Q&A for How to Do Your Own Highlights

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What should I do first, overall hair color or highlights?

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This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

wikiHow Staff Editor

Staff Answer

You can do both at the same time. However, if you want to do them separately, then you need to apply your base color first. Otherwise, you would have to carefully work around your highlights to avoid covering them with the new color.

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Question

Is it cheaper to dye or highlight your hair?

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This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

wikiHow Staff Editor

Staff Answer

If you’re getting it done in a salon, all over color is usually cheaper, since it’s a less complicated process. Highlighting may also be slightly more expensive at home, since you need both bleach and hair dye (as well as other equipment, like foil and a cap) in order to do it.

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Question

How do you get your natural hair color back after highlights?

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This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

wikiHow Staff Editor

Staff Answer

If you don’t want to let it grow out naturally, you will need to dye your highlighted hair back to a shade similar to your natural color. Apply a gloss over the highlighted areas to help give the treated hair a healthy shine, then dye it with a permanent color that’s as close as possible to your natural hair color.

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Question

Can I use store bought foil to do my own highlights?

Community Answer

Yes.

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Question

I just colored my hair medium blond; I would now like to highlight my hair myself. Can I use a light-blond dye to highlight my hair, or must I purchase a frosting kit?

Community Answer

Use a highlighting kit or go to the beauty supply store and get bleach with 20-volume developer. Color does not remove color, so the light blond would not show up over your freshly dyed medium blond.

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Question

Is it bad that my hairdresser put me under a hair dryer after putting the highlighting solution in my hair?

Community Answer

This is standard at hair salons - the dryer speeds up the highlighting process. Whether it's good or bad is debatable - some think the saved time is not worth the potential damage to your hair. However, if you have black or very dark hair, it can be very hard to highlight effectively without the help of heat (that type of hair is also less likely to get damaged in the process, as long as it's healthy in the first place).

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Question

I already had auburn hair color and so was supposed to have gold and brown highlights added. However, it did not turn out well. I have had it "fixed" 3 times and it still isn't right. My auburn is gone except for a very few streaks of what is now mahogany and the gold is blonder. Help.

Community Answer

You should seek the help of a professional hair stylist.

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Question

How can I do colored highlights?

Community Answer

The method I would recommend is to bleach your hair first, and then add colored hair dye to the bleached portions to create colored highlights.

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Question

I died my hair at home with a hi-light kit. My hair came out yellow. How do I get it to blond?

Community Answer

See a professional to avoid doing further damage.

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Question

I have bleach blond hair and want burgundy highlights. I've got a cap, but don't want to overdo the red. How many cap holes should I skip?

Community Answer

You can skip as many as you want, just be very careful with the cap and how much red you use. Plus, make sure you don't have the red too dark or it won't look too nice and won't blend.

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Question

What is the best way to get the streak perfectly straight?

Community Answer

Take a piece of your hair and put some foil underneath the hair. Then, dye your hair the color you want and then wrap the foil round the hair and wait the exact time the instructions tell you.

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Question

Can I use a highlighting cap made for short hair on my long hair?

Community Answer

Yes, you can use a highlighting cap for long hair. It won't give the full effect of "highlights", though.

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Question

Do I need to put a toner after highlighting my hair because my roots are darker?

Allison Batera Sullivan

Community Answer

Toner helps to reduce brassiness in lightened hair. If your highlights appear reddish or are orange tinted, you can apply toner to them to decrease that effect and make them look more blonde.

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Question

Will highlighting my hair damage it badly?

Reese Han

Community Answer

It really depends. If you bleach it, it may hurt your hair, but it also matters how well you care for your hair. If you care for it really well, it should be okay.

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