How to lighten your hair the right way

Hey beautiful, Thanks for reading our blog!

If you didn’t know, low and slow is the best way to get to a lighter hair color. Going too fast will be too damaging to the hair and possibly create a corrective situation. We wanted to talk about multiple sessions, why they are needed and what to expect.

The term “Multiple sessions” means it will take several appointments to get to your desired result and that it can’t or shouldn’t be done in one sitting.

Why does this happen?

When doing balayage, or any lightening service, we are lifting the hair and have to lift through underlying pigment. These are the tones that occur naturally in the hair based on how dark your hair is. Colors like reds, oranges and yellows. These are colors we can’t change and have to work with throughout your color journey. The chart below is an example of which colors live within the hair.

What to expect

When doing lightening services such as balayage or highlights, or all over lightening, we have to work with the underlying pigment. When your desired result can’t be achieved in one sitting, you will have hair that is warmer (with reds, oranges or golds) than your desired result. You will have to be ok with this. With balayage, it is a gentle lift and will only lift 1-3 levels per visit. Some all over lightening services work the same way. See Chloe’s journey below as an example of warmer tones. Please note this is on natural hair color. If the hair has any permanent color or color depositing conditioner it may take longer to lift through it.

Products

When it comes to lightening the hair, treatments and your at home products are so important. Using what your stylist recommends will help maintain the health of your hair and promote a better environment at each coloring service. It will also help your hair color last longer with better color pay off. Without your salon’s recommended products you run the risk of color fading and going brassy sooner than expected. Non professional products can also build up on the surface of the hair and prevent the hair from lifting at your next color appointment.

Please see our Services and pricing page for our policies on multiple session color appointments.