Blonding & Brightening
Transforming your hair with lighter tones, whether through balayage, highlights, or an all-over blonde, can revitalize your entire look. However, achieving the perfect shade while maintaining hair health requires careful consideration. From selecting the right technique, to understanding ongoing maintenance, here's what you need to know before making the change.
What’s Your End Goal?
There are so many color options and techniques to achieve them, so it’s important to gauge what your end goal is before coloring your hair. That’s why consultations are crucial. Your colorist and stylist will work with you to answer some key questions before any dye touches your strands.
Are you working to gradually lighten your hair over time, or do you want a bold transformation?
Do you want seasonal highlights that will grow out seamlessly, or are you ready to commit to monthly root touch-ups?
Whatever you decide, the salon and at-home maintenance is an important factor to consider. Once you’ve decided on your ideal shade, find inspo pics to share with your colorist to make sure you are on the same page. You might say you want buttery babylights, but your inspo is of golden balayage. A lot can be lost in translation.
‘Honest communication with your colorist is key, as they can help create a personalized plan that maintains dimension while reducing upkeep and damage.’ - Lucille Javier, Colorist
Finding Your Perfect Shade
The key to a flattering blonde lies in choosing a tone that complements your skin's undertones. Warm golden hues tend to enhance olive or deep complexions, while cool pearl and beige blondes create a striking contrast on fair skin with pink or blue undertones. For medium skin tones, honey and caramel shades offer a natural-looking brightness, and platinum or silver blondes make a bold statement on darker complexions. At every consultation, our colorists ensure your blonde not only suits your features but also aligns with your lifestyle and maintenance preferences.
‘Whenever a client wants to go lighter, I consider their skin tone, eye color, and starting depth to create a customized plan. For brunettes, I often begin by adding brightness around the face and ends, then build towards their blonde goal over a few sessions, slow and steady is key to keeping the hair healthy and achieving a seamless result. I also determine whether to lean warmer, cooler, or stay in a soft neutral zone.’ - Austin Burns, Colorist
‘Consult with your colorist about the right shade for your unique glow! In the summer months as we bathe in the sun, our hair naturally lightens and our skin tone has higher contrast, have fun playing with the summer tones and enjoy either embracing the sun bleached look, or deepen it with some rich golden tones to subdue and soften the sun effect!’
- Cherise Elizabeth, Colorist
Technique Matters
The approach to lightening your hair significantly impacts both the result and upkeep. Balayage, with its hand-painted highlights, delivers a sun-kissed effect that grows out gracefully, making it ideal for low-maintenance routines. Babylights, ultra-fine, delicate highlights, create subtle dimension for those seeking a more natural brightening effect. For a dramatic transformation, full lightening offers a complete color shift but requires more frequent salon visits to maintain vibrancy and manage root growth.
‘If you haven’t colored your hair in a while or ever, hair color doesn’t have to be all or nothing you can shift gradually with techniques like face framing highlights, lowlights, or semi-permanent glosses to blend and soften your current look.’ - Lucille Javier, Colorist
Heavy Metals & Minerals: Treatment & Prevention
Many traditional hair lightening products, especially certain bleach powders and off-shelf dyes, contain heavy metals like lead, nickel, and copper, which can accumulate in hair over time. These metals not only react unpredictably with lightening agents (sometimes causing greenish tones or uneven lift) but also weaken hair structure by disrupting protein bonds, leading to breakage and dryness. Worse, they can oxidize when exposed to heat tools or UV rays, accelerating brassiness and fading. For those with hard water, metal buildup worsens, creating a barrier that prevents color from adhering evenly. To combat this, opt for metal-free lightening systems, use chelating shampoos monthly, and consider a shower filter—your blonde will stay brighter, healthier, and more consistent between salon visits.
For those with lightened hair, the Kérastase Fusio-Dose treatment is a game-changer in maintaining vibrancy and strength. This professional in-salon treatment combines customized ampoules of concentrated active ingredients with a nourishing mask to target your hair's specific needs—whether it's repairing damage, neutralizing brassiness, or restoring moisture. The treatment's lightweight yet potent formula penetrates deep into the hair shaft to rebuild bonds compromised during the lightening process, while also depositing tone-enhancing pigments to keep blonde shades fresh and bright.
Ideal for color-treated or bleached hair, Fusio-Dose delivers immediate shine and softness while providing long-term protection against breakage and fading. Pair it with Kérastase's at-home Blond Absolu line for extended results, and schedule treatments every 4-6 weeks to combat environmental stressors and maintain salon-quality blonde between appointments.
In addition to the Fusio Dose Treatment, colorist Alex O’Neill recommends swapping your shower head for the Jolie filter head to prevent hard minerals from building in your hair. It removes choline, heavy metals, and other contaminants commonly found in water.
Mineral can stick to the hair/blonde by showering with water sourced from well water, old copper pipes, chlorine treated water, etc and can manifest as dry tangly filmy hair, brassiness, flaky oily scalp and roots, and even skin breakouts. A shower filter like Jolie is helpful, washing hair with distilled water in extreme cases, or maintaining hair by seeing your hair pro for mineral remover, using mineral remover Malibu packets once in a while.
- Cherise Elizabeth, Colorist
Salon Approved Tip: Before lightening, book a consultation to assess your hair's condition. Existing damage may influence which techniques are viable, and bond-building treatments like the Concentré Décalcifiant Ultra-Repairing Treatment from the Kérastase Première line can help minimize stress during the coloring process.
At-Home Essentials
Preserving your blonde's brilliance demands a dedicated care routine. Incorporate a color safe shampoo and conditioner to counteract brassiness, and pair it with a hydrating mask weekly to combat dryness from chemical processing. Always apply a heat protectant before styling to shield fragile strands, and consider scheduling gloss treatments between salon appointments to refresh color and enhance shine. While we don’t recommend purple shampoo for most clients, those with color tone blondes may benefit from occasional use in consultation with your colorist.
‘For at home care, I typically avoid purple shampoos since they can over tone the hair, and instead recommend bond building shampoos and conditioners to strengthen and prepare the hair for future lightening.’- Austin Burns, Colorist
With the right preparation and care, your journey to lighter hair can be both stunning and sustainable. Here are our salon approved products we recommend for maintaining your tresses at home.