…to do my own balayage or highlights?

[Kitkat189]

I’m a bit broke so haven’t been to the hairdressers since a year… I haven’t had my natural hair colour ever so this is a first, and I don’t like it. I have tried to embrace it but give up. I can’t afford hundreds of ££ to do professional highlights so is there anything I can diy? Very dark brown hair, which usually looks like this:

With picture:

Nice picture! Is this what you want to recreate?

I'd say go for it. I do mine (when I can be bothered ... oops!) I paid attention to what hairdressers were doing, so had an idea of what was needed. I don't bother with foils.

For a similar effect to yours I used a 9.0 and 9.1 box dye, as advised by my colourist. I put the 9.0 all over, following the instructions. After a couple of washes, I made up the 9.1 and applied generous highlights using my fingers. I lifted sections, coated them in the dye, and twisted them before laying them back down. The shades are very close, so it didn't matter if there was a small amount of bleed.

It looked the same as when the hairdresser did it. I've got a lot bolder since then, and even did my hair in horizontal pink & blue stripes once! (I read a lot of online advice for strong colours, as I had to bleach my hair right out and use salon tints that you mix yourself.)

Now back to a lighter version of blonde, I do both shades at the same time but I'd advise doing them separately to start with. Another approach is to use a darker shade on your underneath hair and the lighter one on the top part, which is faster and also looks natural. Do balayage on damp hair, use a tinting brush to apply the lower portion and be careful not to make a straight line.

As long as you're patient and keep in mind what you're aiming for, it's quite easy.

Thank you for the encouragement, glad to hear you had good results. Just worried I’ll end up with orange hair given that my natural shade is dark…

It really depends on how good you are at separating your hair and how much patience you have.
I tried to do highlights once and ended up looking like a punk badger.
My Mum dyed her hair once and ended up with dye all over the bathroom, bedroom floor and bizarrely, the kitchen.

You’d be better off seeing if you can find a local college where students need people to practice on. Highlights and balayage must be a very common thing to teach.

Get a superdrug light ash blonde. Snip a bit from underneath and do a strand test. It'll give you an idea of how much warmth you're going to get. If all else fails there's lots of semi permanent colours to go over it.

You really made me laugh, @GrannyWeatherwaxsBroomstick!

I do! If your hair is dark like mine you need a strong bleach before the toner/ box dye.
I tied my hair up in section and painted on bleach pieces ( concentrated at the ends and avoiding the root). I did that twice before I was happy with the lighter pieces, then waited a day or two before adding toner. Don’t overwork the bleached bits, and leave it on long enough so you get enough lift. I used a light brown and a mid ash blonde box dye to colour the lightened sections freehand on dry hair).
Don’t do any of this if you are at all anxious about your hair! Mine is quite wild anyway and wavy so it kind of works being messy.

It can be done but it is hard and I have made peace with it not being perfect. Fanola toners are good from amazon and I use purple shampoo to keep out any brassy tones!