How Often Should You Get Highlights? A Stylist’s Guide

 

You love that fresh, bright feeling when you leave the salon with new highlights. But a few weeks later, you may look in the mirror and start wondering, “Is it time to get my highlights done again?”

It’s a question we hear all the time from clients at Salon Roi in Chevy Chase, MD.

The truth is that there isn’t one perfect schedule for everyone.

How often you should get highlights depends on your natural hair color, how quickly your hair grows, the type of highlights you have, how light you like to be and, most importantly, how much regrowth you’re comfortable with.

Some clients love staying bright right up to the root. Others actually prefer a softer, more lived-in look and are perfectly happy going longer between appointments.

Here’s how we look at highlight maintenance from a stylist’s point of view.

How Often Should You Get Highlights?

For many clients, highlights are refreshed approximately every 6–12 weeks.

But think of that as a general guideline, not a rule.

If you love very bright blonde beginning close to your scalp, you’ll probably notice your natural regrowth sooner and may want to come in more frequently.

If your highlights are softer and more blended, you may be able to go considerably longer while your color still looks beautiful and intentional.

And this is important: you don’t necessarily need the same highlighting service every time you come in.

Sometimes you need full highlights. Sometimes a partial highlight is plenty. And sometimes all your color really needs is a toner or gloss.

How Often Should You Get Full Highlights?

Full highlights create brightness and dimension throughout the hair, including the underneath sections.

Most clients don’t need a full head of highlights at every appointment.

Depending on your hair and the look you want to maintain, you may refresh your full highlights approximately every 8–12 weeks and alternate them with partial highlights or smaller refresh appointments.

For example, we might do a full highlight at one visit and then concentrate on the top, hairline and face-framing pieces at the next.

This keeps your color looking fresh without unnecessarily lightening hair that is already blonde.

And as colorists, that’s something we pay close attention to.

How Often Should You Get Partial Highlights?

Partial highlights concentrate the brightness where people tend to notice it most—around the face, hairline, part and upper sections of the hair.

For many clients, this is all that’s needed between larger color appointments.

Partial highlights may be refreshed approximately every 6–10 weeks, depending on your natural color, your desired level of brightness and how quickly your hair grows.

Alternating between partial and full highlights can be a great way to maintain beautiful dimension without feeling like you need a complete color service every time.

Do You Really Need More Highlights—or Just a Face-Frame Refresh?

Here’s something clients are sometimes surprised to hear:

You may not actually need more highlights everywhere.

If the underneath and back of your hair still look beautiful but you feel a little dark around your face, a few strategically placed face-framing highlights may make a big difference.

Brightening the hairline and pieces around the face can make your entire color look fresher without doing another full highlight.

That’s why we prefer to look at the hair before automatically repeating the same service you had last time.

Your hair tells us what it needs.

What Is Regrowth—and When Is It Too Much?

As your hair grows, your natural color begins to show between your scalp and your previously highlighted hair. That’s simply your regrowth.

But how much regrowth is “too much”?

There really isn’t one answer.

Some clients start noticing their roots after just a few weeks and want them refreshed right away. Other clients like seeing a little natural root because it makes the color feel softer and more dimensional.

Instead of focusing only on the number of weeks since your appointment, ask yourself:

Does my color still look intentional?

If your highlights are still blending beautifully with your natural hair, you may be able to wait a little longer.

Can Toner Refresh Highlights Between Appointments?

Absolutely—and this is one of our favorite ways to refresh blonde without automatically adding more lightener.

Sometimes clients come in because their highlights don’t feel as fresh as they did when they first left the salon. The immediate thought is often, “I need more highlights.”

But sometimes you don’t.

If your blonde has become a little yellow, brassy, dull or simply lost the tone you loved, a toner or gloss may be exactly what you need.

A toner or gloss can help:

• Neutralize unwanted yellow or brassy tones
• Refresh beige, cool, golden or creamy blonde
• Add shine
• Make existing highlights look fresher
• Bring the overall color back together

It’s a great option between highlighting appointments when the placement is still beautiful but the tone needs a little attention.

