What Is High Lift Color?

Welcome to the future, where cars parallel park themselves, phones are basically computers and professional hair color can lighten and tone the hair all in one step. This is known as high lift color and it has proven to be a popular alternative to bleach. For clients who want to go blonde or lighten their current blonde shade, high lift color is a great option. However, this type of hair color isn’t meant for everyone. It’s important for stylists to know the ideal high lift color candidate in order to best serve their clients and give them the best overall blonde results. Here’s the lowdown on high lift color, including what it is, how it works and who should use it. 

Defining High Lift Color

High lift color refers to a certain type of professional permanent hair color that combines the lightening process and color deposit into one step. High lift color can simultaneously lighten hair color up to five shades while toning the hair at the same time. This type of hair color can also be used to “break the base” or lighten roots when hair regrowth becomes a noticeably different shade on color-treated blonde hair. 

Though it provides results that look similar to bleaching on some clients, high lift hair color does not contain bleach. Instead, it tends to contain a powerful mixture of ammonia, developer and pigment, making it an attractive alternative for those who don’t want to bleach their hair. The most important thing to know about high lift hair color is that while it’s a great option for combining the lightening and color deposit processes, it is not to be used interchangeably with bleach and it’s not ideal for every client. 

To Use or Not to Use?

It’s important for stylists to familiarize themselves with high lift color and how it works so they can utilize it appropriately alongside other professional hair products. Since this type of color contains no bleach, the amount of lift averages four or five levels, whereas bleach can lighten hair up to around eight levels at a time. This creates a divide between those who will truly benefit from high lift color and those who will see better results with bleach. In short, high lift color is best used on clients with blonde hair or most shades of light brown hair. If a client with darker hair wants to lighten their hair more than five levels, the results will likely look like a brassy red or orange tone instead of blonde. 

Another defining factor when considering high lift color is whether or not the client’s hair has been previously colored. High lift color cannot lift previously deposited hair color, so a hair color remover must be applied to strip the unwanted color. The ideal client for high lift color is a natural blonde who wants to lighten their hair without bleach!

Using High Lift Color

As with any professional hair color brand, it’s important to use high-quality high lift color for the best results. Reliable, salon-trusted brands like PRAVANA offer quality hair color formulas and a wide range of shades. PRAVANA hair products like the ChromaSilk HI LIFT collection offer four levels of lift and tonal deposit in a variety of popular shades, including champagne and violet. Discover PRAVANA HI LIFT hair color and PRAVANA hair care and styling products at SALONORY.