25 Modern Blonde Hair With Darker Highlights Hairstyles & Haircut Ideas for Women (Tips)

Flat blonde hair can be dull, but adding darker lowlights and lighter highlights can make it look stunning. These additional colors can add dimension and volume to your hair, making it look different from using just one solid color which can make your hair look flat and uninteresting.

25 Most Popular Blonde Hairstyles With Darker Highlights

Here are a few of your options to get some ideas on the best blonde hairstyles that feature darker highlights. You can tell your stylist which of these hairstyles you would like to sport and find out whether the cut is suitable for you depending on your hair type, thick or thin, and your hair length and texture.

Caramel Blonde Featuring Chocolate Brown Lowlights

Caramel blonde is not an exceptionally light shade of blonde, but you can make it look brighter. It is also possible to make it look more voluminous by adding darker chocolate brown lowlights. I suggest getting a caramel balayage hairstyle, or the fascinating caramel highlights, to get the full effect.

Another nice yet low-maintenance option that any girl will surely love is the caramel blonde balayage.

Blended Shades of Blonde and Brown

Blonde and brown have always looked good in combination with each other. If you have a blonde base and then blend in some brown, you can make it look a lot more natural and beautiful.

 The shadows created by the brown can give the illusion of volume, making it an inspiration for gorgeous hair that you can actually sport, even on Instagram and other social networks. It also provides the right amount of balance in terms of hues that can boost your appeal.

Medium Blonde

Not everyone likes light blonde hair color. The medium blonde shade is perfect for those who want something that is a bit more discreet but still cute. This color is somewhere between blonde and light brown hair. If you add brown lowlights, this hair color will look great on anyone.

Ash Blonde Featuring Milk Chocolate Highlights

Ash blonde hair contrasts nicely with chocolate highlights. The darker highlights break the monotony of the grayish hair while providing more dimension and volume to either long or short tresses.

Glossy Wavy Hair

Blonde and glossy hair can somewhat get overpowering, but you can tone down this look just by adding darker lowlights. This way, you can retain the glossiness of your hair. However, it will not be quite as bright as before.

Evenly Toned Waves

Even tones are the typical target of DIY hair color jobs, but being too even can look boring. Break the uniformity by adding darker lowlights to the mix.

Anything brown that is a bit darker than the base blonde should work well. You can try dyeing wet hair with the darker lowlight color to make it blend in better.

Platinum Blonde Featuring Charcoal Lowlights

Platinum blonde is, without a doubt, a beautiful hair color. However, note that there are instances when it can be too light and bright. To make the brightness and vibrance of your hair look more natural, you can add charcoal lowlights to give the illusion of shadows and volume to your hair.

Darker Waves

Dark blonde waves are pretty popular. This hair color is beautiful because it is not so bright and has a nice warm color. Adding some highlights will provide more volume, especially if you are sporting this with short hair.

However, you should still use volumizing products if you do have a shorter hairstyle to make full use of this color scheme.

Wheat Blonde Featuring Auburn Pieces

Wheat blonde is a light blonde hair color, so using just this color on your hair will make it look quite dull. You need to combine it with a darker lowlight color like auburn brown to break up the too-bright wheat blonde color.

Dimensional Blonde Hair

Dimensional blonde means that you are adding streaks of darker hair color with a light blonde to give it dimension. There is nothing wrong with coloring your hair a single blonde shade, but adding lowlights of varying darker shades will make your hair look more natural and not flat.

Beachy Highlights

Beach blonde is a blonde color that is somewhat in-between light and dark brown and it does look similar to sun-kissed hair. However, using this color alone does not look that good; you will need to add lighter blonde highlights to make it work. In this case, your best options include the caramel blonde highlights and copper blonde highlights that work even on short brown hair.

Honey Blonde Featuring Caramel Streaks

Honey blonde and caramel are quite similar, with the caramel just a tad darker. Starting with a honey-blonde base and adding caramel lowlights will give your hair slightly more dimension.

Also, note that because the caramel does not contrast as much, this combination looks much more natural.

Textured Lowlights

If you have textured hair, you will need to add more lowlights, so the color does not get lost in the curls. Chunkier lowlights will add more dimension and a lot of movement to your textured hair. Fortunately, it is not that hard to pair the textured lowlights with different hairstyles and cuts, even those in mid-lengths, those with a side part, and ones with bangs or maybe an updo.

Icy Blonde Featuring Brunette Highlights

Icy blonde hair is almost white in color, so adding brunette highlights looks nice on it. It is an example of a bronde style that allows you to play with the blonde and brunette shades when styling the rest of your hair.

However, since brunette hair contrasts so much against icy blue, this combination is better left to professional hairdressers. By leaving it up to a professional, your hair will have nice layers and touches of brunettes that you will surely be proud of wearing anywhere.

Warm Blonde Featuring Toasty Highlights

Some people do not like getting warm blonde hair because it somewhat darkens their complexion. Beach blonde has a similar effect. However, when you add darker highlights to a warm blonde, it somehow neutralizes the darkening effect of that hair color. It can even add a touch of warmth to your overall appearance and bring out your mane’s shine, glow, and brightness.

Blush Blonde Featuring Dark Strands

Blush blonde hair is very light pink with some warm tones and is undoubtedly pretty. However, just using it on its own will make you look like a doll. To prevent this from happening, you should add a few dark highlights.

