Highlights for medium hair

Any girl at least once in her life thought about changing her hair color. Some especially risky young ladies easily dye their hair almost every month, radically changing the shade and not worrying about the health of the hair. However, if you are not one of those, we suggest that you consider a procedure such as highlighting your hair to change your image. What kind of procedure it is, what are the varieties of this coloring and how after it you need to take care of your hair, and will be discussed in our article.

Average hair length provides a wider range of choice for the type of non-uniform coloration, which is highlighting, than the length below the shoulder blades. It is also impossible to implement some hairdressing experiments on a short haircut (for example, ombre).

Pros of highlighting for medium hair.

• Suitable for any haircut, be it a bob, bob, ladder or other hairstyle. It perfectly emphasizes the structural features of styling, highlight individual accent strands, and refreshes the face. With the help of a well-chosen color scheme, you can achieve visual volume.
• Highlighting helps to fight gray hair, since due to the heterogeneity of the staining, it will simply not be visible.
• Neither age nor original hair color matters. - streaked curls go to all ladies. Men also did not ignore this trend and often ask hairdressers to lighten individual strands to achieve the effect of sun-bleached hair.

Long gone are the days when discoloration with "feathers" would pop up in the memory at the mention of the highlighting procedure. Now there are a great many varieties of this coloring. Choosing one of them, you need to be guided by your natural data, namely the base hair color.

For blonde hair, do the following.

• Mazhimesh. It is considered the most gentle, it is recommended only for natural blondes, since ammonia-free paints are used in the dyeing process, therefore, they will not be able to "break through" through a too contrasting color of curls. Creates the effect of a strand, burnt out in the sun.

• California highlights. In essence, it is similar to majimesh, but the color gamut of "California" is more extensive. When performing it, they do not use foil or other similar material, but apply paint with strokes, creating a glare effect.

• Blondes who want to give their appearance more brightness are recommended to dye their hair in shades of red. This will drastically change your appearance, turning you into a fiery beauty. The red color has many tones, ranging from golden to garnet. You can play with them by combining them and creating the illusion of "living fire" in your hairstyle.

For curls of a light brown shade, these types of highlighting are recommended.

• Classic. This is exactly what was mentioned above - discoloration with "feathers". Moreover, even here there is a variety: you can lighten thicker and thinner strands, you can use several different tones (up to 4 inclusive). You can only bleach the upper part of the head, and leave the bulk of the hair in its original color.

• Balayazh. Another interesting technique that has been mastered in recent years. Balayage is French for sweeping. Therefore, when a hairdresser uses this coloring method, he "sweeps" the hair with a brush, making vertical strokes. Balayazh is not an easy technique, therefore, to perform it, contact a trusted master, whose portfolio already contains similar works.

• "California". As for blondes, this type of coloring is also suitable for fair-haired young ladies. However, it is recommended to dye the strands in colors that are only a couple of tones lighter than the base hair color.

For dark hair of medium length, these techniques are suitable.

• Partial highlighting. Painting individual curls in shades of a lighter color scheme. This will create the effect of sun glare in the hair, give the hair a visual volume. The thinner the strands, the more beautiful the result will be.

• Shatush. The bottom line is to create the effect of sun-bleached hair in brunettes and brown-haired women. At the same time, the transition from tone to tone is smooth, and even when the hair roots begin to grow, the difference in color will not be evident.

In order to decide which shade you should use for highlighting, be sure to consider the following nuances:

• what is the state of your hairstyle at the moment: are there any split ends, are your hair dry;
• basic natural color;
• whether there is a dye on the hair at the moment or the hair is not dyed;
• what is the length of your hair;
• what haircut do you wear or how you plan to cut it;
• your color type: shade of eyes, skin;
• what is the texture of your hair: straight, curly, wavy, curly.

Best of all, any coloring in which 2 or more colors are involved looks on uneven haircuts, such as:

• cascade;
• ladder;
• rhapsody;
• square for lengthening;
• square "on the leg";
• square with asymmetry;
• pixie.

Now let's look at the highlighting technology itself. Let's take the classics as a basis, since it is easiest to master it for a person who is not familiar with the profession of a hairdresser.

