Benefits Of Lived-In Color And Lived-In Highlights
Lived-In Color is my absolute favorite look to create because of how customizable it is! A small backstory as to why I love it so much—About a year ago I reached a phase in my life where I was absolutely burnt out. I was stressed and frustrated because I was tired of feeling anxious all the time. Around that time I was introduced to a book called The Ruthless Elimination Of Hurry and was inspired to simplify my life. So I flipped my whole life around and left a stressful job, cut down on all the extra to-dos I had put on my calendar, and changed the way I lived as a whole. Lived-In color to me is a beautiful way to incorporate slower living into your beauty routine. I’ll explain why in the list below, but wanted to express that I personally have switched to a low- maintenance lived-in color and couldn’t feel happier with my relationship with my hair and salon visits. So lets get into the benefits of lived-in color and figure out if this would be a good option for you and your lifestyle!
This picture was taken about 12 weeks after we did a balayage on her. It still looks stunning! She gets a balayage done about 1-2x a year depending on how it feels!
Enhances Your Natural Beauty
Raise a hand if you’ve ever left a salon and felt like something felt a bit off. Maybe the tone of your hair didn’t suit you, you had a significant change, or your hair felt too light/dark. Whatever it may be, choosing something lived-in will be more flattering because you’re using your natural root or something similar! You are utilizing your God-given beauty and adding a little spice to enhance what you’re already working with. I’m not sure if you’ve ever heard of color seasons, but if you haven’t, let me introduce you to my latest obsession! The idea is that we all fall into four categories and these categories determine the colors that suit us best. If you love to read as I do, you’ll learn that these categories are broken down even more, and each one dives deep into what tones, hues, saturation, value, and contrast look best on you. It’s a lot, but to keep it simple, I’ll just be sharing what these four categories are real quick and how the color season analysis helps me within the salon!
Spring - usually warm + light = bright
Summer - cool + light = muted
Autumn - warm + dark = muted
Winter - cool + dark = bright
This a quick overview, and I would recommend diving in and doing your research, but for now, I want to tell you that as a stylist, this helps me to understand what tones will look most flattering on my clients. I love customizing my client’s colors to their eye color, skin tone, undertones, and so much more! I think it’s important to note that you don’t have to follow this if you don’t want to! It’s absolutely preference but a little trick that I’ve found helpful.
This beautiful human was a natural red head when she was younger and as she’s grown older has wanted to make it pop a little more. Knowing that she was a natural red head, has green eyes, and porcelain skin helped me determine what tones would look best on her! I used a copper brown with an extra little kick of copper to create this stunning look. Thank you color season analysis. * chefs kiss *
2. Healthier Hair
The most beautiful hair is hair that looks and feels good. With lived-in color, you’re typically able to go longer between appointments, and you’re probably not going in and getting every single piece of your hair lightened or colored. This means you’re not doing services that are less invasive and are generally better for your hair. Make sure you’re keeping up with trims and getting a gloss done in between to ensure your hair feels soft and lush between your bigger services.
I love this girl so much because she prioritizes the health of her hair. We have done a little bit of everything on her. I mean we’ve gone light, dark, rose gold ect. The key thing is we take it slow and we don’t push the hair past what it can handle. She usually visits every 10-12 weeks and uses salon quality products at home to keep her hair healthy.
3. Less Time In The Salon
Gone are the days when you must come in every 6-8 weeks to get your roots touched up. Does anyone else get to about week 5 and cringe when they look in the mirror only to find a distinct line where their highlights have grown out? I know I used to, and it got to the point where I was stressed and HAD to get my hair done before a special event. This brings me to my point about incorporating slow living into your beauty routine. You can get your hair done and feel pampered without dreading the grow-out between appointments. Maybe you are someone who leads a busy lifestyle, or you’re a college student and have a budget, or you’re a momma and can only find a few hours to spare to get your hair done…My friend, you deserve to feel beautiful in your hair more than a few weeks after your salon visit. I want that for you and am here to help make that happen. So you might ask yourself what the lived-in color or highlights maintenance is like. You’re looking at coming to the salon for those appointments every 3-6 months, depending on your desired end goal. If necessary, between those color appointments, you might come in for a haircut and/or gloss to freshen up the tone and get rid of split ends. Pretty amazing!
This beauty is a college student and makes it back into the salon during school breaks. For her, she’s able to go longer between appointments and still feel AMAZING! It works for her season of life.
4. More Budget Friendly
Instagram would make you believe that a good life is created by spending lots of money daily on everything. I mean, that’s what we see so often! Please hear me correctly on this, I think you get what you pay for, and it’s good to find a stylist you trust. When you find one you love, stick with them because they love you too! I am saying budgeting is a discipline, and because you’re not coming into the salon every 6-8 weeks for a full foil, you can save money. I’m not advocating for you to haggle the price with your stylist because that’s their income. Lived-in colors take time to create and could cost more depending on your goals, but less frequent touch-ups make up for that! I also add mini versions of services in case clients need refreshments. I’ve seen it before, where we have an all-or-nothing mindset regarding beauty, and I don’t think it has to be that way. You can have drop-dead gorgeous hair without always paying luxury pricing at every salon visit. A special side note, I know luxury everything is popular, and I see many luxury salons that want to attract high-paying clients. I don’t think that is bad! They have every right to bring in who they wish to! That’s the beauty of business. I used to work in a luxury salon and felt pressure to attract clients like that, but ultimately, I wanted to offer services to more than just that target audience. My point in saying this is, as a client, don’t feel bad if you can’t afford a luxury salon experience. I promise plenty of AMAZING stylists will give you a fantastic experience and beautiful hair. Do what is best for you. If you love your luxury salon experience, treat yo-self! If you want something more budget-friendly, consider lived-in color to cut down on your time in the salon.
This lovely soul is younger and this was her first time doing anything to her hair besides a haircut! Knowing she is younger we did a balayage so she could go as long as possible between her next appointment!
5. Fall In Love With Your Hair
Lastly, you learn to love your natural beauty more. I’ve had two types of individuals in my chair. The first is someone who likes their natural color but wants to do something so they feel like they have some change. They almost feel pressure to do something, but they don’t want to get rid of the natural color because they like it! Adding some balayage pieces can be a total game-changer and refresh the hair! The second is the type of person who almost despises their natural color and feels bland. Introducing them to lived-in colors or highlights boosts their confidence and gives them a chance to appreciate their natural color more rather than completely altering it.
Thank you so much for reading this and supporting me as a stylist! If this resonated with you in any way, please consider sharing or commenting on what you found most interesting in this blog post. As you can tell, I love lived-in color and sharing how it affected my life. I also want to share more about simple living and how it allowed me to enjoy life more! If you feel you would be a good candidate for lived-in color or have questions, let’s connect! Until next time, I hope you have a restful, cozy week and feel beautiful inside and out.
