Hair highlights are spot colors applied to selected strands of the hair.
Highlighting of the hair involves lightening the hair shade by at least 2
shades. You can give your hair the sun kissed look and even frame your face
with the right amount of hair highlighting. When done well, hair highlighting
can add depth and volume to your hair. Lowlights are not yet very popular with
most women. This involves darkening some strands of hair to achieve a different
look. While a hair highlight lightens and brightens the hair, a lowlight
darkens and deepens it.
Hair colors for highlighting must be carefully chosen. Opt for blond, gold and
chamomile tones. The reds, plums and aubergines work best for lowlights. The
process of applying hair highlights involves wrapping strands of hair with
aluminum foil after applying bleach. Yet another method is to use a plastic
scull cap with holes all over. . Hair is pulled through these holes and then
bleached. With this method, you can ensure that sensitive skin is not exposed
to chemicals.
Hair color
Colored pigment of the hair shafts reflect the light and consequently you can
add or subtract from your original hair color. Hair coloring involves chemical
reactions. Hydrogen peroxide is the developer or the oxidizing agent that aids
the color forming process. This developer removes the sulfur from the hair.
Ideally, the developer should not exceed 30% volume. Ammonia is alkaline and
works as the lightening catalyst when the hair color comes together with the
hydrogen peroxide.
Ammonia separates the hair cuticle and allows the hair color to penetrate the
cortex of the hair. The alkaline color penetrates the hair shaft and hydrogen
peroxide causes the color molecules to bond. Semi permanent hair colors add only
a minimum amount of color molecules to the shaft of the hair. These hair colors
do not alter the hair's natural pigments. The color molecules of semi-permanent
hair colors are small and do not penetrate the hair shaft sufficiently. As a
result, these hair colors get washed away after several shampoos.
Permanent hair colors work on a double action process - they lighten your hair's natural pigment to form a new base and then add the new color. The color molecules expand within the cortex to a size that cannot be washed off. Hair colors are graded according to the degree of lightness or darkness, 10 being the lightest and 1 being the darkest. The color wheel for hair colors can offer you anything from golden brown to coppery shades and chestnut and mahogany.
Hair Streaking
Hair streaking is similar to frosting and highlighting. Each can be used to best effect on different hairstyles. While frosting involves bleaching of individual hair strands, tipping is all about bleaching only the end of the hair. Frosting the hair involves giving an overall salt and pepper look to the hair. Hair streaking is more pronounced when compared with hair highlighting. The effects of hair streaking are striking, since there are bands of color. In the highlighting process, the blend between colors is subtler | Natural hair coloring
Women have been using natural hair colorants for thousands of years. These natural coloring products were extracted from plants and minerals. Henna and black walnut shells are natural agents containing pigments that lend themselves to coating the hair shaft with color. Though natural hair coloring agents are relatively safer and non-toxic, some people develop allergies to them. The henna shrub is widely found in West Asia and |
