Highlights are a great way of brightening and adding depth to your natural base colour. They are pieces of hair that are lighter than your base colour and are added using lightener, hair colour or direct hair dyes.

Traditional highlights involve a foiling technique in which strands of hair are lightened from root to ends in a specific sectioning pattern. Foil highlights should be done every six to eight weeks, depending on the contrast between the highlights and your natural colour. There are several different options available when it comes to highlighted hair.

A full head of highlights means every section of hair on your head is highlighted. This is ideal for someone looking to add variation to their whole head of hair, as full highlights allow you to achieve the brightest colour result.

However, if you’re not looking to completely transform your hair, a partial highlight will be more appropriate for you. A partial highlight (also known as a half head of highlights) involves all the  hair around the front of your head and the top layers of hair at the back of the head being highlighted. The underneath sections are not highlighted, meaning the hair remains the same colour that it was to begin with.

If you’re not into the traditional highlighted look and prefer something more natural, babylights are a great option. Babylights are delicate highlights created using a fine colour technique to mimic the blonde achieved when your hair is naturally lightened by the sun.

They are good for introducing colour to your hair in a very natural and subtle way. To create this look, your hair colourist will focus on your hairline, natural parting and the ends of your hair. The highlights are super fine around the hairline and natural parting, with a soft graduation of colour that is lighter towards the ends.

Face-framing highlights are used to add brightness around the face and accentuate both the hair colour and the facial features. Face framing highlights follow the natural parting of the hair and can be of different thicknesses depending on your desired effect. Smaller weaves can be used to create a softer, more natural look and bigger sections for a stronger effect.

Balayage is a highlighting technique used to create a natural and blended colour. Instead of using foils like traditional highlights, your hair colourist hand paints the colour directly onto the hair resulting in a softer, sun-kissed effect. Balayage is very versatile and can either be soft and subtle or made more intense through bold and bright colouring, either way this technique has a universally flattering effect. In addition to its versatility, Balayage is great as it is low maintenance in comparison to other hair colouring methods. The regrowth period can be stretched up to twelve weeks and beyond.

This is a great way to refresh your look for the summer. Blond highlights are placed around the face, where the sun would naturally lighten the hair resulting in a very natural look even if higher contrast shades are used.

You can’t go wrong with golden tones but they are especially flattering on tan skin.

Low maintenance colour that grows out easily is super popular right now and a root-blur balayage is a great way to achieve this. This involves muting the hair colour around the roots to create a more blended regrowth, with touch-ups only required twice a year.

Soft, cool brown balayage highlights are a subtle way of breaking up brunette hair.

A few painted highlights concentrated on the ends of your hair and around your face is a modern take on the Ombré and avoids a harsh regrowth line.

These are just a few of the Balayage options available to you! Be sure to bring along photographs of what you are hoping to achieve so your colourist has a point of reference.