Single-Process Color
Single-process hair color is what you want to ask for at the salon if you want an all-over hue update. The shade is just one tone from scalp to ends. It’s also referred to as a base color. For covering gray hair, a single-process color is all you need.
Double-Process Color
A double-process treatment is a base color plus highlights for extra dimension. Make sure to book additional time at the salon if you want a two-step hair change, which requires more skill and nuance. Double process has gotten a bad reputation over the years, but it doesn’t have to be unhealthy for the hair when done by a professional.
Highlights
Highlighting is the act of lightening pieces of the hair with the use of color or bleach and folding them into a foil to let the color process,” celebrity hairstylist Clariss Rubenstein said.
Foil highlights start directly at the roots of the hair to create anywhere from lower contrasting highlights called babylights to highly dimensional hair color. The amount of the contrast is visually created by taking larger or smaller sections and not just by making the hair itself lighter.
Lowlights
Lowlights are the opposite of highlights. They are darker pieces of hair usually reserved for the layers underneath and around the neck. Lowlights can also be used if highlights have morphed into one solid color over time.
Babylights
Babylights are placed around your hairline and on your part. They don’t go too deep within your hair. Just think subtle, delicate — and it’s good for fine hair. Think of it as taking small pieces of hair and only highlighting the top half of it.
Ponytail Highlights
If you like to wear a lot of updos, adding a few ponytail highlights near the nape of the neck and over the ears. I think it’s good to keep some highlights around the whole perimeter of your head because it seems lighter without doing full, internal highlights. When you lift the hair you have just the few highlights over the darkness, and it looks natural.
Bronde
“Bronde” is what you call the hair color in between brunette and blond. It is taking someone with dark blond or light brown hair and adding a layer of highlights to lighten the overall color.
Balayage
When you see the colorist at the chair next to you meticulously painting every strand of hair with bleach, that is them utilizing the balayage technique. In French, the word means sweeping or scanning. It’s just a myth that balayage always looks more natural than a foil highlight.
Rooting
If your schedule won’t allow hair-color appointments every six weeks, ask your stylist to root your hair. “We do all the highlights, and then we put a gloss, or a toner, or a color on the roots to tone it down. “It’s just something that takes away the contrast so it doesn’t look so bold or blatant in the regrowth. I like to compare it to smudging your eyeliner.” Hill says.
Ombré
Ombré color trends every summer when people want sun-kissed hair that is dark at the roots and lighter on the tips. The real beauty of it is how low maintenance the style is.
