Do Highlights Damage Hair? What You Need to Know

If you’re thinking about getting highlights but you’re worried about damage, you’ve come to the right place. Wella Professionals has the full lowdown on your lightening options for hair highlights that shimmer and shine...

So, Can Highlights Damage Your Hair?

Without the right hair care regimen and colouring techniques, highlights may affect the condition of your hair. However, there are steps you and your Wella colourist can take to minimize the impact of using hair lighteners. That way, you can still enjoy the glow-enhancing effects of balayage, babylights and more, while keeping your hair strong and healthy from one salon visit to the next.

It’s also worth noting that almost anything you do to your hair will have an impact on its condition, whether you’re slicking it back into a high, tight ponytail or hitting the pool without a swim cap. 9 out of 10 of us do something to damage our hair every day, but it’s how we repair that damage that makes all the difference.

How to Prevent Highlights From Causing Damage

1. Talk to Your Colourist About Lightening Options

If you're concerned about damage, your professional hair colourist may be able to advise on gentler highlighting techniques. Some looks require less lightening than others and may therefore put less stress on your hair. For example, this season's trending face-framing highlights and partial balayage can be applied with minimal lightener, while also giving your hair that flattering boost of brightness. A lower level of lift can also help, and lets you work some of our favorite shades right now. From TikTok-famous mushroom blonde to catwalk-ready bronde, low-lift looks are a win-win.

2. Create a Healthy Starting Point

Whether your salon visit is next week or next month, make healthy hair your goal today. The better the condition is when you lighten, the more lustrous it will look post-colour. The ULTIMATE REPAIR regimen is perfect not just for treating damage but for preventing it too. Use the ULTIMATE REPAIR Shampoo and Conditioner every hair wash day to strengthen the internal bonds and replenish the outer layer.

This is a good time to add a hair oil to your regimen, too – but not just any hair oil. ULTIMATE SMOOTH Miracle Oil Serum is the multitasker your daily regimen is missing. It injects damp and dry hair with instant nourishment, controls frizz, dials up shine, and acts as a UV shield and heat protectant. Think of it as a protecting, perfecting miracle-worker. Pre- and post-highlights, your hair will drink it in.

3. Ask for This Bond-Strengthening Lightener

You've probably not given much thought to the type of lightener your professional colourist uses, but the product they choose can make a big difference to your highlights. So, for your next highlight appointment, head to your nearest Wella salon and ask for BlondorPlex. This breakthrough formula actually works to strengthen internal bonds during the lightening process. So, not only do you enjoy up to 9 levels of lift for your highlights, balayage and ombre looks, but you're also left with up to 97% less breakage¹.

Your Post-Highlights Hair Care Kit

The way you treat your hair after highlights will have an impact on how healthy and lustrous it looks. So, after your salon visit, work on hair health to prevent both short and long-term damage. Here's your essential kit of hair products to care for highlights...

1. The Reparative, Colour-Safe Shampoo

Your highlighted hair needs a shampoo that's not only colour-safe, but also designed to prevent and repair any potential damage. Enter ULTIMATE REPAIR Shampoo. With a rich, nourishing and luxurious lather, it rinses away metal, impurities and product build-up, so your hair feels clean, balanced and cared-for. It also kicks off the bond-rebuilding process, prepping the hair shaft so it can absorb all the benefits of your conditioner. Shampoo has never been so nourishing.

How to Use It: Massage ULTIMATE REPAIR Shampoo into wet hair and enjoy the sumptuous lather as it deeply cleanses and rebalances. Rinse out thoroughly, ensuring residue is completely rinsed away.

How Often: Every hair wash day.

2. The Bond Rebuilding Conditioner

For deep-down care, treat your clean, damp hair to ULTIMATE REPAIR Conditioner. It's sumptuously creamy, yet rinses completely clean for a weightless feel. Because of this, it suits all hair types – fine hair, coarse hair, porous hair, straight hair and curly hair. So, no matter what kind of hair you're working, your highlights will get an intense health boost.

