Hair Highlights for Men: A Complete Guide With Insider Tips
Hair Highlights for men are back. Whether you’re looking to add a subtle dimension to your natural look or go full-on platinum rebel, there’s a men’s highlight style for everyone.
This article is your ultimate guide to men’s highlights—breaking down the best styles, techniques, maintenance tips, and even how to incorporate them with men’s hair systems if you are dealing with hair loss or thinning.
To see how well hair highlights for men look in real life, read our related post: 40 Trendy Men’s Highlights for Dark Hair.
What Are Hair Highlights for Men?
Highlights are simply sections of hair that are dyed into lighter colors or tones, adding to your base color. The base color is either your natural hair color or a color all your hair is dyed into.
Why should guys highlight their hair? Simply speaking, hair highlights for men add texture and dimension to any man’s hair. If your base is brown, you can add lighter brown highlights for a subtle, textured effect. Are you feeling a bit daring? Go for blonde highlights on brown hair. For blondes, adding even lighter blonde highlights amps up the brightness and gives more depth to your look.
What Hair Types Work Best for Men’s Highlights?
No matter your hair type, there’s surely a highlight out there for you that makes your hair pop. Here’s how different types of hair work with hair highlights for men. We’ll show you a couple of examples each.
1. Fine or Thin Hair
Lighter shades like ashy blonde or honey can be applied on fine or thinner hair. They create depth and dimension, making the hair look thicker.
2. Thick or Coarse Hair
If you’ve got thick locks, warm tones as a highlight, like caramel or mocha, can make them look softer and add a lively shine. These hues blend in naturally without feeling too bold.
3. Curly Hair
Highlights like pintura or balayage are game-changers for curly hair, enhancing the shape and movement of each curl. Highlights can turn your curls from good to “damn, that’s fresh.”
4. Men’s Highlights Short Hair
How to highlight men’s short hair? Is short hair highlightable? Yes it is. Even if you’ve got a shorter style, don’t worry—frosted tips can add that extra something. Short hair with highlights? A stylish, sharp look that keeps heads turning.
Tip: Short hair highlights for men are quite easy to achieve. Simply pick some dye or bleach with the big tooth of your comb, and brush it gently on all the chunks of hair you want to highlight; brush from near the roots. Done! This method works perfectly on both natural hair and hair systems.
5. Male Highlights on Long Hair
Red-brown highlights add subtle warmth and dimension to long hair, blending well with darker tones. This shade enhances the hair’s natural depth without looking too bold, creating a rich, sophisticated effect.
6. Medium Hair Highlights for Men
Medium hair is perfect for both subtle and bold highlights. Any highlights with balayage and foils add texture and depth without overwhelming the style, making it versatile for different looks.
Common Techniques for Male Highlights
There are different ways to apply those hair highlights for men. The most popular ways are foiling and balayage. Other methods are derived from these too, with a focus on achieving a particular look. Let’s break them down:
1. Foil Highlights
The video below is a good example of highlighting men’s hair with foiling. It can also be used as a guide for beginners.
How to highlight men’s hair with foiling? Foiling is the classic method. Hair is wrapped in foil to create structured streaks. Perfect for precise blonde highlights or platinum streaks on dark hair. The video below will show you the basic steps of the foiling technique.
2. Balayage
First, let’s start with a video on how to make highlights for men with balayage.
Balayage is for that sun-kissed, effortless vibe. The word, “balayage” originated from French, meaning “to sweep” in French. The stylist hand-paints the highlights onto your hair. Balayage is perfect for guys wanting a natural grow-out with minimal touch-ups.
3. Ombre
Ombre fades from dark roots to lighter tips, adding drama without any effort. Best suited for longer hairstyles, it has a high contrast and eye-catching effect.
4. Pintura Highlights
Similar to balayage, pintura is also hand-painted technique that creates dimension and texture in curly hair. If you’ve got curls, this technique is for you. Pintura strategically places highlights in your curls to accentuate every twist and turn.
5. Frosting
Yep, the ’90s are calling, and frosted tips are back—just done way better. The frosting is subtle, lightening only the ends of your hair for a modern, edgy twist.
Overall, the classic go-to is foiling, where sections of your hair are neatly isolated to create either bold or soft contrast. But if you’re all about that effortlessly cool vibe, balayage might be your jam. It’s a hand-painted technique that gives you a more lived-in, natural look—like you’ve spent weeks chilling on a beach. The result? A soft, perfectly imperfect set of highlights.
