How to Put Highlights in Brown Hair

Highlights in brown hair will give you a new look without a drastic, noticeable change. Color can range from subtle to bold depending on the desired look. Lightening dark hair is more difficult depending on how dark your natural color is. Highlighting works best on shades of light to medium brown hair. You should not attempt to lighten dark hair at home. Dark pigment in hair tends to turn orange when lightened; a trained stylist can solve this problem by adding a toner during the lightening and coloring process.

Choose Your Kit or Color

Two ways to lighten hair for highlights are to use a lightening kit also called frosting kit or using a regular hair color two shades lighter than your current color. Consult the color chart for possible combinations. Light brown hair looks good with shades of light to dark blond in either ash or golden tones depending on your skin tone.

Find a Hair Color to Compliment Your Skin Tone

For the most natural-looking results, it is best to choose colors that compliment your skin and eye colors. The first thing is to find out if your skin tone is warm or cool. The easiest way to find out is to look at the veins on the inside of your wrist. If the veins look green, you have a warm skin tone. If the veins look blue, you have a cool skin tone, which means you have blue undertones in your skin. Warm tones generally have yellow or peach undertones in the skin and tend to tan easily. Cool skin tones burn easily and may have freckles. Consult the chart in the resource section if you are unsure about your skin tone.

Methods of Lightening

The most familiar methods of lightening hair are using a color cap, foiling, or painting the color on the hair. Foils are much harder to do at home, especially if you are doing this yourself. If you can enlist the help of a friend you may opt for the cap, but many people find using this method uncomfortable due to the pulling of the hair strands through very small holes in the cap.

Preparation:

Wash your hair a day or two before planning to highlight. This removes the residue left by hair products without stripping the natural oils from the hair. These natural oils protect the hair from the becoming damaged during the lightening process.

Comb and Detangle

Comb the hair to remove all tangles and knots before proceding with coloring. This is an important step for both the cap and painting methods. Comb and style the hair as you normally do. Part hair in the middle, on the side or with bangs to determine the placement for highlights.

The Cap Method:

If you purchased a highlighting kit, you will find a plastic cap and something resembling a crochet hook. The hook is for pulling strands of hair through the cap for lightening. The instructions included in the highlighting kit will show options for placing highlights. Pull the hair through these sections only for the desired look. Place the cap on your head and secure the strap by tying it under your chin. Take the hook and pull sections of hair through the selected holes in the cap.

Hair Painting Method

This is more of a freestyle method requiring only a comb and small brush to apply the color. Use a long-tailed comb to select strands of hair to lighten, pulling the rest back in a ponytail or head band to keep out of the way. Once the lightening powder and developer are mixed, paint the color on the strands of hair with a hair color brush, small toothbrush or clean mascara wand. Coat the strands of hair evenly to ensure maximum lightening.

Mixing the color

For the lightening kit, mix the powdered lightener with the cream developer in a plastic or glass bowl. Mix with a hair color brush, plastic spoon, or wooden Popsicle stick but do not use any metal. Metal causes a reaction with the chemicals. For hair color, add the bottle of color to the bottle of developer and shake to mix. Cut off the tip of the applicator.

Applying the color

Put on the gloves and apply the color or lightening mix to the hair with the small brush. Discard any unused product and rinse bottles before putting in the trash. If you have colored your hair before you know what happens to color left in the bottle, after an hour or so it turns into a mini volcano oozing out the top and down the sides of the bottle.

Timing

Leave the product the recommended amount of time. For lightening kits this is generally 30 to 45 minutes but do not exceed the maximum time suggested. Do a strand test by wiping off a small section of hair to gauge lightness. If the results are not light enough, apply more color to the strand of hair and continue timing according to the directions. Leave the color on the hair for 20 to 25 minutes depending on whether your hair is easy or hard to color. Some coarse hair types need a longer processing time.

Final Steps

When time is up rinse the hair until all the product is gone and no gritty feel to the hair or scalp. Apply conditioner and leave on for one to three minutes. Rinse, dry and style your new look.

Do not shampoo again for 24 for 48 hours to allow the new color to set in. Lightened hair is more porous and delicate so be sure to use a hydrating shampoo and conditioner and deep condition the hair once a week.

Reference

Hair Color 101: Highlights and Lowlights

Hair Color Tips: Understanding the Laws of Color

Resources

Color: Hair Color Chart

Wella Clairol Hair Color Chart