Highlights, lowlights—it’s all semantics, proper? Effectively, not precisely: These similar-sounding coloring methods yield very completely different outcomes, particularly on blonde hair. When you requested the web which proved extra in style this summer time, it will undoubtedly let you know that the latter reigned supreme. Folks have just lately been repeatedly typing the phrase “lowlights on blonde hair” into the Pinterest search bar, inflicting a 200% surge in curiosity within the final month.
However what precisely are lowlights (and the way do they differ from highlights)? Saint Latimer, a colorist at New York Metropolis’s Suite Caroline, says to think about lowlights “the anti-highlight.” They’re created by weaving a dye that’s deeper than your pure base coloration into your hair so as to add dimension and depth. (Highlights do the other. Colorists will work lighter items all through your hair to brighten up your total look.)
Lowlights also can give over-lightened hair new life. Latimer explains that the depth you’re creating with lowlights can typically make your blonde seem lighter—so that you don’t have to achieve for extra bleach. (That’s actually sensible.)
Colorists aren’t stunned on the look’s surging reputation. When requested why he thinks it’s trending, Latimer says, “It’s as a result of [lowlights] could make blonde hair look dearer,” because of the depth and dimension it creates. He says they’ll convey out the present blonde’s “sparkle.”
Lowlights are additionally fairly low-maintenance, says colorist Kristin Kell of Salon SCK in New York Metropolis. (Latimer echoes this, saying that the grow-out is often “gentle and blended.”) To lengthen your look, she suggests reaching for a shampoo for color-treated hair just like the Shu Uemura Colour Luster Shampoo, which not solely smells like citrus and floral amazing-ness but in addition makes use of rice lees extract to assist protect your coloration. We additionally love the L’Oréal Paris EverPure Moisture Shampoo, which gently lathers and smells simply nearly as good.
In keeping with Latimer, those that need to add “dimension to ‘one-note’ blonde coloration” are the most effective candidates for lowlights, explaining that the colour added to your hair is determined by your aim on your look. If you wish to preserve the radiance of your blonde however add dimension, he suggests utilizing a lowlight shade two ranges deeper than the brightest blonde you may have in your hair. When you’re going for a extra pure look, he says to match your lowlight coloration to your pure base coloration. “The lowlight finished proper makes blonde look extra pure, extra advanced, and lit from inside,” he provides.
