Highlights, lowlights—it’s all semantics, proper? Nicely, not precisely: These similar-sounding coloring methods yield very totally different outcomes, particularly on blonde hair. Should you ask the web which look proved extra standard this summer time, it’s going to undoubtedly let you know that lowlights reigned supreme. Just lately, individuals have 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 colour into your hair so as to add dimension and depth. (Highlights do the other: Colorists work lighter items all through your hair to brighten up your general look.)
Lowlights can even give over-lightened hair new life. Latimer explains that the depth you’re creating with lowlights can generally make blonde seem lighter—so that you don’t have to achieve for extra bleach. (That’s actually good.)
Colorists aren’t shocked on the look’s surging recognition. Says Latimer of why it is trending, “It’s as a result of [lowlights] could make blonde hair look costlier,” because of the depth and dimension lowlights create. He says they’ll carry 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 utilizing a shampoo for color-treated hair just like the Shu Uemura Coloration Luster Shampoo, which not solely smells like citrus and floral amazing-ness but additionally makes use of rice lees extract to assist protect colour. We additionally love the L’Oréal Paris EverPure Moisture Shampoo, which gently lathers and smells simply pretty much as good.
In line with Latimer, those that wish to add “dimension to ‘one-note’ blonde colour” are one of the best candidates for lowlights, explaining that the colour added to your hair will depend on your purpose to your look. If you wish to keep the radiance of your blonde however add dimension, he suggests utilizing a lowlight shade two-levels deeper than the brightest blonde you’ve gotten in your hair. Should you’re going for a extra pure look, he says to match your lowlight colour to your pure base colour. “The lowlight carried out proper makes blonde look extra pure, extra complicated, and lit from inside,” he provides.
