What are Lowlights and Why are They Important?

If you’ve ever wondered what lowlights really are – you’re not alone. In fact, many women are familiar with the term, but less so the actual definition of what lowlights are when it comes to coloring hair.

Essentially, lowlights are dark pieces of color that are woven into your hair to create or introduce contrast. So, where highlights bring in brighter colors, lowlights darken it. At its root (pun intended), lowlights add dimension.

Contour is a staple term in beauty nowadays. You probably think of makeup when you hear it, but lowlights are the contour of the hair world. It really brings the look together when you incorporate lowlights into your color.

Incorporating Lowlights into Your Hair Color

Adding hints of a darker shade to your color treatment is a great way to give fine, or thin hair the illusion of thickness. The more color variation you have, the more texture and movement is visible in your hair. Lowlights can also be an effective way to cover grays without a full color treatment.

Well-placed lowlights can help with a gentler look during your grow out process. If you have an extra busy schedule and have a hard time coming in as frequently as most color treatments necessitate – usually once every 4-6 weeks – lowlights can stand between you and a color correction treatment.

Additionally, lowlights are typically used as a go-to fix it for hair that has been overly highlighted. Applying key lowlights can really amp up dimension and give your hair more vibrancy.

For lowlights to do their best work, they should be subtle and not streaky. We don’t want to see dark zebra stripes going down your hair. Instead, we want it to be darker than the lightest part of your hair but not darker than your natural base tone. Done properly, they should be placed throughout your hair color – and can even look best when done with balayage so that it’s less uniform throughout.

If you have questions about lowlights, schedule a color consult with our team today!