Hair highlights for summer 2024: how to achieve them and how to take care of them

Longing for summer, not only on the skin but also in the head: the season of highlights (or highlights) has officially begun, with that desire to lighten that affects everyone at the beginning of the season. According to a recent survey by Pinterest research «strokes of light» for hair has recorded a considerable increase in recent weeks, as much as 6500% compared to the winter months. The desire for change does not only concern those who already have light hair, but also brunettes: searches for “intense highlights on dark hair” are increasing, and there are also those who want to find out what we were like: it is 5,400% searching for the keyword «2000s retro light strokes».

Highlights: the evolution of a trend that never goes out of fashion

Confirms the trend and the desire to lighten, Jenny Mozzi,Top Technician of TONI&GUY Milano Monti, who assures: «Classic highlights have not been in vogue for a long time». By «classics» we mean highlights «that give a striped effect, in which the chiaroscuro is clearly distinguishable from the base. This is a process that involves a fairly dark area, alternating with lighter stripes. A result that harks back to the origins of the trend, between the Seventies and Eighties, when stripes of color were decidedly evident.” They are the so-called chunky highlightswhich periodically also appear on social media, despite failing to really catch on.

A first turning point came in the 2000s, recalls Jenny Mozzi: «The stripes at the time were already a little more mixed, therefore more natural than in previous decades. Now, however, thethe coolest effect is a mix with balayage.” How does it work? «It is always used the foil to obtain high levels of lightening, because being thermal it is possible to obtain lightening with very light shades, but first we evaluate how best to mix the color to obtain an effect that is a cross between balayage, i.e. the shaded effect, and highlights”.

Foilayage: highlights today are natural and refined

At Toni&Guy they are called highlights foilayage. «It’s a mixture of foil, foil, and balayage”, continues Jenny Mozzi. «The lightening is quite intense, not like in the case of classic balayage where you go down a few tones, but much more». The beauty of contemporary highlights, however, is not only a question of technique, but also inevitably of products, evolved to the point that the percentage of damage to the fibers is reduced to a minimum.

Toni&Guy’s foilayage, from the SS 2024 collection.

Highlights on a dark base? Possible and beautiful

In this way it is possible to obtain all the effects you want, even if the starting base is very dark. «The important thing is to have the time to do lightening: it is impossible to make a significant change in one hour, you need at least four-five if you want to pay maximum attention to the fiber and not compromise it. Is it worth it? Definitely yes. «The highlights created in this way do not give the effect of clear regrowth because the effect is very subtle». An effect that gives the best on medium and long hair, because movement makes the final result more beautiful than on static hair. The right styling, of course, also plays its part, as it demonstrates Penelope Cruz, Very dark natural base and mirror effect highlights.

Maintenance of highlights: never been so easy

Taking care of sunstroke today is much simpler than in the past. First of all, it is important to pay attention to the structure, using shampoo, conditioner and styling products that pamper the color, including thermal protection during the drying phase. The rest depends above all on personal taste. «There are those who come to the salon every month, month and a half to tone and camouflage the regrowth a bit, as well as to have a brighter effect, those who opt for a gloss and those who even go for six months without doing anything , as long as the regrowth is homogeneous”, concludes Jenny Mozzi. Celebrities also like the desire to lighten. Many those that inaugurated the summer with a completely new color or, at least, lighter than usual, including those with a dark natural base. Here is their way of understanding the highlights of summer 2024: what is yours?

Highlights on a dark base like Katie Holmes

Katie Holmes

Sean Zanni

Curly hair and highlights: the combo we like

Sun-kissed effect like Gisele Bündchen

The hot version of Penelope Cruz

Penelope Cruz.

Noam Galai

Blonde on blonde for Blake Lively