If you have dark hair and want to add lighter pieces without ending up with thick, obvious streaks, learning how to babylights on dark hair site:chickabouttown.com can be useful. Babylights are extremely fine highlights that are usually woven into tiny sections of hair, creating subtle changes in color rather than the more noticeable stripes associated with traditional highlights.
Dark hair can be particularly beautiful with babylights because even a small amount of lighter color creates visible dimension. Depending on how much you lighten the hair, the result can range from barely-there espresso brown to caramel, honey, copper, beige, or blonde.
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What Are Babylights?
Babylights are very fine highlights designed to look delicate and blended. A stylist takes tiny sections of hair, weaves out extremely fine strands and places them in foils with lightener.
The individual sections are much finer than many conventional highlights. This is what helps create the soft effect associated with babylights.
On dark hair, the technique can be used to create:
- Subtle brown dimension
- Caramel highlights
- Honey-brown pieces
- Golden highlights
- Copper-brown warmth
- Ash-brown dimension
- Beige or dark-blonde highlights
- More noticeable blonde babylights
You do not have to take dark hair all the way to blonde to get the effect.
In fact, keeping the lighter pieces relatively close to the original depth can produce a particularly subtle result.
How to Babylights on Dark Hair Site:ChickAboutTown.com
The basic process involves several stages.
How to Babylights on Dark Hair Site:ChickAboutTown.com Step 1. Start With the Condition of the Hair
Before lightening dark hair, consider its condition and history.
Virgin hair, previously colored hair, relaxed hair and hair that has already been lightened can respond differently to lightener. Previous color can also affect how easily the hair lifts.
If the hair is fragile, heavily processed or breaking, lightening it further may not be appropriate.
For that reason, a professional color consultation is particularly important when you are working with very dark or previously colored hair.
2. Choose How Light You Want the Babylights
This is one of the biggest decisions.
You could keep the babylights relatively subtle by lifting dark hair to a brown shade. For example, espresso or chocolate-brown babylights can create dimension while leaving the overall appearance quite dark.
For more contrast, the highlights can be taken lighter.
A useful approach for a natural-looking result is to avoid assuming that every babylight needs to be blonde.
Wella’s professional guidance, for example, describes creating micro-fine babylights on dark brown hair while aiming for only a few levels of lift before toning.
3. Divide the Hair Into Sections
The hair is divided into manageable sections so that the stylist can control where the babylights are placed.
The placement can be customized depending on the effect you want.
For example, you could concentrate them around the face for brightness around the hairline.
You could also distribute them throughout the crown and lengths for an all-over dimensional effect.
4. Weave Extremely Fine Sections
This is the part that really distinguishes babylights from chunkier highlights.
A fine tail comb is used to pick out very small strands from each section. The selected hair is placed onto foil, leaving some of the darker hair between the lighter strands.
The smaller the sections, the more delicate the finished effect can be.
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Mushroom Babylighta to Cover Grey
Mushroom babylights to cover grey usually refers to using very fine, cool-toned brown or beige highlights to soften the contrast between grey hairs and a brunette base. It can be particularly attractive if you want to blend grey rather than completely eliminate every visible grey strand.
What Are Mushroom Babylights?
Babylights are extremely fine highlights, much thinner than conventional highlights. Because the sections are so fine, they can be placed close together to create a softly blended result rather than obvious stripes.
They are commonly used around the part, hairline, temples and crown, where grey tends to be especially noticeable.
“Mushroom” refers to the cool, muted brown family rather than a single universal hair-colour formula.
Mushroom brown generally has neutral-to-ashy undertones, sometimes with taupe or beige notes. This makes it quite different from warmer chocolate, caramel or golden-brown highlights.
For grey blending, that cooler quality can work particularly well because it sits closer visually to silver and white strands.
How Mushroom Babylights Blend Grey
Imagine you have medium or dark brown hair with scattered grey hairs. A stark dark-brown base against bright white strands creates a lot of contrast, so individual greys can stand out.
