfect Highlights

To get the star-quality highlights of those in Tinseltown, you'd have to ready yourself-and your wallet-for a small fortune to gain a hair visit with Jean, Luc Pierre's sweet, willow-built, hair assistant. Or, you can take your time and do the same great hair reconstruction as does Luc Pierre. Look for these great ways to get gorgeous tresses of enviable glory.

Do some research. You know your hair best but get a second opinion on how exactly it'll be best served for your length, texture, style and look.

Get a referral from one of your friends. Many salons won't take walk-ins, nor will they take you without a referral, especially if that salon has a following.

Be ready to make color swatches. How light are you looking to go? Blended? Bold? Backlit? Bright? Discuss with your stylist what look absolutely-and not because he's getting a big tip-fits you, not him.

Know your stuff. It doesn't hurt to know what and how the process works-and you won't look like a schnook asking ignorant questions. These products are used in highlighting: Colors, bleachers/lighteners; new technology products designed for specific highlighting needs; and demi-permanent colors for tones and overlaying. The tools that'll be used are color bowls, tint brushes, metal-tip tail combs, long sectioning clips, professional foil, (NOT supermarket-Reynolds Wrap), or mache paper--in place of foil.

Results! The all-important highlighter cap requires no skill and cannot produce strategically placed color effects. This type of highlighting is limited in what it produces and can be done by your clients, do-it-yourself at-home kits, by a neighbor or trusted friend. Although still used, the cap is slowly finding its way out of many salons as demands for foil highlights increase. The skill, strategic highlight placement and beauty of the limitless highlighting methods commands top dollar in all salons that employ these techniques.

Highlighting is little more than perfecting the single process hair-color. Understanding of hair color and its dimensions is required with the addition of the needed ability of physical highlight placement in the hair.

They have to work with what you bring them. Let's face it, ducks. If you're expecting one result to work for you that looks stunning on your best friend's sister, don't expect a Christmas miracle. Your locks may be too dark, too light, have a color in it, have an outgrown perm from a year back. Some highlights in your hair may be too many in how they're placed; others may be too light for you that were fabulous on the best friend's little sister. Expect a great job for your look, not for someone else's look doing a poor imitation on you. And, the level of color lift is completely up to you.

Likewise ... if they suggest something ... work with them. They may get your money, but at the same token, it's your hair. You both can come to a fantastic-looking compromise. You decide how much color Luc Pierre is to lift, the highlight placement he does and depth level in Luc's placement. The hair surgeon-yes, you read right-may be getting paid either way, but at least you can control the level of disaster it'll be or if a hair calamity's been nimbly averted.

As the Clairol commercial of the 1970s used to say, "Only her hairdresser knows for sure,"-that applies to highlights, coloring and beauty spa gossip subplots Danielle Steele would love to be privy to.