How I Highlight My Hair

First lets go over some background on my natural hair color and hair type. My hair is naturally dark brown, as you may already know dark brown hair can be difficult to lighten to blond. Highlighting hair that many levels can cause a lot of damage and be hard to maintain. Not to mention the challenge of fending off unwanted warmth or brassy tones.

Now for hair type, my hair is naturally thick, dry, frizzy, wavy, fluffy and unmanageable. I used to try and be so gentle with my natural hair, I avoided using any heat, I used natural shampoos and conditioners. But nothing could tame it, my hair was a mess and I was unhappy with my appearance because of it. So I gave up my all-natural, no heat method.

Today I have the hair I always wanted, it's shiny, sleek, straight and blonde. So how did I take my hair from dark brown to blonde without spending hundreds of dollars in a salon? I took a more subtle approach. I began highlighting my hair with a four dollar bottle of Sun-In from the drugstore and my blow-dryer. Sun-In won't take you from dark brown to blonde but it's an amazing "Primer" that will lighten it to a golden brown. It's also very gentle on your hair and easy to use. After some months of "Priming" my hair to golden brown. I began using L'Oreal Hi-Light Styliste in the hot pink box from the drugstore ($11). Carefully I added thin all-over highlights staying a 1/2 inch away from my roots, so as to avoid the orange effect. I highlighted my hair every 6-8 weeks. After 3 At-Home highlight sessions. I had the results I wanted. For years now I have maintained my light golden blonde highlights easily and for a very low cost. I lighten or "Prime" my roots every few weeks with Sun-In and every 2-3 months I highlight that "Primed" hair with L'Oreal Touch-On Highlights in the turquoise box. (It's basically the same as Styliste but my drugstore changed products) Whenever highlighting I always make sure to stay at least 1/4 to 1/2 inch away from the roots.

While my color is not the highly sought after Pamela Anderson platinum blonde, it is a lovely Jennifer Aniston golden blonde which I'm thrilled with and it suits my skin-tone nicely.

To achieve a straight, smooth, sleek texture with lots of shine, I invested in a GHD Flat iron and some very good hair care products. Which I will go over in another posting.