Pro Tips on Men’s Highlights Maintenance
Hair highlights for men are easy to maintain. But, with some pro tips, they will certainly last longer than you expect. We’ve teamed up with the best to bring you the freshest styles and pro tips—because who doesn’t want to look their best, right? Get ready to rock those highlights!
Sulfate-Free Shampoos
Sulfate strips away hair color. Your highlights fade faster using sulfates. So, go for shampoos and conditioners with no sulfate.
Deep Condition Weekly
Highlights can dry out your hair. So condition your hair deeply and weekly, and it will keep your hair hydrated and glossy.
Heat Protection
Heat styling tools can strip your highlights. When blow drying your hair, especially hair system hair, be sure to put it on low heat, and use heat protectants.
Purple Shampoo
It neutralizes the brass tone of hair, and keeps the hair looking fresh for blonde or ash highlights.
Sun Protection
The sun can be harsh on highlights, too. If you are likely to go outdoors for a long time, wear a hat or use a UV-protective leave-in conditioner.
Hairpiece Options for Men’s Highlights
If you are constantly losing hair, and your hair is already thin and can’t afford a trendy hairstyle, hair systems may be a good option. They will do no harm to your hair, and the hair can also be dyed or bleached, and last for a considerable time. If you are a hairstylist, you can refer to our post and learn how to give hair systems hair highlights for men.
Also Read: How to Add Highlights to Your Clients’ Hair Systems or Wigs
Hair system has more to do with the hairstyle you are getting, because particular hair system base material may only accommodate certain types of hairstyles. To have a better understanding of the difference between hair systems and hairstyles, read our related article: 8 Toupee Base Materials and Hairstyles That Suit Them
About Newtimes Hair
Hair highlights for men have come to stay. At Newtimes Hair, we don’t just ship out hair systems to stylists and studios around the globe—we team up with some of the biggest names in the biz to make sure our partner salons are slaying the hair game! From killer hairstyles to flawless hair systems and on-trend colors, we’ve got your clients covered. It’s all about making sure everyone leaves the chair feeling like a star!
FAQs About Hair Highlights for Men
How about highlights for black hair? What if I have black, black hair? What highlights should I use?
It depends on a few things. Is your hair naturally black or dyed black? What result are you aiming for? All these matters. Hair color is measured on a 1-10 scale. 1 means black and 10 is light blonde. Lightening hair exposes its natural pigment—black hair has red undertones, browns have orange, and blondes have yellow. If you’re aiming for light highlights, you’ll likely need bleach, but for subtle highlights, hair color is a better option. For black hair (level 1), I’d suggest a dark brown (level 4) highlight with a cooler tone to avoid red undertones. Hair color with a green/blue base helps neutralize reds for a more natural look. Bleach can be tricky, as it keeps lightening and can leave brassy tones, so I recommend getting it done professionally. Be sure to bring pictures and check the color swatch book for the best results.
How much do men’s highlights cost?
Highlights for men usually cost between $100 and $300. It depends on your hair length, your technique (foils, balayage, etc.), and your stylist’s experience. How about platinum or balayage? Expect to pay on the higher end.
How long do men’s highlights last?
Typically, men’s highlights last anywhere from 8 to 10 weeks before a touch-up is needed. Lower-maintenance styles like balayage can stretch to 12 weeks, while high-contrast styles, like platinum blonde, might need a more frequent refresh to keep them looking sharp.
Can you do men’s highlights at home?
Can highlights for men be done at home? Sure, you could try highlighting your hair at home—if you’re feeling adventurous! But unless you’re a seasoned pro or have done it before, we wouldn’t recommend it. Bleach is a tricky business. Professional stylists know how to work with your hair type and color to give you the perfect result. Trust us, it’s worth investing in a pro to make sure highlights look flawless and healthy!
How to highlight men’s gray hair?
Both balayage and foiling can be used for highlighting gray hair. Warm caramel, golden tones, and dark ashy shades like mushroom brown are perfect for adding dimension to your hair while blending in those pesky grays without drawing too much attention. These hues bring a natural, lived-in feel to your look. For lowlights, choose deeper, richer shades like mahogany, espresso, and chestnut to make your base color stand out and give your hair that extra depth and vibrancy. It’s the ideal way to refresh your style with subtle sophistication!
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