29 Stunning Examples of Blonde Hair With Lowlights

hailey bieber with eyes closed in sunlight — @haileybieber

Highlights are certainly no new trend—they've cropped up on everyone over the years, from Miley Cyrus to Kim Kardashian. But coupled with lowlights, they take on an entirely new dimension—quite literally, in fact, as they can enhance the depth and look of the hair. "Lowlights are the darker color either weaved/painted in or preserved while going lighter simulating or going deeper than the base color of the silhouette," Matt Rez at MèCHE Salon says.

As Rez explains, the best technique for mixing highlights and lowlights depends on your individual hair texture. Straight, fine hair allows for much more contrast, making the flow of depth look more natural, while curlier hair works differently. To get an idea of how different the look of blonde highlights and lowlights can be, we turned to a handful of our favorite celebs.

Blonde Hair with Lowlights

Choosing a Shade: Rez says it’s best to keep the base and lowlights on the neutral/neutral-cool side. Incorporate a warmer midlight to keep hair from looking disconnected and muddy, and opt for a neutral to warm tone with the highlights, he says. "This way the allover appearance of the silhouette is neutral and will flatter most skin tones, as skin is multi-tonal usually."

Maintenance Level: When done correctly, lowlights are not a high-maintenance choice, and Goddard says they can even help add longevity to any color.

Similar Shades: Dirty blonde, ash blonde, medium blonde.

Price: Lowlights start at $150, depending on the salon.

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Chocolate Base

Laverne Cox with a mix of highlights and lowlights — Nicholas Hunt / Getty Images

Laverne Cox's rooty look pairs a chocolate-hued base with strands of blonde highlights and lowlights. We love how the lighter shade is concentrated near her face, which draws attention to her best features. Dirty blonde or blonde hair shades, as well as medium brown hair, all require a lowlight to be added in or preserved while coloring—this is "in order to have separation of color vertically along the hair to keep contrast and from hair looking muddy," Rez says.

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Warm Blonde

The warm blonde base of Zendaya's bowl-cut pixie offers a honey-hued contrast to the darker lowlights throughout. For this look, use a texture spray, which amps up the dimension in the hair.

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High-Contrast

Beyonce with blonde highlights and lowlights — Getty Images

Beyoncé's mix of highlights and lowlights look especially dramatic when worn stick-straight. The style allows for a closer look at all the dimension and the contrast between the dark and lighter shades of blonde. Lorri Goddard, who has worked with a bevy of stars like Reese Witherspoon and Emilia Clarke, prefers to do lowlights either wrapped in foil or hand-painted slightly between key highlights. She calls it a “foilyage” technique and says that adding specific low-lights helps make highlights pop. “Adding strategic pieces of lowlights truly enhances one’s natural skin and eye colors,” Goddard says.

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Face-Framing Highlights

Jennifer Lopez wears dark blonde hair with light golden champagne blonde highlights — Getty Images

J. Lo's mix of highlights and lowlights looks natural, thanks to the lighter color being focused on the strands that frame her face. It's where the sun would naturally hit, with a few lighter pieces scattered throughout her bob, as well.

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Sun-Kissed

Jemima Kirke's sun-kissed 'do looks evening-worthy with a side part and waves. Adding texture and movement to the hair draws further attention to the use of color throughout.

"The more textured and or curled the hair, the more piece-y the lowlights should be," Rez says, noting that he spaces out weaves and does chunkier lowlights so that when hair is naturally styled, “lowlights shadow along the lengths without being too blended and drowned out by wavier textures."

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Blended Blonde and Brown

Blonde Hair with Lowlights Blended Eileen Gu — @eileen_gu_ / Instagram

We love this medium-toned bronde shade on Olympic skier Eileen Gu, as you can see how the lowlights add such great dimension.

Meet the Expert

Lorri Goddard is a Los Angeles-based hair colorist and stylist.
Matt Rez is a celebrity hair colorist specializing in all techniques of hair coloring including the art of balayage. He is based at MèCHE Salon in Beverly Hills.

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Medium Blonde

Blonde Hair with Lowlights Medium — @olaplex/ Instagram

Think of your favorite medium blonde shade. Does it look like this? Like most highlighted hair, a lowlight is often required to preserve hair while coloring. Lowlights actually bring down the depth of the base so when new roots come in, the color is more broken up and regrowth is less eye-catching, Rez says. Plus, lowlights fade as any color does, which is why it’s best to keep them neutral or neutral-cool as those colors tend to fade more on tone.

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Golden Curls

Jasmine Sanders has the prettiest curls and here, you can see how her lowlights add extra depth and blend into her hair naturally.

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Dimensional Hair

Blonde Hair with Lowlights Dimensional — @colorbymattrez / Instagram

This style often incorporates a darker dimensional tone to the hair, and it's where Rez actually came up with the concept of a midlight technique.

The midlight technique uses a color that's darker than the highlight and lighter than the lowlight/base color. It's typically used to clear up the bridge between highlights and lowlights.

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This Blonde Lob

Jourdan Dunn tousled lob with blonde highlights and lowlights — Jamie McCarthy / Getty Images

This textured lob shows off the way lowlights and midlights can make the transition from brunette to blonde seamless.

