If you're gonna go brunette or blonde, you have to know what colors compliment you -- and which ones don't. For example, back when Scarlett chose to dye her naturally blonde strands brown, she still dressed like she was a blonde! Pale colors like light beige are tricky 'cause if you have darker hair, you put yourself at risk of looking washed-out. Instead of going monochromatic, Scarlett should've taken a hint from true brunette Jessica, and either added darker colors to the mix -- or used self-tanner. But that's just our two cents. What do you think?
READ MORE: Scarlett, Jessica Alba, Jessica, Scarlett Johansson, Alba, Johansson
If You're: Brunette With Blonde Highlights
Use Sunsilk Beyond Brunette Shampoo daily, and Sunsilk Blonde Bombshell Color Boost for Highlighters 1 to 3 times a week in place of your usual Beyond Brunette Conditioner.
If You're: Brunette With Auburn Tones
Use Sunsilk Beyond Brunette Shampoo daily, and Sunsilk Beyond Brunette Color Boost for Brunette Colorers with Auburn tones 1 to 3 times a week in place of your usual Beyond Brunette Conditioner.
If You're: All-Over Blonde Or Blonde With Highlights
Use Sunsilk Blonde Bombshell Shampoo daily, and Sunsilk Blonde Bombshell Color Boost for Highlighters 1 to 3 times a week in place of your usual Blonde Bombshell Conditioner.
Hey guys! It's Emily, Alloy's Beauty Editor. Don't you love Rian P.'s highlights?! If I were more daring, I'd totally steal her 'do. As a dark brunette, I've always craved that blonde-highlighted, naturally sun-kissed look. Now, I finally have something sort of close to that, but it's taken me years to get it right! Mostly because communicating with hairstylists is harder than I thought.
I had an especially bad experience my sophomore year of high school: I decided to get "light brown/dark blonde" highlights on a whim, and went in for a walk-in appointment at a trendy hair place in my local mall. This pushy dude with a spiky gelled 'do was my stylist, and was rude to me from the start, which should've been a red flag! But it was my very first time getting highlights, and I was waay too trusting and naïve. The butthead stylist refused to let me see a color swatch book ahead of time, saying he was a "professional" and color swatches were for "amateurs". Long story short, I walked out of the salon with chunky white-blonde streaks that started an inch away from my roots, and auburn lowlights in between. So basically, I had dark roots, and tri-color hair when all I really wanted was natural, sun-kissed color!
To save you the same post-traumatic stress I went through, here is what I recommend when getting your hair professionally highlighted or colored:
1. Bring a color photo in of a celebrity 'do you like, or scan those hair books they always have lying around in the waiting room (that's what they're there for!).
2. If you don't have a regular stylist that you trust, consider making a consultation appointment with your chosen professional before the real deal, just to make sure you're both on the same page.
3. Insist on seeing a swatch book so that you can get an idea of what it is your stylist is gonna do; their idea of "dark blonde" could be totally different than what you're thinking.
4. Be specific. If it's your first time getting highlights, a partial (instead of a full head) is probably the way to go. Also, be clear about whether you want a natural look with thin highlights, or whether you want highlights that are more bold and chunky.
5. Lastly, if -- after following all these steps -- you're still unhappy with the end result? Ask your stylist to apply more toner. This will help tone-down your highlights, and blend them in more with your natural color.
My natural hair is brown, but I dye it so that it has a bit of auburn in it, too. I never want to spend money on getting it professionally done, so I only spend like $8 for over-the-counter hair color. And it comes out perfect! I've always done my hair myself, and I've dyed it eight times! It never wears my hair down.
My tip for getting perfect, all-around color is to put a quarter-sized amount of shampoo in the hair dye and lather it in. It works reeeally well.
The craziest thing I've ever done was getting jet-black hair. I think it's the ugliest I've ever looked. Imagine a really pale face in the winter, with black hair. It was pretty intense.
Brunette tip: If you’re a brunette with blonde highlights, we recommend that you use Sunsilk Beyond Brunette Shampoo and Conditioner with Sunsilk Blonde Bombshell Color Boost for Highlighters to recharge your highlights. See what we’re talking about here…
I bleached my hair platinum for years. I just used 40 volume peroxide, WELLA powder bleach, and White Minx toner. It looked good, but the DIY thing had to end at some point! My rule of thumb is to make my color decisions based on how much maintenance I'm willing to give my locks and how much time I am willing to spend at the salon. I generally stay within two shades of my natural blonde, unless I plan on seeing my hairstylist every three weeks for root touch-ups and fresh toner.
I always ask my stylist to keep small sections of my natural color underneath the front and sides so that it mixes in with my lightened color and minimizes the "rooty" look when it grows in. The key to any good color is the cut, and I will stand by this statement! Unless you have extremely healthy-looking hair with a perfect mirror sheen (which is tough with processed hair) texture is important. It keeps things interesting and, more importantly, it disguises damage!
I keep my hair pretty short, so I can change up the color without wreaking havoc on my hair. My natural shade is a medium ash -- my stylist says it's about a level 8 -- but I have him bring it up to a 9 or 10 depending on the cut and the season.
Decided to get highlights or go blonde? Grab some Sunsilk Blonde Bombshell Color Boost for All-Over Blondes or Color Boost for Highlighters to lock in your color. Click here for more info!