Very fine mushroom-brown, ash-brown or cool beige babylights introduce tiny lighter pieces throughout the darker hair.
The grey hairs then become part of a multi-tonal pattern of brown, taupe, beige and silver, rather than looking like isolated white strands.
The result can be especially subtle when the babylights are kept fairly close to your natural depth.
For brunette hair, colourists generally recommend keeping grey-blending highlights within roughly a couple of levels of the base rather than creating a dramatic blonde contrast.
Can Mushroom Babylights Completely Cover Grey?
This is the important distinction: babylights are primarily a grey-blending technique, not a guaranteed full-grey-coverage technique.
If you have only a small amount of grey, very fine babylights may make those hairs considerably less noticeable.
They can also be placed very densely when there is more grey to blend.
If you have a substantial amount of grey and want every white hair completely covered, your stylist may need to combine the babylights with a grey-covering colour at the roots.
Permanent colour is generally used when maximum coverage is the objective, while a demi-permanent colour can provide softer coverage or tonal blending depending on the hair and formula.
So there are really two different goals:
Grey blending:
Mushroom babylights + your natural grey = dimensional, softer-looking grey.
Grey coverage:
Grey-covering root colour + mushroom babylights = less visible grey while retaining dimension.
Mushroom Brown With Silver Babylights
Another beautiful option is to make the contrast between the mushroom brown and your existing grey part of the design.
Instead of trying to make every strand brown, a colourist can use mushroom brown through the darker sections with very fine ash, beige or silver-toned pieces alongside your natural grey.
This creates a cool brunette-and-silver effect. The grey becomes incorporated into the colour pattern rather than something that has to be completely disguised.
This approach can be particularly useful if you’re beginning to get more grey and don’t want to enter a cycle of colouring the roots a solid dark brown every few weeks.
What to ask for at the salon
If this is the look you’re after, you could describe it like this:
“I want very fine mushroom-brown or cool beige babylights to blend my grey, not chunky highlights. I want the grey softened and incorporated into the colour rather than having a strong line of regrowth.”
If you want more coverage, add:
“I also want the grey at the roots covered, but I don’t want a solid dark colour. I’d like the babylights to keep the result dimensional.”
That distinction is useful because simply asking for “mushroom brown” could lead to an all-over colour rather than the fine highlighted effect you’re imagining.
Who is mushroom babylight grey blending best for?
It can work particularly well for someone with:
- Brown or dark-blonde natural hair
- Scattered or moderate grey
- Cool or neutral-looking grey
- A preference for subtle highlights
- A desire to reduce the contrast of grey without going blonde
- A preference for a softer grow-out
For very dark brown or black hair, the colourist needs to be more careful. Extremely pale, cool highlights against a very dark base can make the grey look more obvious rather than less.
Darker mushroom, taupe, ash-brown and carefully placed beige tones can create a more integrated result.
One Thing To Watch With Mushroom Shades
“Mushroom” colours are deliberately cool, so they aren’t necessarily the best choice if you love warm golden or reddish-brown hair.
Also, previously coloured dark hair can behave differently from natural hair when lightened. Your colourist may need to adjust the technique and toner depending on what is already on the hair.
If your hair has been coloured repeatedly, it is worth telling the colourist exactly what dyes, relaxers, henna or other chemical treatments you have used before the appointment.
The overall effect
The nicest mushroom babylight grey blends tend to have several shades working together: your natural brunette, mushroom brown, perhaps a little taupe or beige, and your natural silver.
That is what keeps the result from looking like a solid block of artificial brown.
And if your goal is specifically to make growing grey hair easier, mushroom babylights can be a useful middle ground between covering every grey and fully embracing silver hair. The finer highlights help reduce the stark contrast at the regrowth line, so your natural grey can gradually become part of the overall colour pattern.
Photo credits: Wella Professionals, Guy Tang