Tips for Keeping Your Highlights Shiny and Vibrant

Highlights have a wonderful way of adding depth and interest to a dull hairstyle. The creative ways that hair is highlighted these days makes it so that you can truly personalize your hairdo. But these techniques, if performed improperly, can do just the opposite, making your hair look flat and dull. Color-treated hair that has been streaked with glimmers of gold, auburn or light brown must be attended to, perhaps even more intensely than a typical dye job. Here are some things you simply must do to keep your lovely highlights from looking like they've seen better days:

Condition

It seems that the best advice when it comes to hair care is to keep it nourished from the inside out. Clearly, this advice rings true in regards to highlights. Like any color treatment, highlighting can strip the hair of its natural nutrients. Luckily for you, there are products designed specifically to prevent this kind of hair damage. As a general rule, conditioning the hair prior to adding harsh chemicals of any kind will prevent the elements from stripping its natural shine.

Choose the Right Highlight Color(s)

It's very easy to get swept up in the hair hype that Hollywood shoves down our throats. But before you go running out to duplicate Jennifer Aniston's luscious locks, you'll need to take a good look at the color you're shooting for. Go too light, and you run the risk of over-processing, merely to achieve a sun-kissed look. Blondes especially need to consider the effect of choosing the wrong shade of highlight. If you're a natural blonde (whose hair has darkened with time), you'll want to select highlight shades that match your previous lighter locks. Doing so will prevent your highlights from looking dull under the sun.

Touch up Your Highlights

Some women mistakenly believe that once you've added subtle highlights, that they will simply "grow out naturally." For some, this may be the case. But in most instances, if you are planning on wearing this particular style for a substantial amount of time, you'll want to have those highlighted strands touched up. Most salon experts would agree that touch-ups should occur no more frequently than eight to twelve weeks. Any sooner than this, and you might do damage to the hair shaft.

Select a Good Color-Enhancing Shampoo

If you happen to wash your hair daily, you might notice that all that excessive hot water does more than just release the dirt from your scalp; it also releases the gleam from your freshly highlighted hair. As such, there are products specifically devised to seal in the color while cleansing your hair. Where your highlights are concerned, choose a shampoo that contains no sodium lauryl/laureth sulfates (or alcohol, for that matter). Chemicals such as these often do the exact opposite of what you need-dull the highlights. Instead, select a color-enhancing shampoo that has a "dual purpose": shining and conditioning as it cleanses.

Sources:

www.ivillage.com
www.hair.lovetoknow.com
www.hairhighlights.org