Can I highlight my own hair? Tips?

[trunumber]

I have very long brown hair. I cut it myself and happy dye it one colour myself.

Id like a little more honey type colour in it, not perfect streaks - more flashes of colour every now and then in the lengths rather than tops of my hair.

Can I do this and have you any advice/product recommendations?

You could buy a highlighting kit and just pull through from middle of head and some at the bottom.

I do this quite often - can't guarantee results on someone else obvs but it's not hard to do.

• Get a pack of blonde like B Blonde (looks white blonde on the pack)
• look at the contents - there are usually three things to mix together.
• take a note of the volume of each sachet/bottle size, eg 50ml, 100ml, 25ml
• squeeze / shake a small amount of the ingredients onto a saucer in the proportions they are provided in and mix together. (Take care to close up the packs of unused liquid/powder.)
• take the brush provided (or use gloves and your fingers) and apply to a small inconspicuous section of hair.
• leave to develop, keep checking how it looks. Once it looks lighter wash it off. You probably don't want to leave it on too long if you only want it lightened a few shades.
• experiment with developing time to get the colour you want if necessary
• once you're fairly sure you have an idea of what the result will look like, paint in 'streaks' onto your dry hair in the areas you want highlights, leave to develop, wash off

It's better to underdo than overdo, which is why it's a good idea not to use the whole pack at once, so you can experiment with smaller amounts and apply again if necessary. This can actually give a nice textured look with more than one application.

Thanks so much, I'm going to give it a go next week, fingers crossed!

Another tip - do not let the sections with bleach on touch the hair around it! I usually wrap each bleachy section in cling film (not tin foil!!) to keep it separated.

Jellybean is cling film better than foil?

I used to do it with a highlighting cap and B Blonde platinum. Just pull through very fine strands for a natural look. Make sure to use a good toner and purple shampoo too. I use fudge.

I do it! I've done it three times now with the Jerome Russell kit mentioned and I have below shoulderblade length auburn hair. I'd had some expensive and disappointing highlights at the hairdresser six months before which had grown out and gone lighter in the sun so I was a bit two tone and needed to break it up a bit. I watched a load of videos on YouTube and formulated my plan quite carefully first. I cut up lots of foil strips from some cheap foil we had as I didn't fancy the hat thing in the kit. For my first attempt I did tiny 'baby lights' because I was worried about being stripy. It took AGES and it was scary as anything but I was really really pleased with the results.

I've gotten a bit bolder with successive attemps which maybe aren't as good and I have to ask OH to help me with the back foils because it's impossible to do myself but mostly, I love it and I've definitely paid for worse. I really like being able to control how and when I do it. It's incredibly cheap but very time consuming. Also, I'd invest in the JR toner as well. The caramel and ice blonde colours are nice, depending on what you're after. Good luck!

Don’t do it girl. 22 years of trying to highlight my hair myself. I have professional equipment. Took private coloring classes. It will ALWAYS look sh!t. You might get away with a few strands but it will be a mess. You will spend at least half if not more money on doing it/ fixing it compared to a groupon voucher. Honestly, and out of love for a fellow wannabe self colorist: don’t do it.

I used to do mine when it was shorter but I used Professional high lift tints & developer (you can now buy them on Amazon) I used to pick up strands, cover in colour & twist them out if the way until I had finished. I have even done a couple of shades just alternating them through & doing extra ones of the lightest tone at the front & sides.

I’ve been doing highlights in my hair myself for about 12 years. Experimenting with plenty of colours along the way
Takes practice to get it right but can always dye over it 😂
Don’t make your streaks too thick and don’t go too near to the roots(burning)

What about enquiring about letting student/trainee hairdressers doing it under supervision? Will be cheaper than a fully qualified hairdresser or colourist doing it, but safer than you doing it at home.

I do it myself - shoulder length, very fine mousy hair. I use a cap, then take cap off immediately and use a paintbrush to paint it right to the roots and do some extra ones around my hairline. I've done it for years and it looks better than professional highlights as I know my own hair well - the highlights are always was too thick from a hairdresser so it looks like an all over bleach job.

Not sure I could manage it on very long, darker hair through.

I’ve done this quite a bit, helps that my hair already has a lot of different tones. There’s not all that much difference, once it settles, between how it looks when my hairdresser does it or when I do it. She’s always saying she likes what I’ve done though to be fair she literally does very basic highlights and not any type of bayalage,

One tip re brassiness/ginger tinges is to leave it on the maximum time and use a blue or purple shampoo to help settle it in.

Thanks everyone

I think there is a real chance I could end up messing it up completely but I'm excited for the risk of it
I'll update once it's done

@trunumber did you do it? If so I hope it went well, I’m hoping to do mine but need some inspiration

Ha, I didn't - I ended up short of time and I knew highlights would take concentration so I just stuck a brown dye on.

However, had I done it I bought a garnier nutrisse hair colour (honey blonde) and a kit from Amazon with gloves and brushes in. I intended to attempt balayage. Maybe I will in the future.

Good luck if you do!