Partial hair highlights: accentuate the face

6 Gorgeous Ways to Wear Partial Highlights

Low-maintenance but high-impact.

Partial hair highlights are one of our favorite ways to add light and dimension to our hair without undergoing a huge color change. Full highlights are gorgeous too, but we love how partial hair highlights can offer anything from a subtle to a bold option that you can easily switch up based on your preferences. With partial highlights, a lot of people choose to get them placed towards the front of their hair to lighten up their features. However, they can also be placed underneath the top layer of hair or painted on the lower layers for a less obvious look.

No matter where you place your partial highlights, you’ll need to style your hair to show them off. Read on to check out six different ways to style partial hair highlights to their full potential.

Partial Hair Highlights: 6 Ways To Style

Partial hair highlights: accentuate the face
Partial highlights can really work their magic to accentuate the face.

1. Straight and Voluminous

Hair that’s been blowdried straight hair with some body and bounce is a great way to show off face-framing highlights. Get the most lift out of your hair by doing an at-home blowout. Start by applying a volumizing product, such as Catwalk By TIGI Bodifying Spray For Volume Blow Dry. Then use a round brush for added body and smoothness as you blow-dry your hair straight or with a slight lift.

partial hair highlights bold color
Try something bold with your highlights by adding color.

2. Textured Colorful Highlights

Who says partial hair highlights need to only be blonde? We love the look of these colorful highlights mixed in with platinum blonde hair. When worn underneath the top layers of hair, this look is called “peek-a-boo” highlights. With a peek-a-boo look, you don’t get the chunky, streaky highlight look near your hair parting. Tip: Show off your different colors with a textured style, which you can create by braiding loosely damp hair.

partial hair highlights blonde tones
Add some subtle blonde tones to bring out your brown with highlights. Photo credit: indigitalimages.com

3. Soft Wavy Balayage

For soft, summery, natural-looking partial highlights, wear your hair wavy or ask for some balayage tones. This will emphasize the natural beach-babe vibe you’ve got going on! For sexy tousled waves, prep your hair with TRESemmé Sea Mineral Infusion Texturizing Sea Salt Spray, then rough-dry with a blowdryer. Next, use a small-barreled curling iron set on low. Wrap small sections around the iron starting at your mid-shaft, and only let the hair sit on the barrel for a few seconds. This will give you fresh-from-the-beach bends, which we will happily channel in the dead of winter.

partial hair highlights
Go even blonder with some highlights. Photo credit: indigitalimages.com

4. Half-Updo

Another good way to emphasize your face-framing highlights is to wear your hair in a half-updo. The upper half of your hair will be lighter, and a half-updo best shows that contrast. Soften the look by pulling a few tendrils free. Most half-updos will work just as great, but we love this twisted updo as a way to show off this cool dimensional color.

partial hair highlights
Accentuate your highlights by rocking a ponytail. Photo credit: indigitalimages.com

5. Sleek Pony

A sleek pony can show off the cool color change between the top and bottom halves of your hair. Because there is no texture, you get a clear line where your partial highlights start and stop. For the ultimate sleek, frizz-free finish, we always recommend using a serum. Nexxus New York Salon Care Humectress Encapsulate Serum is a good choice for color-treated hair because it works to hydrate and smooth your hair. Blow-dry your hair as usual, then flat iron your hair into a straight, sleek hairstyle. Loop your hair into a low ponytail and you’re all set!

Want more end-of-season hair color inspo? Check out the most festive shades to wear this winter.

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