Do Highlights Damage Hair? Here Is What To Know

When it comes to highlighting, this age-long question has plagued people’s minds: “do highlights damage your hair?” Sometimes highlighting your hair is all you need to overhaul your style. Highlights are the easiest way to jazz your look and get noticed. However, highlighting is not without its disadvantages. If not done properly, it can cause irrevocable damage to your hair.

If you are interested in knowing more about highlights and their effect on your hair, continue reading!

Can Highlights Damage My Hair?

Highlights are classified under hair coloring and will cause a degree of damage to your hair. However, the level and extent of damage depend on the chemicals and degree of changes being done to the hair. If your highlight is subtle, the damage can be minimal and, in most cases, unnoticeable. However, if you are doing more extensive highlighting or bleaching, your hair will suffer a higher level of damage.

Here are some damages highlights can do to your hair

Some highlights chemicals can cause change the inner structure of your hair resulting in a dull look. This is especially common with people that regularly color your hair roots.
Due to all the chemical processes involved, your hair becomes dry, rough, and frizzy to touch. In some extreme cases, they may start falling out.
It makes the hair shaft weak and porous, sometimes eliminating your hair’s natural color. This is particularly common in people with prolonged hair bleaching.
Extreme coloring or bleaching can result in fragile and dehydrated hair resulting in hair breakage.
It leads to a lack of moisture and loss of elasticity.
It can alter your hair curl pattern and hair texture.

How to Minimize Damage During Highlight

Highlights are terrific and super fashionable. If you plan on doing one in days to come, here are a few tips to help you minimize the damage.

Always use a professional stylist

Professionals are always the best option since they are familiar with different hair textures and are in the best position to recommend the best highlight option. They do this by accessing your hair and selecting the best process and chemicals for the highlight.

This will help keep your hair healthy and in the best shape. Moreover, you can rock your amazing new look without worrying about hair damage or breakage.

Make sure your hair is healthy before highlighting

Highlighting unhealthy hair is a recipe for disaster. This is because unhealthy hair strands are not strong enough to withstand the highlighting process resulting in hair damage and breakage. It is better to boost your hair days or weeks before undergoing the process.

You can fortify your hair by undergoing protein treatment and deep conditioning. This will help strengthen your hair and boost its integrity. You should also ask your hair stylist to do some bond strengthening treatment before highlighting.

Trim out the unhealthy strand

Trimming can be done before or after the highlighting process. Trimming before highlighting ensures that only the strong strands undergo the process, and doing this after the process removes damage and overprocessed strand. The idea is to reduce unhealthy hair strands, reduce split ends, and eliminate breakage while giving your hair a shiny and healthy look.

Know your hair type

Understanding your hair type plays a significant role in your highlighting decisions. It helps determine the chemicals and processes that should be employed in highlighting your hair. Although your stylist can resolve this, it is an essential factor.

While a professional stylist can tell a lot, nobody knows your hair more than you, especially if you are allergic to some chemicals. Sharing the correct information with your stylist helps them determine the best treatment process.

Highlighting definitely has many pros. Unfortunately, there are a few undesirable cons that should be considered before undergoing the process. Although compared to perming and bleaching, some of these cons are probably a drop in the ocean. Nevertheless, they can still cause untold damage to your hair. However, if done properly, the cons can be greatly minimized.

The rule of thumb is to keep your hair healthy before undergoing the process and always use a stylist. They are in the best position to recommend the best process based on their assessment of your hair.