What are the different kinds of highlights available?
There are many different techniques, varying names and ways to do highlights. You have baliage, foil, painting, cap (but no one does that anymore - I hope!), full head, half head, chunking, fine, low lights and framing your face…..

What’s the difference? Which one is better? What should you choose?
These are all questions I hear all the time. I will try and help clarify what all these words mean for you.

Baliage and painting are basically the same thing in different words. It just means there is no foil involved and your colorist paints on highlights freehand. Because there is no foil involved you must use a higher volume peroxide and if not done correctly by a pro, can be very damaging to the hair. We all know what the cap is and I hope no one uses that anymore. Its painful and you have no creative control over the placement of highlights. All the rest are done with foil and are just different techniques and looks - it all really depends on what you’re going for. Half head or full head just really depends on how you like your hair. It’s a personal choice and framing the face is just a few highlights around your hairline and/or crown area. Also, I’d advise against “chunking” as it’s outdated and looks very harsh - it was very popular in the 90’s.
All these are different options and it all depends on the color and look you are going for.

So what’s in now for highlights? It’s all about tone on tone highlights, not fine or chunky but somewhere in the middle. It’s just to give dimension to the hair using many different tones in the same color family. That way hair doesn’t look solid or dense and always go for warmer tones, more golden than ash - it’s more youthful. Highlights should be fun not scary; they add contrast and spice up your color!

xx, Rita Hazan

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