

It was a top performer in the GH Beauty Lab's at-home hair color test for providing the desired shade, giving rich and even results, and leaving hair looking silky and feeling nourished, although it didn't provide as good gray coverage or resist fading as well as other custom hair color brands in Lab testing.
DIY HIGHLIGHT BRUSH PROFESSIONAL
Longer hair should get lighter down the length and toward the ends, as it probably did naturally when you were a kid.Just like in the salon, ESalon's professional colorists create a customized hair color just for you and your hair needs, which is then shipped to your door for application at home. (You want to leave a small gap because for hair to get highlighted naturally, it takes sun exposure it doesn't grow straight out of your head that color.) When planning your placements, consider where the sun would naturally hit-usually along the face-framing layers and on the crown.

"If it's not light enough, you know you need to leave it on longer." Reapply and let the color develop for another 5 minutes and test again.Īim to highlight half-inch sections of locks about an inch apart, starting about one-quarter of an inch from your scalp. Leave it on 10 minutes, and then wash it out and blow it dry. Using the brush, comb, or fingertip tool, paint one half-inch lock in the front of your hair, starting one-quarter inch from the root. MORE: Why The Heck Is My Hair Falling Out?

Put on the gloves that came with the box and mix the color thoroughly according to the package directions. Drape a towel over your shoulders to protect your clothes.
DIY HIGHLIGHT BRUSH FREE
Make sure hair is dry and brushed through, so it's free of tangles. If it doesn't, Warren recommends grabbing a clean spatula from your kitchen and painting locks on top of it, so the color doesn't transfer onto the rest of your hair. If it has a brush, it may also have a small spatula on which to rest the hair you're highlighting. The kit will come with some kind of applicator-a brush, comb, or a fingertip tool. Read the directions all the way through and then lay out everything you'll need, including the contents of the boxed kit, a timer, hair clips, a comb, a towel or two, and a plastic or glass bowl if needed for mixing. MORE: 10 Amazing Beauty Tricks With Coconut Oil "You're not trying to create a stark contrast," Warren says, "but rather enhance the tones you already have." If you have dark brown hair, go with the highlight kit intended for dark brown hair. "The degree of lightening depends more on how long you keep it on rather than the color you select." So, very simply, choose the kit that best matches your current shade. "Highlight kits are different from all-over hair-coloring kits because they're not depositing new color, but rather lightening the color you already have," Warren says. Typically there is a blonde, a medium brown, a dark brown, and a red. Though the drugstore aisles are lined with dozens of boxes of hair color meant for single process, there are only a handful of boxed highlights. Get ready for sun-kissed highlights in a lot less time and for a fraction of the cost of a salon visit. We got Warren to demonstrate the balayage technique step by step using L'Oreal Paris Superior Preference Glam Lights. "Nature's never perfect and neither is balayage." Which translates loosely to: It's hard to screw up. "When you're going for a natural look, think about a child's hair in summer- the highlights are not perfectly even," says Joel Warren, master colorist and cofounder of Warren-Tricomi Salons. (Lose up to 25 pounds in 2 months-and look more radiant than ever-with the new Younger In 8 Weeks plan!) It's more natural looking than using foil, which tends to create stripes. What color should you use? Where should you place the lightened locks? Should they be thick or thin, far apart or close together? Fortunately, highlights are easier and more forgiving than you'd think, especially if you use balayage, a technique in which you paint color onto your hair freehand. Even if you've mastered DIY single-process hair color (and especially if you haven't) you might still be intimidated by the idea of doing your own highlights.