How to Use It: After rinsing out ULTIMATE REPAIR Shampoo, blot your hair dry with a microfiber towel. This ensures water doesn't dilute your conditioner, and your hair absorbs more of the nourishing ingredients. Then, apply ULTIMATE REPAIR Conditioner through the mid-lengths and ends. Let it absorb for between 30 seconds and three minutes, depending on what you feel your highlighted hair needs. Rinse thoroughly.

How Often: Every hair wash day, unless you're using a hair mask.

3. The Smart Conditioning Hair Mask

Highlights need a hair mask. It's the answer to glowy, healthy-looking colour, and if you're wary of lightener damage, ULTIMATE REPAIR Mask is your ideal formula. The one-of-a-kind treatment harnesses smart conditioning agents, which are able to identify areas of hair damage and give them a bespoke boost of care. So, if highlighted sections of hair are feeling a little fragile, this potent mask is the remedy. It also makes strands 6x easier to detangle², so if your lightened hair is prone to knots, it helps you work through them with ease, in turn preventing split ends.

How to Use It: As you did with your conditioner, blot excess water away before you apply ULTIMATE REPAIR Mask. Then apply the treatment through the mid-lengths and ends of your hair. While the mask absorbs for 5-10 minutes, wrap your hair up in a warm towel to help it penetrate the hair shaft even deeper.

How Often: At least once per week, in place of your conditioner.

4. The 90-Second Miracle Worker

Next, it's time for the ultimate antidote to damaged hair: ULTIMATE REPAIR Miracle Hair Rescue. It's a supercharged leave-in treatment that repairs hair damage in 90 seconds³. Yep, it's that fast. So, if you're dealing with dry, brittle hair after highlights and you're looking to rebuild broken hair bonds, make it your wash day staple for a powerful boost of inside-out care. It's packed with AHA, a deeply penetrating acid, to strengthen the cortex, alongside Omega-9 to replenish the outer layer. The result: 99% less breakage⁴ from the first use.

How to Use It: It's simple. Mist ULTIMATE REPAIR Miracle Hair Rescue from root to tip through clean, towel-dried hair. We recommend around five sprays for fine hair, 10 sprays for normal hair, and 15 sprays for coarse hair. Then, allow it to absorb for 90 seconds, before drying and styling your hair as usual.

How Often: Every wash day, after rinsing out your conditioner/mask and towel-drying hair.

Image Credit: @hairbysergio

5. The Glossy, Glowy Hair Oil

Blonde hair needs extra help in the shine stakes, as it doesn't reflect the light as easily as dark hair, so finish your post-highlights regimen with ULTIMATE SMOOTH Miracle Oil Serum. It's packed with Squalane and Omega-9 to supplement your hair's natural oils, giving you nourishment in 30 seconds for smoothness that lasts up to 3 days⁵. Plus, it leaves lengths irresistibly glossy – hello, glass hair! – and it gives you protection while heat styling. You've never met a multitasker like it.

How to Use It: Apply it to damp hair before using your blow dryer, dry hair when you need fast-acting nourishment, and just before heat styling with curlers or a flat iron for a shine-enhancing shield.

How Often: You can use ULTIMATE SMOOTH Miracle Oil Serum daily – on hair wash days before drying, and on the days in between for shine and smoothness when you need it most.

Ready to Book Your Highlights Appointment?

Reap the rewards of our bond-strengthening lightener, BlondorPlex, by heading to your nearest Wella salon for the dreamiest highlights around.

¹ When using Wellaplex N°2 with Blondorplex, versus Blondorplex alone.

² Vs. non-conditioning shampoo.

³ When using ULTIMATE REPAIR Miracle Hair Rescue.

⁴ When using ULTIMATE REPAIR Miracle Hair Rescue, instrumental test vs. non-conditioning Shampoo.

⁵ When using ULTIMATE SMOOTH Miracle Oil Serum, if unwashed for 3 days, vs. untreated.