Two-Tone Hair Color Look

Hair with two tone coloring — Photo: GingerKitten/Shutterstock

Q: I want to do something different with my hair color. How can I achieve the two-tone look?

A: That's an interesting question, but I'm not sure I understand exactly what you're asking about. There have been a number of more recent styles in hair coloring that would be called a two-tone look.

It you're referring to the technique where the hair is divided into two separate blocks of color - top half and bottom half - the answer is pretty simple. For this, you simply part the hair in a horizontal line around the head along or near the parietal ridge, and separate these halves into sections and clip them securely. This style of coloring usually uses a lighter color at the top of the head, with a darker color below, but can be colored any way you want.

The important thing is to apply color to the top of the head first. Carefully brush the color onto the hair starting in the center of the head and working your way outward. Be sure to keep laying the colored sections over the top of the head to prevent the color from getting on the lower half of the head.

Once the top half has been colored, cover the hair with plastic wrap or a plastic cap and proceed to the lower half of the head and apply the second color in sections as you did with the top half. Allow the hair color to process (usually 20 minutes), then rinse the hair color thoroughly from the lower half of the head, and then remove the plastic and rinse the upper half. Dry the hair and style as desired.

Another method for achieving a similar look is to use foils to create thick, chunky streaks of color all along the top of the head. You can apply the foils' color first then apply the secondary color to the rest of the hair outside the foils. Obviously, the more foils you use, the thicker the layer of color will be.

Finally, there is a two-tone coloring style that uses a freehanded application of color. In this style, you simply apply your base color as you normally would for a single color application, let it process, rinse and dry the hair. Then, once the first color is on, you use the brush and bowl to apply the second color to the last few inches (however far up you want it to go) of the hair. Allow the color to process, and rinse, dry, and style as desired.

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See also:

Coloring techniques for hair color blocking

Ombre hair color

Gradient hair coloring

How to dye hair in multiple colors

How to color hair