Highlights, lowlights—it’s all semantics, proper? Effectively, not precisely: These similar-sounding coloring strategies yield very completely different outcomes, particularly on blonde hair. If you happen to requested the web which proved extra in style this summer season, it will undoubtedly let you know that the latter reigned supreme. Folks have 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 contemplate lowlights “the anti-highlight.” They’re created by weaving a dye that’s deeper than your pure base shade into your hair so as to add dimension and depth. (Highlights do the alternative. Colorists will work lighter items all through your hair to brighten up your general look.)
Lowlights also can give over-lightened hair new life. Latimer explains that the depth you’re creating with lowlights can generally 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 recognition. When requested why he thinks it’s trending, Latimer says, “It’s as a result of [lowlights] could make blonde hair look costlier,” 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 usually “comfortable and blended.”) To extend your look, she suggests reaching for 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 your shade. We additionally love the L’Oréal Paris EverPure Moisture Shampoo, which gently lathers and smells simply nearly as good.
In line with Latimer, those that wish to add “dimension to ‘one-note’ blonde shade” are the very best candidates for lowlights, explaining that the colour added to your hair is dependent upon your aim in 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. If you happen to’re going for a extra pure look, he says to match your lowlight shade to your pure base shade. “The lowlight executed proper makes blonde look extra pure, extra complicated, and lit from inside,” he provides.