On medium-length hair, they have not used the outdated method "through a hat" for a long time, since curls longer than 10 centimeters can simply get tangled when pulled, as a result of which the coloring will turn out to be uneven and ugly. Therefore, to carry out the highlighting procedure at home, purchase a special cosmetic foil in a specialized store.

So, let's get down to the procedure.

• Comb through dry curls well. Do not wash them just before dyeing - their "freshness" should be 2-3 days old, because the sebum on the scalp will help protect the hair from the aggressive effects of dyes.
• Divide your hair into zones - there can be from 4 to 8, it depends on their density. Using special hairdressing clips, fix each resulting "pile". In the absence of clamps, you can twist them into "muzzles" and stab them with ordinary hairpins or tie them with rubber bands.
• Put on your work clothes: a peignoir, a bathrobe, or anything else that you are not afraid to get dirty. Be sure to protect your hands with rubber gloves.
• Mix the chosen product: add the oxidizing agent to the coloring matter, mix well or shake until a homogeneous mass is obtained. Read the preparation instructions carefully.
• Dissolve the bun at the back of the head and divide it into thin strands.
• Take a piece of foil - it should be pre-cut into strips about 5 cm longer than your strands. Hairdressing foil has 2 sides: matte and shiny. Turn it over with the matte part up and bend the top edge "towards you" by about 1-1.5 cm. Insert the "ponytail" from the comb into the resulting "pocket" and hold it there.
• Next, draw a line along the matte side with a brush dipped in the preparation. Slide the foil under the chosen strand using the "ponytail" and fix.
• Apply the dye to your hair from the bottom up.
• Fold the foil on both sides, hiding a strand in it, and cover it on top with another piece of foil. Seal the "envelope" and fasten it "invisibly".
• Highlight the rest of the strands in this way, moving from the back of the head to the sides of the head. Leave the crown and bangs (if available) for last.
• If you are using only one color for highlighting, use hairpins to fasten the curls that remain in the original color with hairpins. So they will not bother you and try to "get in" where you don't need to.
• Let the hair dye soak according to the instructions. Do not exceed the time indicated by the manufacturer - this is fraught with overdrying and damage to the hair.
• Start rinsing off the paint. Do this in the same order as when staining.
• Unfolding the "envelope" with the colored strand, rinse it thoroughly. Do not remove the foil to maintain the legibility of the picture.
• When all the envelopes are removed, rinse your hair well.
• And finally, apply a nourishing conditioner or mask to the curls.

After highlighting, and indeed after any chemical exposure to hair, you need to properly care for them. Experts give the following tips.

• As mentioned earlier, immediately after staining, use a balm or mask. This is necessary in order to restore the water balance in the hair structure, since due to lightening, they dry out.
• Get a special shampoo designed for highlighted hair, as well as a tint to get rid of the yellowish tint of discolored strands.The shampoo contains a vitamin and mineral complex to maintain healthy hair, it will prevent breakage and make it shiny and elastic.
• It is recommended to correct the highlighting no earlier than 60 days after dyeing in order to give the hair time to recover.
• Use a hairdryer, curling iron and iron as little as possible to style your hair. High temperature will not bring any benefit to already dehydrated curls, but the harm can be colossal. If you really can't dry your hair naturally, turn on the cold blow mode.
• Do not comb wet curls, squeeze or rub them heavily with a towel.
• Learn to pamper your hair with homemade masks: use chicken egg yolks, fruits, honey, kefir, castor oil. Take vitamin and mineral complexes internally.

If suddenly, after some time after the highlighting procedure, you notice that your hair has begun to fall out, then it's time for more intensive care:

• in the evening before going to bed, massage the scalp with a brush or massage the aponeurosis of the skull with your fingers - this will help to improve the blood supply to the hair roots;
• Get a natural wood comb, which will also help rid your hair of static electricity;
• switch to proper nutrition: introduce vegetables, fruits, nuts, olive oil, dairy products into the diet;
• if the quality of the hair has deteriorated significantly, you can start taking a vitamin complex for pregnant women or a specialized one - for the skin, nails and hair.

Our photo gallery presents fashionable examples of highlighting for medium hair length. Check them out and choose the one that best suits your idea of ​​beauty.

For information on how to highlight medium-length hair at home, see the next video.