I want red highlights in my hair, do I need to bleach the hair first?

Select a red dye with some brown tones to make the color hold longer. Ask your stylist (if you are getting your highlights done professionally) if he or she would like you to wash your hair the day of your appointment. Some prefer freshly washed hair, while others think a day’s worth of your hair’s natural oil protects the scalp from chemicals in the dye.

Invest in color-enhancing shampoos or, at least, shampoos that are made for color-treated hair. Wash your hair everyday after getting the highlights – if possible; minimize the amount of times you shampoo in order to slow fading. Go too radical.

A light natural blonde will have a much more difficult time achieving the Lucile Ball look than a brunette. The large size of red molecules can’t penetrate blond hair very well and makes it difficult to get beyond a strawberry blond. Expect red highlights, or any highlights, to be low maintenance.

Either be committed to perking up fading color and taming re-growth, or just use the red highlights for a change, and then go back to one all-over color. Generally speaking, olive skin tones work well with cool reds, whereas fair skin tones look better with warmer reds. In other words, a purple/plum-ish red looks best if you have olive skin, while an orange/honey red is better suited for fair skin.

Needless to say, however, is that the most important element is that you like the color and that you achieve the look you want. Whether your highlights fit the “rules” is secondary to you enjoying your hair, its color and its style. When you speaking to your colorist at a salon, some useful words when trying to describe the shade of red you want are copper, mahogany, plum, strawberry, red-gold or red-brown.

A picture is also helpful when describing not only the shade of red you want, but the spacing or the look of your highlights. Because of the tricky nature of red dye, a colorist can be an asset when going red. Not everyone can afford a professional stylist, though, so if you are highlighting your own hair at home, first brush your hair into the style you normally wear.

Then, pick out where and what pieces you want to highlight. Don’t try to find the pieces when your hair looks nothing like how you would normally wear it. A natural look is usually achieved by varying the spacing of the highlights around your head, focusing on the crown and bangs (where, presumably, the sun would naturally highlight your hair).

A more planned, urban look can be achieved with sliced highlights that are carefully placed to be more noticeable (best done by a stylist or at least a friend). No matter what type or color of red highlights you get, they are always a fun approach to changing your appearance.