Hair Highlights & At-Home Highlighting Kits

The best way to highlight your hair at home is to choose a hair highlighting kit specifically designed for home use, as these often come with easy-to-follow instructions and pre-measured formulas. Here are some more tips for the best highlighting at home experience:

•Ensure you select the right formula for your hair type and desired result – whether you want subtle sun-kissed strands or more dramatic effects.

•Proper sectioning is important for natural-looking highlights. Use the provided tools, like a highlighting cap or brush, to carefully select small, even sections of hair. This prevents a patchy outcome and ensures the highlights blend seamlessly.

•Always perform a strand test first to check the processing time and color result.

With the right product and careful application, achieving beautiful hair highlights at home is easier than you think, giving you salon-quality results with confidence.

For the most natural-looking hair highlights, opt for soft, subtle effects that mimic how the sun naturally lightens your hair. Face-framing highlights or a sun-kissed application are ideal, as they brighten areas that would naturally catch light. The key is to choose a highlight hair color that is only 1-2 shades lighter than your base color and to highlight thinner sections of hair. This creates a seamless blend and avoids harsh lines, ensuring your hair highlights at home look effortlessly radiant and perfectly integrated with your existing shade. At-home hair highlighting kits like Couleur Experte feature a range of shades so you can find highlight hair color that suits your existing color, from light blonde to dark brown and black.

No, you don't need a full head of hair highlights every time you touch up your color. In fact, for maintenance or to achieve a softer, more natural grow-out, partial highlights often suffice. Applying highlights only to the top layers, around your face, or along your part can refresh your look and add brightness where it's most visible, without overwhelming your hair. Alternating between full and partial applications is a smart strategy to extend the time between salon visits or comprehensive at-home sessions. This approach makes maintaining your desired highlight hair color more manageable and less time-consuming.

To highlight your hair with a box dye hair highlighting kit, always start by thoroughly reading the instructions provided in your specific kit, as formulations and application methods can vary. When using hair highlighting kits, follow these general instructions:

2.A crucial first step is to perform a strand test. This involves applying the highlight mixture to a small, hidden section of hair to determine the processing time and the exact color result. This prevents unexpected outcomes and ensures you achieve your desired highlight hair color.

3.When ready to apply, divide your hair into sections as recommended by the kit, typically using a comb. Many kits come with an applicator brush, a cap with a hook, or a specialized nozzle for precise application. If using a brush, apply the product sparingly to small, thin sections of hair where you want the highlights to appear, ensuring even saturation. For a more subtle effect, pick fewer, finer strands.

4.Carefully observe the timing as per your strand test and the kit's instructions. Do not exceed the recommended maximum processing time.

5.Once the desired lightness is achieved, rinse your hair thoroughly until the water runs clear, and then follow up with the conditioner provided in your kit for soft, luminous hair highlights at home.

To choose the right shade for your hair highlights, consider your current hair color and your skin's undertone.

•For warm undertones, golden, caramel, or honey-toned highlights often look most harmonious.

•If you have cool undertones, opt for ash, platinum, or cool blonde shades.

You generally want your highlight hair color to be no more than 1-2 shades lighter than your base to maintain a soft, blended look. To visualize how different shades might look on you, utilize the L’Oréal Paris virtual hair color try-on tool, which allows you to experiment with various shades digitally. Additionally, reviewing "before and after" example swatches on L’Oréal Paris hair highlighting kit product pages can provide guidance to help you select the perfect shade for your hair.

For most individuals, a touch-up every 6–8 weeks is generally recommended to maintain a fresh look and keep your highlight hair color vibrant. However, the frequency with which you need to touch up your hair highlights also depends on the placement of your highlights and the level of contrast between your highlights and your base color. If you have subtle, face-framing, or balayage highlights that blend softly, your grow-out will be less noticeable, allowing for longer intervals between touch-ups. However, if you have a full head of traditional highlights with a significant contrast, new growth will be more apparent, and you may need to touch up more frequently. You can use a toning hair gloss like Le Color Gloss between highlighting sessions to maintain vibrancy.

Yes, you can absolutely give yourself hair highlights at home with the right tools and preparation. L'Oréal Paris offers a range of user-friendly hair highlighting kits designed to make the process accessible for beginners and experienced DIYers alike. These kits typically include everything you need, from lightener and developer to applicators and conditioners, simplifying the process significantly.

The key to success lies in preparation and thoroughly reading and following the instructions provided with your specific L'Oréal Paris highlights kit. Each kit is formulated differently, and understanding the steps, timing, and application method will ensure you achieve the desired highlight hair color result. Check out our guide to how to highlight hair at home for more information.

