Highlighting is usually done with two shades of the same color and it is suggested that for the first few times, a professional should do this.
A good basic hair-tone is what you need, if you want to reap in the benefits of highlighting your hair with the appropriate colors. While choosing the right color depends on the skin complexion and type of hair, the highlighting depends on the basic tone of the hair, the volume and the length. It will be better to select shades that are within two paces of your natural color. Anything lighter would make you look washed out. And on the other hand, if the shades were too darker, you would appear older than your age.
The coloring can last up to four weeks, and has to be touched up a couple of times during this period. But the highlighting can last for two to three months. A special way of doing the highlights at the base is to let the color get in the roots, and as the hair grows, the color molecules grow along with it, and this gives a kind of sheath effect. Glossing can also be done to make hair shinier and it boosts the color. So, instead of coloring your whole hair, you can use the highlights and low-lights on the crown and parting line, then go in for a gloss treatment.
There are many types of highlights and all these can be broadly categorized into four main groups. Foil, Baliage, Chunking and Low-lighting. In Foil, the hair is held in strands and the highlights are done on the strands. Four or five shades are used and the look is more natural this way. In Baliage, it is like painting on the hair. That is, small or big swaths are painted like natural stripes. No need to touch up roots often here. The Chunking, is applying the highlights in pieces, while Low-lighting is the provision of more contrast to the color, and appending darker shades to hair does this.
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