Copper Beige Ombre

Copper and beige melt into each other nicely, so combining them using the ombre coloring technique makes sense. However, you will need a warm skin tone as copper is a very warm color. You can also style your hair with this color and put on some trendy accessories, for instance, a headband or clip on bob, so it will be nice to wear even at a party. Check out some Getty images that will guide you in styling your hair with this color.

Honey Blonde Dark Pieces

Honey blonde, although it is not necessarily that light, looks even better when you add darker money pieces. Position the money pieces along the front fringes and they will frame your face nicely.

If you do not want the money pieces to stand out too much, color them two or three shades lighter than the base.

Reddish Blonde Lowlights

This is a variant of strawberry blonde color, which is why it has a bit of red in it. Just like blush blonde, there is a risk of it looking like doll hair, so you need to break up the monotony using some lowlights. Adding highlights and lowlights helps a lot to make this hair color look natural.

Chestnut Lowlights

Chestnut blonde is already quite dark, but adding lowlights will somehow lighten the base color and make it a bit more voluminous. In addition, because chestnut brown has a reddish tint, using it on its own does not look natural.

Strawberry Blonde Featuring Dark Lowlights

As mentioned earlier, you will need to add some lowlights to strawberry blond to keep it from looking like a wig. Adding dark lowlights will let you dull the color a bit so that it will not look too cartoony.

This will also help you grow your hair as it hides the blonde with dark roots well. Like ash blonde highlights, strawberry blonde highlights and lowlights are among the newest hair trends right now, so expect this style to look good on you and draw positive attention.

Dirty Blonde Lowlights

Just like the name states, dirty blonde is not your typical clean blonde color, but it is still one of the hair color trends guaranteed to improve the appearance of one’s hair. It has some brown undertones, hence the name. Even just by itself, dirty blonde already has enough dimension.

However, many dirty blonde hair ideas, such as adding lowlights, can make this already beautiful hair color even more gorgeous and provide more depth to your personality, as you are using interesting choices within the hair color spectrum.

Platinum Blonde Featuring Ash Lowlights

Platinum blonde is very light and has a metallic sheen, which already gives it enough dimension. However, you can still add more by incorporating ash lowlights to it. This will give your hair more volume, even when the lightning is not perfect.

Honey and Golden Brown

Honey and golden-brown blondes work well with almost all hair textures. You can use these colors in a balayage or an ombre combination, which will always blend well.

You may also integrate them in the form of honey highlights combined with golden brown. Because these two colors are pretty similar, using them in combination gives dimension to the hair in a discreet and very natural-looking way.

Blonde With Darker Balayage

The blonde with a darker color balayage is the traditional color combination of this coloring style. If you go into a salon and say that you want a blonde balayage, you will get a blonde and a darker color combination.

How to Style and Maintain Blonde Hair With Dark Lowlights

Step 1 – Pick the right color

When choosing your new hair color, you must check your skin tone. Whether you have a warm or cool skin tone means that your color options will be significantly limited, but you can also be sure that whatever is left will suit you well.

You may also want to set an appointment with a hairstylist or colorist to find out what color works for you and if there is any other factor you have to consider in making your choice, like your eye color and facial features.

Step 2 – Style hair accordingly

Should you style your hair before getting it colored? If you ask most people, they would tell you that you should get it colored and then style it.

This is especially true if you will be coloring your hair yourself. If you make a mistake, you can always count on your hairdresser to fix it.

Step 3 – Maintain your new blonde hair properly

The biggest problem you will encounter whenever you get your hair colored blonde is brassiness. After a couple of days, an ugly orange tint will develop in your blonde hair.

To counteract this, you will need to use purple-tinted shampoo. Also, you need to protect your hair while sleeping by wearing a hair cap or using silk pillowcases.

Step 4 – Use the correct hair care products

Your hair will be severely dried after getting colored blonde, mainly because of the bleaching procedure. To soften bleached hair easily, use moisturizing products, like conditioners and hair masks.

The more moisture you can get back in your hair, the faster it will recover and restore its life and vibrancy.

FAQ

Can you add dark lowlights to bleached hair?

Yes, you can. Adding darker lowlights would add more dimension and volume to your bleached hair. Also, adding lowlights will prevent your hair from looking like that of a doll. Someone with very thin and dry hair can enjoy the benefits of having brighter and more volumized hair through dark lowlights.

Are dark lowlights damaging to the hair?

Not really. The main reason is that you are typically not going to bleach your hair. You just need to dye it using a darker shade.

Lowlights are typically darker than the base hair color, so they will not damage your hair more than it already is. In addition, if you need to, you can lighten hair without bleach to prevent further damage. You can use bronze, silver, or any other color that captures your interest.

Make sure you also do things for the good upkeep and maintenance of your hair – minimizing the use of hot tools, like a curling iron. This will help prevent any damage to your hair texture and strands.

Can dark lowlights cover gray hair?

Since lowlights are basically just hair dye, the answer is yes. You can use it to cover your gray hair. However, whether it would look good will depend on where you apply it. Conversely, you can get the same effect when you have black hair with highlights.

Will purple shampoo lighten my dark lowlights?

No, it won’t. The purple tint in the shampoo is used to neutralize the orange tint that always appears in bleached blonde hair. If anything, the purple may even make the lowlights darker.

How much darker should lowlights be?

Technically, your lowlights can be as dark as you want them to be. However, in most cases, lowlights are 2 to 3 shades darker than the base color.