What Distinguishes Lowlights from Highlights?
“Highlights” and “lowlights” are two of the most commonly used terms in the hair colour industry. Understanding the difference between highlights and lowlights is crucial to achieving the look you want. Whether you plan a do-it-yourself at-home makeover or visit a salon for a new hair colour, this knowledge helps. Both techniques add depth, contrast, and visual appeal to your hair. However, they achieve this in slightly different ways. Below, we cover the purpose of highlights and lowlights, the methods used to create them, and how to choose the one that best suits your hair.
Highlights: What Are They?
Highlights are a form of hair colouring that lightens specific areas of your hair. This technique gives your hair a more radiant, sun-kissed look. You can apply highlights in various patterns and intensities, depending on the desired result. Usually, highlights are a few shades lighter than your natural colour. The goal is to add depth and brightness to your hair. Many techniques, such as balayage, foil, and cap methods, can be used to apply highlights. The positioning of highlights plays a significant role in how they will look once finished.
Why We Use Highlights
The main aim of highlights is to add contrast and brightness to your hair. Highlights mimic the way your hair lightens naturally in the sun, making them ideal for those who want a sun-kissed, natural look. Highlights create depth and texture by highlighting particular strands, giving the hair a multi-dimensional appearance. This technique is especially useful for individuals with darker hair who want to brighten their look without undergoing a full colour change.
Additionally, highlights can soften the face, particularly when applied around the crown and hairline. People with naturally dark hair often use this technique to achieve a radiant, youthful appearance. Highlights can also help make thin or fine hair appear fuller and thicker, adding volume to the hair.
Highlight Types
- Foil Highlights: Foil highlights are the most traditional and widely used method for highlighting hair. A lightener is applied to small sections of hair, which are then wrapped in foil. This method provides additional definition and visibility to the highlights.
- Balayage Highlights: In the balayage technique, the colourist applies the lightener freehand, using a sweeping, organic motion. This results in a softer, more blended look that requires fewer touch-ups as the hair grows.
- Babylights: Babylights are very fine highlights designed to imitate the delicate, natural lightness of children’s hair. They create a subtle and soft look.
- Ombré Highlights: Ombré is a technique where the hair colour transitions from dark at the roots to light at the tips, creating a gradient effect. This method is ideal for those who want a low-maintenance hairstyle.
Describe Lowlights
Lowlights involve darkening certain sections of your hair to create contrast and depth. Typically, lowlights are a few shades darker than your natural hair colour. They are strategically placed to add depth and character to your overall hair colour. The main goal of lowlights is to enrich the hair’s depth and add tone.
Lowlights add depth and shadow to the hair, creating a more multi-dimensional look, while highlights are used to brighten the hair. Both light and dark hair types can benefit from lowlights, as they provide a way to break up the monotony of a solid hair colour without making drastic changes.
The Lowlights’ Objective
Lowlights are typically applied to add depth and richness to the hair. Darkening certain areas of your hair can create a thicker, more voluminous appearance. If you want to add texture and depth to your hair without drastically altering its overall colour, lowlights are an excellent option. They are particularly beneficial for individuals with lighter hair who want to enhance texture and depth.
Furthermore, lowlights offer a more natural and less “done” look. They can help balance out overly bright or brassy highlights, creating a more harmonious colour. Lowlights are also effective for camouflaging grey hair in a more subtle, natural way, blending seamlessly with the rest of the hair colour.
Lowlight Types
- Foil Lowlights: Just like foil highlights, foil lowlights involve applying darker tones to specific sections of hair. This method allows for more precise placement of the lowlights.
- Balayage Lowlights: Balayage lowlights are applied freehand, giving the hair a more natural, blended appearance.
- Subtle Lowlights: Some individuals prefer a subtle look, applying only a few lowlights throughout their hair. This technique adds overall depth without significantly altering the hair colour.
The Principal Distinctions Between Lowlights and Highlights
Both lowlights and highlights are techniques for adding depth and dimension to the hair. However, their effects on the hair’s appearance and colour direction differ significantly. Below are the key distinctions between the two techniques:
Direction of Colour
- Highlights: Highlights lighten specific areas of the hair, creating a more radiant effect.
- Lowlights: Lowlights darken sections of the hair, providing shadow and depth.
Goal
- Highlights: Highlights aim to add brightness and lift to the hair, creating a vibrant, sun-kissed look.
- Lowlights: Lowlights add depth, dimension, and richness to the hair, giving the appearance of thicker, fuller hair.
Impact on Hair
- Highlights: Highlights make the hair look lighter and airier, resulting in a youthful, fresh appearance.
- Lowlights: Lowlights add a sense of refinement and richness to the hair, making it appear more grounded.
Upkeep
- Highlights: Highlights may require more frequent touch-ups, especially on lighter skin tones, as regrowth becomes more noticeable.
- Lowlights: Lowlights tend to grow out more naturally, requiring less upkeep compared to highlights.
Methods for Selecting Highlights and Lowlights
Your final choice between highlights and lowlights depends on the look you want to achieve. Consider the following points when choosing between the two techniques:
Hair Colour
Highlights work well for dark hair if you want a more radiant, sun-kissed appearance. On the other hand, if you have light hair, lowlights provide the contrast and richness needed to add depth.
Desired Look
If you’re after a lighter, more radiant, and natural look, highlights are the ideal choice. If you prefer a more understated, elegant appearance, lowlights offer depth without overpowering your natural colour.
Hair Texture
Lowlights can improve texture and add richness to the hair, while highlights are great for adding volume and fullness.
Maintenance Level
If you prefer minimal upkeep, lowlights might be the better option, as they blend in more naturally over time. Highlights, however, may require additional maintenance.
