How to Highlight Your Own Hair

Want an absolutely stunning salon makeover, with those amazing highlights and lowlights in your hair? While there are times when a girl is willing to shell out the big bucks for a good professional foil job, dishing out $80 dollars for highlighting your hair can be a real pain, not to mention the money spent on the touch-ups every month.

So why not learn how to highlight your own hair at home, using any of the multitude of hair colors available?

Well, the biggest fear of doing your own hair, is that you will probably mess it all up and end up being a huge embarrassment with a 'zebra streak look'. However, with a basic know-how of hair coloring and a little attention to detail, highlighting your hair at home can be real easy.

Here is a look at the things that you need to consider in order to highlight your own hair, either for that little extra sparkle or just for a more attention-grabbing look.

Before you can start highlighting your hair, you need to keep certain hair coloring ideas in mind.

Choosing the right color: While choosing the right hair color for highlighting your hair, keep in mind the natural base color of your hair and choose a shade which is two to three times lighter. It is important to choose a color which not only suits your coloring, but also looks good on you.

While the brunettes can choose caramel blonde or copper tones, blondes can opt for wheaty, platinum, or champagne tones. For the redheads, the blonde shades seem to work really well. For teenagers wanting a funky look, apply pink to a few strands of hair, and please use the color sparingly.

Strand Test: Once you are positive that the color you have selected is just right for you, do a strand test in order to check the suitability of the color with your hair and complexion.

Consult a Professional: Before you start off with the highlighting, talk it over with a salon professional, for the recommendations on the product and the method best for you.

Assemble the Materials: For highlighting your hair, you will need a hair dye, fitted latex gloves, a plastic or glass bowl, a towel, a conditioner, and a wide-toothed comb. While picking up a hair color from the supermarket shelves, stick with some of the best home hair color brands, like L'Oreal or Garnier.

For the funky greens and pinks, try the home hair color kits by Manic Panic.

Wash and Condition the Hair: Two to three days before highlighting your hair, wash your hair with a clarifying shampoo and use a good conditioner. This will enable you to flush out any traces of hair care products so that your hair is more receptive to the highlights.

Methods for Highlighting the Hair: Highlighting with a brush is the simplest method and is more applicable to people with long hairstyles. This is done using a small acrylic brush, nearly half an inch wide. Before you start, read the instructions on the kit and mix the ingredients accordingly.

The process involves parting your hair in your usual style and applying the product, starting from the back of your hair, using the brush. This will allow you to avoid accidentally smearing parts of your hair. Depending on the intended effect, you can choose thick or thin highlights.

Once you are done rinse thoroughly with a shampoo and use a good conditioner. For the shorter haircuts, 'pull through' or applicator caps are used, to accurately target just those the parts of your hair, that you want to highlight.

They are covered with little holes, and come with metal hooks, that are used to pull strands of your hair through some of the holes in order to highlight them. You can highlight using foils also, but since foiling hair is complicated and risky, it is best that you have it done by a professional.

Once you are done with the difficult part, detangle your hair with a wide-tooth comb. Then dry off with a towel and a blow dryer. Refrain from other hair treatments for some weeks and use a good moisturizer, to prevent your hair from drying.

If you do not want to go for the chemical colors, try some natural hair coloring ideas, such as henna and a little lime juice to color and highlight your hair. Use these tips for switching over to your new look and you are ensured of great looking hair, without a hole in your wallet.