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Blended Blonde

Margot Robbie with blonde hair with highlights and lowlights — Samir Hussein / Getty Images

Margot Robbie is generally our all-around inspiration but we're really coveting her perfectly blended lowlights that make for a more seamless root grow-out.

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Naturally Blended

Blonde Hair with Lowlights Blended — @colorbymattrez / Instagram

Another great creation by Rez, these darker pieces really help the lighter colors pop, creating a beautiful, natural look we love.

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Hilary Duff's Perfect Blonde

Blonde Hair with Lowlights Hilary Duff — Getty Images

Here, Hilary Duff shows off the perfect lowlights. While her hair looks amazing here, and Nikki Lee at Nine Zero One Salon does an amazing job creating her natural-looking color, Goddard warns that if you're working with parched or over-bleached hair, adding lowlights can pull a hollow tone. She recommends speaking to your colorist about a custom combination as that's the best way to figure out what works for you.

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Blake Lively's Warm Bronde

Blonde Hair with Lowlights Blake Lively — Getty Images

Whether lighter, darker, or strawberry, Blake Lively's warm blonde hue always has such a great dimension in terms of lowlights. No wonder everyone's been loving her hair for ages.

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Balanced Tones

Blonde Hair with Lowlights Balanced Ciara — Getty Images

Skin tones are never the same throughout anyone’s complexion, so it's important to create a well-balanced allover appearance. Blending warm, cool, and neutral tones is the best way to go.

"Glossing the highlights to complement the primary skin tone of a client's hair is always a good idea," Rez says. Just make sure lowlights are neutral.

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Mae Whitman's Neutral Blonde

Blonde Hair with Lowlights Mae Whitman — Getty Images

Mae Whitman's blonde waves incorporate a great mix of neutral tones. Rez uses a demi-permanent hair color when depositing a lowlight, opting for the most neutral tone. "I want the depth of the base color to carry through,” he says, often looking to the client’s natural tone (which often ranges in the neutral to neutral-cool category).

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Glossy Waves

Blonde Hair with Lowlights Karlie Kloss — Getty Images

Karlie Kloss looks exceptional no matter what, but her lowlight-toned waves are a particular favorite of ours.

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Slightly Highlighted

Blonde Hair with Lowlights Subtle Soo Joo Park — @soojmooj / Instagram

If you have a negative base, don't worry, you can totally get lowlights, it just might not happen right away. When moving to more subtle highlights such as these, it's best to start slow and add as you go.

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Evenly Toned Waves

Blonde Hair with Lowlights Waves Martha Hunt — Getty Images

Martha Hunt is known for her silky highlighted hair, but after taking a second look, it's the lowlights that bring everything together.

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A Darker Root

Blonde Hair with Lowlights Dark Root Taraji P. Henson — Getty Images

The good thing is that keeping a dark root doesn't change the coloring process. Just carrying down the base color along with the strategic placement of lowlights allows for a natural root and a more graceful grow-out.

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A Golden Lob

Blonde Hair with Lowlights Golden Lob Hailey Bieber — @haileybieber / Instagram

This textured cut on Hailey Bieber is seriously amazing, and the hair color looks effortless, too.

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Textured Lowlights

Blonde Hair with Lowlights Curls Fleur East — Getty Images

The more texture, the chunkier the lowlights—so as not to lose them within the silhouette. You can see that method at work here.

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Darker Waves

Blonde Hair with Lowlights Gigi Hadid — @gigihadid / Instagram

Gigi Hadid usually keeps to a darker blonde hue, and it's easy to see how the added lowlights help create movement and body in her waves.

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Bronde Lowlights

Blonde Hair with Lowlights Priyanka Chopra — @priyankachopra / Instagram

For brunettes who want a touch of the blonde lifestyle without potentially damaging processing, a bronde style achieved with highlights and lowlights can be a great choice.

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Caramel Tones

Caramel Hair Colors Swirly Highlights — @wellaeducation / Instagram

This beautifully blended brunette to caramel bronde style hits all the right notes. Something you always want to avoid here is too dark or red-based lowlights as they don't always mesh well with dirty blonde to medium brown hair.

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A Deep Base

Blonde Hair with Lowlights Darker Base — @olaplex / Instagram

Lowlights bring down the depth of the base. That way, when new roots grow in, the color looks more broken up, making regrowth less noticeable.

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Dimensional Blonde

Blonde Hair with Lowlights Dimensional Lili Reinhart — @lilireinhart / Instagram

This flowing style incorporates so many different blonde tones, but really, it's the subtle highlights and lowlights that give it an edge. It's the perfect blend.

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Baby Blonde Curls

Blonde Hair with Lowlights Curls Julia Garner — Getty Images

This is just another example of exceptional dimension. The key to achieving this particular style hinges on creating a contrast between color and tone, which these amazing curls definitely have.

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Beachy Lowlights

Blonde Hair with Lowlights Beachy Camille Kostek — @camillekostek / Instagram

Take it from Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Camille Kostek's beachy look when we say lowlights are the way to go.

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