September 13, 2017
High-Lift
What Is High Lift Hair Colour?
High-lift hair colour is a permanent hair colour that strips or ‘lifts’ your natural pigment without resulting in unwanted brassiness (orange and yellow tones). The key purpose of a high-lift colour is to lighten the Hair without having to use Bleach.
With the aid of a high lift colour, you can lighten your natural hair colour by up to four shades however, this only applies to your natural shade as high lift will not work on already dyed hair. To use this product on already dyed hair, you would at first need to remove the dyed colour with a hair dye remover treatment.
How does it work?
High lift colours contain ammonia and colour pigments which are then mixed with a 40-volume developer that lightens your hair more effectively than standard blonde hair dyes, whilst also toning during the process. However, you may wish to use a separate toner after the process to achieve the exact desired hair colour. The high lift colours are often left on the hair for up to an hour.
Why should you use high-lift?
Highlift products are a great alternative to Bleach and using them instead of such a harsh chemical can reduce the amount of damage caused when attempting to lift your hair colour, because they are a Colour, you can also get the added bonus of conditioning agents that are in the high-lift, adding moisture to the hair during the Colouring processes, but this is all depending on your chosen product. Unlike Bleach, high-lift gives you more control during the lightening of your hair, whilst also Toning at the same time using the Colour pigments.
Hi-Lift shades can be a better alternative for many people and can cause much less damage and stress on the hair and scalp than bleaching if properly used.
Who shouldn’t use high-lift?
Highlift will also not lighten/lift previously dyed hair (permanent or semi), and nor can you reliably lighten hair more than 4 levels. If you have already dyed hair, you will need to use hair dye remover kit and bleach to lighten it before attempting to use high-lift. This means that you need to have a naturally light hair colour to use a high lift blonde dye. If you apply one of these dyes to a dark hair colour you may end up with a very warm colour i.e. orange, instead of the desired blonde. Highlift’s are most effective when lightening a virgin hair from a Natural Dark Blonde or lighter and you can expect to lighten the hair by up to 3 -4 levels.
Most high-lift colours are targeted at those with medium dark to black hair, with the most common being browns and reds and although there are high lift blonde colours targeted at dark hair, it is almost impossible to achieve black to blonde without the aid of bleach.
It should also be noted that coarse hair will also work against you during the lightening process, as it is more resistant.