Why We Don’t Recommend Highlighting the Same Hair Too Often

This is where being patient with your color can really pay off.

More blonde isn’t always better.

Hair that has already been lightened needs to be treated carefully. Repeatedly overlapping lightener onto previously highlighted hair can contribute to dryness, weakness and eventually breakage.

When we look at your hair, we’re not only asking, “Where can we add more blonde?”

We’re also asking, “Where has this hair already been lightened?”

Sometimes the healthiest choice is to highlight only the new growth or add brightness in selected areas instead of lightening the entire head again.

Beautiful color matters, but so does having healthy hair to show it off.

Does Your Natural Hair Color Affect Highlight Maintenance?

Definitely.

The more contrast you have between your natural hair and your highlights, the sooner your regrowth may become noticeable.

For example, someone with naturally darker hair and very light blonde highlights will usually see the contrast at the root sooner than someone whose natural hair is already fairly light.

If your natural color is closer to the color of your highlights, your grow-out can appear much softer.

Gray hair adds another consideration.

Highlights can sometimes be used strategically to help blend gray, but whether that’s the right approach depends on how much gray you have and whether your goal is to blend it or completely cover it.

That’s something we determine individually during your consultation.

What If You Want Lower-Maintenance Highlights?

Tell your stylist.

This is one of the most useful things you can tell us during your consultation.

If you love beautiful dimensional color but know you don’t want to be in the salon every six weeks, we can take that into consideration when planning your color.

Your stylist may recommend:

• Softer highlights
• Babylights
• Balayage
• Root shadowing
• Lowlights
• Face-framing highlights
• Dimensional color

The placement matters just as much as the color itself.

When we know that lower maintenance is important to you, we can create the color with the grow-out in mind, not just how it looks on the day you leave the salon.

Not sure whether traditional highlights or a softer balayage look would work better for you? Read our Balayage vs. Highlights: Which Is Better for You? guide to understand the difference.

Should You Get Partial or Full Highlights?

If you’re looking at the booking menu thinking, “I honestly have no idea which one I need,” don’t worry.

You don’t necessarily have to figure that out yourself.

A full highlight may make sense if you want brightness throughout your hair or the underneath sections have become significantly darker.

A partial highlight may be enough if the underneath still looks good and you mainly want brightness around your face, part and crown.

And sometimes, as we mentioned earlier, toner alone may be enough.

The best service depends on what your hair looks like today, not simply what you booked last time.

How Can You Keep Highlights Looking Fresh Between Appointments?

What you do at home makes a difference too.

Use products designed for color-treated hair, protect your hair before using hot tools and avoid excessive heat whenever possible.

If your blonde tends to become brassy, your stylist may recommend a purple or toning shampoo.

But more isn’t necessarily better here either.

Using highly pigmented purple products too frequently can sometimes make blonde appear dull or overly cool. Your stylist can tell you how often to use them based on the tone of your highlights.

And if your blonde suddenly seems dull but your roots still look fine, remember—you may simply be ready for a gloss or toner rather than another full highlighting appointment.

So, When Should You Book Your Next Highlight Appointment?

Instead of watching the calendar alone, take a look at your hair.

Ask yourself:

Are my roots bothering me?

Has my blonde lost its brightness or tone?

Do I feel dark everywhere—or mainly around my face and part?

Does my hair still feel healthy?

The answers can help determine whether it’s time for full highlights, partial highlights, a face-frame refresh, toner—or simply a little more time before your next color appointment.

And if you’re still not sure, that’s completely fine.

That’s what your consultation is for.

Book Highlights in Chevy Chase, MD

If you’re ready to refresh your highlights, the colorists at Salon Roi in Chevy Chase, Maryland can help determine what your hair actually needs and create a maintenance schedule that works for you.

Conveniently located near Friendship Heights, Salon Roi offers customized highlights, balayage and dimensional hair color based on your natural color, previous color, hair condition, desired result and lifestyle.

Ready for a refresh? Book your hair-color appointment or consultation with Salon Roi. We’ll help you decide whether it’s time for full highlights, partial highlights, toner or simply a few strategically placed pieces to bring your color back to life.