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What’s the Difference Between Highlights and Lowlights in Your Hair?

February 1, 2017 by Jennifer Scott

Someone who doesn’t necessarily actively follow the world of beauty may not know that highlights and lowlights both exist. After all, it’s undeniable that highlights are much well-known, to the point where some people tend to consider lowlights highlights as well. Well, not only are we now discussing both of them, but we’ll also list the fundamental differences that recommends against considering them as one and the same.

The Difference Between Highlights and Lowlights

Highlights mean adding to your hair streaks of shades lighter than your natural color.

Lowlights mean adding to your hair streaks of shades darker than your natural color.

Both of them bring dimension to the hair, making it look more voluminous and enriching it through something as simple as an aesthetic effect. And speaking of aesthetics, there are some different results here as well. Highlights tend to compliment your hair directly, making your natural color stand out. On the other hand, lowlights bring out the color of your eyes and skin on top of that.

Even though most people instantly think of blonde hair when picturing highlights, the truth is that any colors that are at least two shades lighter than the base hue are highlights. The same premise applies to lowlights, except it goes for darker shades. In this regard, it’s safe to say that highlights and lowlights for brown hair are the most effective and they leave the most room to play around and experiment. Not scarcely have we seen cases where people “tangled” both highlights and lowlights into their hair.

Highlight Tips

  • The purpose of highlights is to breathe more personality into your hair, as strange as this may sound. Still, at the end of the day, the look is supposed to be somewhat natural. This is why you shouldn’t go for highlights that are more than three shades lighter.
  • Thinner portions of hair are generally better than thicker portions. This will help the highlights blend in with the rest of the hair, giving it a much needed natural look. The larger the dyed portions of hair, the weirder the final result will be.
  • You can use highlights as a method to slowly go lighter with your hair color. Start with a few pieces and then gradually add more and more highlights to your hair. This will make the transition much smoother!

Lowlight Tips

  • Lowlights aren’t as efficient used as a standalone hairstyling option since it’s easier for them to look more unnatural.
  • However, they are extremely useful in a tri-color service, which involves adding both highlights and lowlights to your hair. This is because, this way, your natural hair color becomes a transition shade between the two of them, making your look even more natural.

Wrapping Up

The difference between highlights and lowlights really isn’t difficult to grasp, as exemplified before. Also exemplified before, it’s safe to say that getting this look right in our times is a much tougher business. After all, hair in the 2010s so far is all about looking natural with just a touch of funkiness.

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