Adding highlights to your hair can be a great way to add extra color and dimension to your look. With all the highlight types and conflicting information out there, should you wash your hair before foil highlights?
The answer to that question could change everything about your pre-highlights prep. Some people hold to the old standard that unwashed hair takes to the treatment better than washed hair. But is that the truth? Read on with us to find out!
Should You Rinse Your Hair Before Foil Highlights?
Yes, you should wash your hair before foil highlights.
Now, this might feel like conflicting advice. Typically, you’ll hear stylists want you to come in with unwashed hair when they’re doing a full head of blonde.
But the difference is that you would have product applied to your entire head of hair and possibly make contact with your scalp.
With foil highlights, your skin shouldn’t come in contact with the product, which can irritate your skin. Clean hair can also give your stylists an idea of how light or dark your natural hair color is.
If your hair is greasy, the color can be obscured, and you won’t get the best highlights you could get.
How to Wash Oily Hair Before Foil Highlights
You’ll want to wash your hair the night before foil highlights if it is oily. A simple clarifying shampoo can lift oil and any other residue in your hair if you use products to style your looks.
Some stylists recommend a wash and drying more closely to the appointment, so you should reach out to yours and check to make sure.
The standard advice is to condition your hair leading up to treatment. But because your hair already produces an abundance of oil, you wouldn’t have to worry about your hair being too dry before introducing highlights.
How to Wash Dry Hair Before Foil Highlights
It’s true that your hair should be clean before getting foil highlights. But that doesn’t mean your hair should be dry. Instead, you should consider deep conditioning your hair leading up to your treatment.
Doing this two to three weeks before you highlight would be best, and the day before, you can wash your hair as usual but don’t condition it.
So, you should wash your hair before getting foil highlights. Clean hair ensures optimal product performance, and since foil highlights don’t allow bleach to contact the skin, there’s no concern about scalp irritation.
Frequently Asked Questions
You may have a few more questions, and we’ve done our best to round up the most important ones:
In most cases, you can wash your hair the night before getting foil highlights.
Yes. As long as you’re not using an overabundance of styling products in your hair, you should be OK with your regular hairspray or mousse.
No. Your hair should be totally dry when you go to get it highlighted. If it’s wet, the product won’t work as intended.