Ask An Expert: Jason, How Can I Extend The Life Of My Highlights?
Question: Jason how can I extend the life of my highlights?
Answer: Nothing is worse than leaving a salon after having paid hundreds of dollars feeling like you're on top of the world only to have those expensive highlights go brassy on you by week 3 or 4. So what's the deal? Well, it all depends on whether or not your colour technician used a toner on you or not. Let's face it, some people have natural hair colour that when highlighted has the tendency to go brassy and most technicians will try to cancel out some of that brassiness with toners and other techniques. So what's the answer? Well, toners unfortunately tend to fade after several washes and if the highlights were only lightened to a yellow undertone, there's a good chance you're gonna go brassy and feel the need to get those highlights done soon again. Having said that, it can also be quite dangerous to over lighten your hair. Yellowy blonde undertones can show up if your hair is under lightened out of precaution by your colourist. So, here's the trick. If your toner fades out quickly, be sure to run to the nearest beauty shop and pick up a 'purple shampoo'. My absolute fave is Clariol's Shimmer Lights. Here's a really quick colour lesson. In order to cancel out yellow in your hair, colourists will use purple. These two colours are considered to be opposing colours on the colour wheel and that's why Companies like Clairol have created 'purple shampoos' for brassy blondes. Now, a word of advice... If you decide to use a 'purple shampoo', please make sure that you only use it once or twice a week and DO NOT leave the shampoo on for a long period of time because it WILL make your hair go purple if your hair is porous so proceed with caution and read those instructions on the label!!!
Okay, now if you're not a brassy blonde and you still want to know how to extend the life of your highlights, there are a few things to keep in mind. The further you go away from your natural colour when highlighting, the sooner you're going to have to return to the salon for your root touch ups. My favorite type of highlights are always tone on tone natural looking highlights. If you have a chocolate brown base for example, try doing light golden brown highlights and the re-growth won't occur so quickly. Natural is key here ladies and the closer you stay to what God gave you, the less often you're gonna have to go visit the "Hair God" (or whatever he/she calls themselves these days!!!) In addition, size DOES matter (insert your own joke). The chunkier the highlights the more obvious the re-growth will be. Besides the fact that no one should ever be doing chunky highlights anymore, the thinner the highlights, the longer you'll preserve their shelf life as re-growth won't be such a big issue.
Lastly, there are newer techniques that I've mentioned in previous posts about where to place highlights. Today, the big trend is still having darker roots and lighter ends. Ultimately, the best way to extend the life of your highlights is to ask your technician for something that will be natural and low maintenance. xoxo
Written by Jason Lee, winner of Superstyle Hair Challenge, Season 1
For more tips and news from Jason Lee, visit: http://salonspotter.blogspot.com/
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