[photopress:Jack_Frost.jpg,thumb,alignright]OK. Winter will soon be here and you want to make the change from Blonde to something a bit more wintery but don’t want to have an all over or dark colour? Try low-lights.
Low lights are a great alternative to having a “block” colour allowing you to deepen your blonde without having to go too dark. As the names suggests, low lights add darker pieces to the colour giving blondes more depth and adding tone. This is great for seasonal changes and when done with a semi-permanent will allow you an easy change from season to season. They are also a great way to add texture to your hair as darker pieces playing against lighter will add movement to your style.
I’ve been using a range of semi-permanent colour by Goldwell for this type of work. They have released a stronger version of their Colornace range which I find perfect for this kind of work. These semis last really well and give me the flexibility to change the colour back to something lighter as we head into Spring and Summer, something that permantent colours make a lot harder.
The trick to low lighting your blonde hair is to not make it too dark as then you run the risk of getting too “stripy”, unless that is the look you are going for. I tend to go for a 6 level (dark blonde) and a 7-8 level blonde, but it’s the tone of the low lights that are important so take into account your skin tone when deciding.
Any good colourist will explain to you the process of colouring your hair back to a darker tone once it has been made lighter and should also explain that in order to do this it needs to have the natural undertones put back in. Undertones are the colours that appear in the hair naturally at that level (how light or dark). At these levels of colour, gold and maybe orange/copper will need to be added, and as you get darker, red will need to be added. Now don’t start to worry and think that your hair will look orange or red because these just provide a base for the natural tones to adhere to. The reason goes back to the way that natural tones are composed. Most brands of colour use a green base, therefore if you put them straight over your blonde hair, you’d end up with a green tone. The warmer tones such as gold, orange and red counteract this.
The technology of hair colour has advanced in a major way over the last 5-10 years so it is not always necessary to prepigment the hair before recolouring which makes it so much easier to low light effectively with less chance of it fading out in a few weeks.
If you’re thinking of having this done and need any advice, please feel feel to either contact me or leave a comment.
Hi! I actually have quite a problem… I’m seeking some advice. I have naturally dark blonde hair, but I’ve been highlighting it for quite some time now. My roots were growing out, and I decided to try Clairol’s Nice & Easy Root Touchup. (What a mistake!!!) Well, somehow, Clairol put black dye in the box of medium blonde root touchup. Needless to say, 2 1/2 inches of my roots were black and the rest of my hair light blonde. (This happened two days before my Mom’s wedding.) I’ve been to the salon three times since the incident. My roots are still a bit red and after adding more highlights, there is a lot of LIGHT blonde hair. The ends of my hair are a medium blonde color. I don’t know what to do next. Please help! I start a new job in two weeks and I just want to look normal again.
I know that you already submitted a post, but I think this one would be great for the Fabulous Festival (deadline this Friday)