Straighteners!

[Rafferty]

Hi,
Im wondering whether anyone can help me. I've got two questions...

Firstly, I'm planning on getting blonde highlights next month (my hair at the moment is a very light brown) and I was wondering if anyone has any idea of generally how often you have to have the highlights redone? I want a lot, a full head... so my hair looks very blonde.

Secondly, and i know there are other answers to this question, but the links dont work for me! I wondered whether anyone knows of any straighteners which are better than GHD's. I want to use them for both straightening and curling my hair (my friend uses her GHDs to put curls in her hair by twisting the straighteners) so they'd have to be pretty thin! Any ideas?

Thank you!

[missjef]

for your first question, i think probably 3 months at the most you could leave it without getting it re-done, but probably 2 months i would think.
once you get them done, you could try doing them youself to save on money, its not hard if you either get a friend to do them or help you. just buy a highlighting kit - best ones are the ones where you get the cap in - which is how they do fine highlights in the hairdressers if you're wanting quite a few i think!

[dave2222]

i have my hair high lighted all over, my hair is darkish brown my roots come through after about 6 weeks but i have it in little stripes at the top and this discises the roots.

[wonderwoman1]

to answer the q about straighteners, there arent many that are better than GHDs, but if it is thinner ones you are looking for GHD do a thin plate straightener, my hairdresser can get them, my hair is thick and curly so i use the big plate ones for both straightening and curling my hair and i couldnt live without them!

[loopyc]

ghds are the best straighteners

[atolhurst]

I have naurally mid brown hair and after months of dabbling with highlights, I plucked up the courage and finally went to the hair dresser and said 'make me blonde'.

However, my hairdresser said that to do it through highlights, which is what i have, it takes serval highlighting sessions, going progressively lighter each time before you get that all over blonde look.

Although I am an impatient person by nature and on initially hearing that, was quite downhearted, in hinesight, it's actually a good thing to do as you can get used to it as you go a bit lighter.

Unlike misjef, I have foils. The cap tends to lead to finer strands of colour but because of the cap, the hair dresser can't put the dye as near to the root of your hair as they can with foils which means you have to get them done more often as they grow out a bit sooner. And I tell my hairdresser I want a whole head of fine foils and he does it very well (or at least I think so...but then I would!)

As far as straightners go, I use a babylis pair although have never had GHD's and peope do wax lyrical about them...that said, I'm not prepared to spend �80 when a �30 pair do the job. And these particular ones are quite thin (although whether you could twist your hair round them I don't know - depends on the length of your hair. that said, you could twist your hair in your fingers several times and put that twisted bit between the plates of the straighters - mines too short to try that though so I don't know if it'd work.

[Rafferty]

wow, thanks for all the answers.
How much do you all pay for your highlights?

[n00dles]

Rafferty,

if you can get a rubber highlight cap (professional), this is just as good as foils for getting right to the scalp. It is tight and slightly uncomfortable, but worth it. I used one for many years, even managed to do the back of my head through mirrors (initially get a friend to help). That way you can decide exactly how many "holes" you use and to what thickness of hair pulled through. I used all available ones but only a fine amount of hair. It gave me the most natural looking highlights, and my roots did not look like they needed doing for at least 2 months. I do have to say that I had a very good tutor on this, a professional stylist, who will be nameless for here!!

Plus side is the amount of money you will be saving, you can treat yourself to something else!!

[Evening]

I used to work in a hairdressers and i can tell u that the caps where u pull through are really bad for the hair, not only because its damaging to be pulling it but also because the dye isnt evenly distributed and u cant tel how much you're putting on one piece. In my salon we never used them, only foils so i would recommend u do that, u will also get a much better result.

[n00dles]

Very interesting post Evening (or should that be Evening Post? Lol :-)

My hair was never ruined by using the 'skull cap' method.
H Peroxide was always evenly distributed over the pulled through hair, right to the scalp. Excellent results every time!

Maybe methods now are quite different to then, and the technique is not the same anymore.

Still have a luxuriant head of hair, but maybe I'm one of the lucky ones, who could bleach, perm and colour and not have any fall out or any other problems!!

[Aprilis]

I think T3 Tourmaline straighteners are better than GHD. But they are in the same price range as GHDs, so quite expensive. They do a 1 inch version too....so they would be perfect for doing your curls etc. with.

As for how often your roots would need doing....I had my hair highlighted for many years and I reckon you are looking at an average of every six weeks.

[Aprilis]

....And I think you should always let a hairdresser do your highlights/roots. I've seen some pretty horrific results from people trying to do home colouring/highlighting. Prices depend on where you get them done.

[clairey-s]

FHI's (HairTools) are better than GHDs in that they heat up quicker, go to higher temps and actually have a warranty. Plus they are cheaper x

[clairey-s]

http://www.salonlines.co.uk/forwomen/index.php ?p=1&category_id=448&product_id=1337

There you go, sorry can't do links but just copy & paste that into the address bar x