MATRIX Hair Color Experts Weigh In On The Top Summer Highlight Trends
This season there are so many highlighting options—balayage, babylights, color melt and more. So it’s a cinch for every one to find a style and color palette for their hair, ranging from extreme to extremely subtle. The hair color pros at Matrix know everything there is to know about highlights. Here they share the latest highlighting trends, tips and inspirations to help everyone find the summer highlights of their dreams!
White on Light Balayage
Best if natural hair is: Medium-to-light brown or blonde.
What stylists will do: Lighten all-over color to medium blonde if it’s not already that light. Then hand-paint lighter wheat and ivory highlights on select sections, focusing on the mid-lengths and ends for the most natural-looking effects.
Hair care tip: Prevent cool highlights from becoming too warm or brassy with regular use of a Matrix Brass Off, a purple-toned shampoo. Twice a week should do it!
Honey Baby Lights
Best if natural hair is: Light, medium or dark brown.
What stylists will do: Weave fine strands all over and apply light golden and honey colored highlights. The colored sections will be wrapped in foil to process.
Styling tip: For those who wear their hair straight and smooth, fine highlights that extend from roots to ends will be the most flattering choice.
Almond Color Melt
Best if natural hair is: Light, medium or dark brown
What stylists will do: Color melting involves an artful and beautifully blended gradation of color, starting darker at the roots and gradually becoming lighter and lighter toward the ends. A hairdresser will brush a dark maple color (or just maintain your natural shade) on top sections, then place a mid-range toasted almond shade just below it and blend the two together with the side of the brush. Same thing between the mid-range toasted almond in the center and a lightest slivered almond shade on the ends.
Styling tip: Focus the emphasis of the curl formation where the color is lightest to play up movement and dimension.
Bonfire Balayage
Best if natural hair is: Warm brown or red.
What stylists will do: Who says highlights can’t be for redheads? A fiery red color combo is ravishing! It starts with a warm auburn base color. The stylist will then hand-paint lightener on the middle and end sections and top it all off with a vivid copper glaze.
Hair care tip: Keep red hair color first-day vivid with Biolage R.A.W. shampoos and conditioners. They’re free of the sulfates and salts that can cause hues to fade too soon.
Pistachio and Peach Lights
Best if natural hair is: Dark, medium or light brown or blonde.
What stylists will do: Highlights don’t always have to be “matchy-matchy.” A few fun slices of pastel color are the perfect summer accessory. If hair is dark, it will have to be lightened so the delicate highlights show up. Then the stylist will bleach the desired highlight sections and gloss over them with luminous peach and pale mint color.
Styling tip: The twists and turns of a braid make the perfect showcase for summer highlights. Before braiding, mist hair with Style Link Playback dry shampoo to give it the texture it needs to hold the shape.
Rose Gold Balayage
Best if natural hair is: Dark brown.
What stylists will do: The “It” hair color of the season is especially dramatic when it’s contrasted with rich, dark hair color. To get the look, the hairstylist will apply lightener to the lower half of your strands and lift hair to a dark blonde shade. Then she’ll glaze everything with a rich, rosy shade of demi-permanent hair color, which will not only create the unique color on the ends, but also leave hair looking shiny and feeling soft.
Styling tip: Keep summer humidity out of the picture by misting your beach waves with Style Link Style Fixer, a soft hairspray that eliminates frizz and flyaways.
Ocean Balayage
Best if your natural hair is: Deep and dark.
What stylists will do: Dark hair color has fewer options than light when it comes to highlighting. Sea-inspired blues and violets offer fashionable flair. The stylist will lighten select sections of hair, then brush and blend amethyst and cobalt color along the strands, blending carefully. She’ll finish with an overall sheer, clear gloss to seal in the color and amplify shine.
Styling tip: Keep the shine train on course by using Oil Wonders Egyptian Hibiscus Color Caring Treatment Oil on damp hair before drying.
Tone on Tone
Best if natural hair is: Blonde or light brown.
What stylists will do: Highlights that are in the same shade range offer the dimension of traditional highlights without the contrast. Try a combination of ultra-light, icy cool and buttery warm tones.
Hair care tip: Daily care for highly lightened hair is critical. Use gentle shampoos and conditioners formulated expressly for color-treated hair like Total Results Color Obsessed.
Mocha Face Frame
Best if natural hair is: Medium or dark brown.
What stylists will do: The highlights with the highest impact are placed around the face, and sometimes that’s all that’s needed to brighten up a whole look. The stylist will create wide caramel or mocha highlights on the sections closest to the face, from the hairline to the ends.
Hair styling tip: A traditional roller set with heated or Velcro rollers will produce deep, glamorous waves—perfect for showing off face–frame highlights! Mist each section with a light-hold spray like Style Link Volume Fixer prior to setting the hair for flexible hold.
