
BLONDE HIGHLIGHTS SKIN
If you want to try something a little funkier, try holding a swatch with a similar color up to your face and see how it looks with your skin and eye color. My favorite is taking a bright summer blonde and switching up the tone to be richer, shinier and warmer for fall.

Toner is not damaging when done right, and it is one of the quickest ways to change your look. “That being said, color is all about expressing yourself! I recommend that my highlight clients change their hair tone seasonally. These are the best highlights to consider for each hair color, according to the pros.īlonde: “If you’re naturally blonde, cool, very bright or even icy highlights will look gorgeous and natural on you,” says Graves. If you want a color that looks natural and flattering and grows out nicely, Graves says a good rule of thumb is to stay within three levels of your natural color. If all that sounds like too much, Picciano says you can always let your hair grow as long as you can tolerate your roots coming in and then talk to your stylist about a cute short haircut. Graves adds, “Most people’s hair grows about a half-inch per month, so just know that this could take a while depending on how long your hair is.” Which color highlights look best on each of the main hair color groups: blonde, brown, black, red and gray? It will likely take more than one appointment to achieve the look your going for, so be open-minded and enjoy the journey to getting back to your natural color!” Corrective colors can be more expensive than a normal highlighting appointment, but it will get you closer to your goal color faster by giving your stylist more time and product to work with. The best thing to do in situations like this is be patient and listen to your colorist and talk candidly about what your budget is. “This really happens, so do not attempt to ‘fix’ your own color at home.

“We’ve all seen the viral TikTok videos of people melting their hair off with bleach at home,” she notes.
BLONDE HIGHLIGHTS PROFESSIONAL
If your natural color is much lighter or a totally different pigment-think cool blonde versus warm brown, or ashy brown versus dark violet-Graves says it will require a professional who specializes in corrective colors to lighten all of the colored parts of your hair and then color it to match your natural. After this point, an occasional gloss will be necessary to keep the previously colored hair looking good until your natural can grow back in. If you were going darker or red, your colorist will have to remove that color to a level lighter than your natural hair and then fill it back down to match as closely as possible.” Steven Picciano, celebrity colorist and national artist for Goldwell, says, “If you were going lighter with highlights, you have to schedule a ‘tint back,’ where all of the blonde will be filled-with the pigments natural hair has that blonde does not-and then colored as close to your natural as possible.

“Years of color can create bands of different pigments in the hair-not to mention, damage-and it will take a professional to evaluate and come up with a plan to get you close to your natural color.”

If someone has colored their hair for years and wants to go back to their base color, how should they achieve that successfully?Īccording to Katie Graves, colorist at Mirror Mirror in Austin, TX, the first thing to do is schedule a color consultation with a professional. These are answers to some of the most common questions we get from our readers, so that you have all the facts before your next salon appointment. To achieve the right look you’re after, it’s important for your colorist to create the correct base color first, and this also plays a big role in the kind of highlights that look best. When it comes to hair color, there are two terms that are easily conflated, “base color” and “natural color.” Base color refers to the color of your hair, whether natural or dyed, before highlights, lowlights or any additional color is applied, and natural color is the hair color you were born with, which you can see at the root line if someone’s hair is dyed and new hair growth begins.