To safely use a hair highlighting kit at home, always follow safety protocol and precautions:

•Begin by performing a strand test on a small, inconspicuous section of hair to determine the ideal processing time and color result. This prevents over-processing and potential damage.

•Wear protective gloves throughout the application process to shield your skin from chemicals.

•Ensure you work in a well-ventilated area to minimize inhalation of fumes.

•Stick strictly to the timing instructions provided in your hair highlighting kit – never leave the product on longer than recommended.

•After rinsing, nourish your newly highlighted hair with a deep conditioning treatment, such as L'Oréal Paris Elvive Total Repair 5 Damage Erasing Balm, to restore moisture and maintain the health of your highlight hair color.

To care for your highlighted hair and maintain its vibrancy and health, it’s important to use hair care products formulated for color-treated hair.

•Sulfate-free products: To prevent stripping your new hair highlights and to keep them looking fresh, switch to sulfate-free shampoos and conditioners like EverPure Bond Strengthening Shampoo & Conditioner. These gentle formulas help preserve your color and prevent dullness.

•Purple shampoo: If your highlights tend to become brassy, especially hair color highlights for blonde hair or cool-toned shades, incorporate a purple toning shampoo into your routine once or twice a week. This will neutralize unwanted yellow or orange tones after using a highlight kit for blonde hair.

•Deep conditioning: Finally, regular deep conditioning treatments are essential. Highlighted hair can be prone to dryness, so using a nourishing hair mask weekly will help to replenish moisture, repair damage, and keep your hair highlights looking soft, shiny, and beautiful.

There are several popular hair highlighting techniques, each creating a unique effect.

•Traditional highlights involve using foils to isolate sections of hair, ensuring a more uniform and defined lightening from root to tip. This method often results in a more noticeable contrast.

•Balayage is a freehand painting technique where the lightener is swept onto the hair's surface, creating a soft, sun-kissed gradient with less noticeable roots. Balayage results in a natural-looking, low-maintenance grow-out.

•Babylights are very fine, delicate highlights. They offer a soft, multi-dimensional effect without harsh lines, perfect for subtle hair highlights at home.

•Foilyage combines elements of both foils and balayage. Sections of balayage are painted on and then wrapped in foils, allowing for greater lift and brightness than traditional balayage, while still maintaining a natural blend, ideal for achieving vibrant highlight hair color.

The main differences between balayage and traditional hair highlights are their application and the resulting look.

•Traditional highlights involve meticulously sectioning hair and applying lightener from roots to ends within foils. This method creates a more uniform, defined, and often higher-contrast look, giving distinct streaks of lighter highlight hair color.

•Balayage is a freehand technique where the lightener is painted directly onto the hair's surface, typically starting away from the roots and becoming heavier towards the ends. This results in a soft, natural-looking gradient, mimicking sun-kissed effects. Balayage offers a more blended, subtle grow-out, making it a lower-maintenance option.

Learn more in our guide to How to DIY Balayage.

While achieving significant highlights for brown hair or black hair often involves bleach, it's possible to lift lighter brown hair a few shades using high-lift hair colors. L'Oréal Paris offers options that can create beautiful, subtle highlights on certain brunette shades without the use of traditional bleach, like Colour Experte in Chocolate Mousse. Other highlight colors for dark brown hair include Superior Preference Balayage At-Home Highlighting Kit in Medium to Dark Brown.

For darker bases, such as very dark brown or black hair, hair bleach is typically required to achieve noticeable and vibrant highlight hair color. High-lift dyes may not provide enough lightening power for these hair types, resulting in brassy or orange tones. When considering a highlight kit for dark hair, especially if you desire a significant color change, it's important to understand that products containing a lightening agent, like Frost & Design or La Petite Frost, will likely be necessary for optimal results. Always check the product's specific guidance for your starting hair color.

On average, most hair highlights at home or from a salon will look their best for about 6-8 weeks before new root growth becomes noticeable, but the longevity of your hair highlights depends on the type of highlights you have, how you maintain them, and your natural hair growth rate. Techniques like balayage, which offer a softer grow-out, tend to last longer before needing a touch-up compared to traditional foil highlights with a more defined line.

To extend the life of your highlight hair color, incorporate hydrating sulfate-free shampoos and conditioners into your routine, like L'Oréal Paris EverPure Moisture Shampoo. Additionally, using color-depositing treatments such as Le Color Gloss can refresh your highlights and keep them looking fresh between applications, maximizing the time between touch-ups.

You can purchase L’Oréal Paris hair highlighting kits in-person at your local drugstore, at grocery chains, large retailers like Walmart and Target, or online through retailers like Amazon and Ulta Beauty. Click the “Buy Online” button on the highlights hair colors' individual pages to see where to purchase online, or use our Store Locator to find an in-store option to shop for hair highlights near you.