Doing Your Own Highlights at Home

Have you ever considered doing your own highlights at home? There's probably only a handful of people that you would trust to pull off highlights the right way.  Taking bleach into your own hands can be exciting when you pull it off, but you may need a hair studio if you screw it up.

At the end of the day you had better know what you are doing or the hair studio you choose should because imperfections are easy to see! How many people have you seen at the local Walmart with messed up highlights or coloring? Maybe Walmart is a bad example but, if you insist on doing it yourself follow some of these simple tips to avoid common pitfalls.

Highlights Done Correctly

First, you’ll need a bleach kit, a “blending brush” and a bleach brush which is easy enough to find at a local store. What's a blending brush? It’s another bleach brush that you can use to blend the bleach into your hair evenly and see if its working its way into your hair correctly after the initial application.

Make sure that when you do section off pieces at home that they are no bigger than a boot shoelace as this will ensure that your new highlights naturally blend in with your hair. The first step is to apply the bleach and then blend it evenly to achieve the best highlights. When you're using the “dye”, start in the middle of the sectioned off hair and work your way down. If you get too close to your skin, there could be major problems!

At Meraki Hair Studio our highlights will go closer to your skin to make it look its best, but we caution you not to try doing this yourself. Bleach is no joke, and it could cost hundreds of dollars to fix if your screw up at home.  Remember that bleach works very differently from hair color as hair color stops and bleach does not!

The Highlight Foils

Fair warning this part can be a little intimidating. After you have finished using the blending brush - to make sure that there is an even coating of bleach you can put the shoelace strands in “hair color foils” to keep the color from drying out.

Make sure that you are checking the hair from time to time especially if you have dry, damaged, or previously bleached hair. The best way to go about handling these types of issues is to go to a professional, but if you must try doing one side at a time. This will keep you organized which will give you some insurance. Slow and steady wins the race and that means not applying heat you. Heat will speed up the process and it can get out of control fast!

Your Hair Highlights at Home

Toner is the finishing product that you use after you wash out all of the bleach and shampoo from your hair. Toner cuts out some imperfections in the strands that you have already lightened and adds warmth and “tones” to your new look.

After you add the conditioner, that's it! Everyone is going to have different preferences from product selection, drying time, toner and more when you get highlights done or you do it yourself. It’s your hair in the end and if you think you can handle it good luck.

Meraki Hair Studio is here to answer any of your questions about highlights. Just give us a call or contact Meraki Hair Studio today to learn more!