Whether you’ve colored your hair once or hold a regular touch-up appointment, it’s possible that you might have a love-hate relationship with coloring your hair. Sure, the gorgeous results at the end are to love, but the expense, time, and maintenance are the can-do-without realities. That’s where hair color techniques like babylights come in. These delicate micro highlights require minimal upkeep, resulting in a lighter, brighter look.

Unlike traditional highlights, which create a visual contrast to add dimension, babylights are more subtle and delicate highlights. Think of them like illuminating rays of color that help hair appear naturally brighter and lighter. Despite the recent rise in popularity and buzziness on the web, babylights have been around for decades, and it’s also the technique credited to the hair color of celebrities like Jennifer Aniston and Chrissy Teigen.

Ahead, we’re breaking down everything you need to know about the color technique, with insights from expert colorists on upkeep and how these delicate highlights differ from other popular hair color methods. Let’s dive in.

What are babylights?

Babylights are finely woven highlights that are seamlessly blended throughout the hair. “They are super fine and a lot thinner in size than a regular highlight, made to look more natural and blended,” Meri Kate O’Connor, a Los Angeles-based hair colorist, tells us. The understated highlights work on all hair colors and types (from blonde to brunette), replacing the look of chunkier high-contrast streaks with a softer, more natural-looking brightness that adds soft-focus shine to hair.

Babylights aren’t one-size-fits-all, and according to Ana Blitch, salon owner and colorist, when a client asks for them, they can help the stylist better understand your desired end goal. Babylights are a more natural, blended style, and you can work with your stylist to customize the amount of babylights needed for your desired look. “When a client comes in and asks for babylights, I immediately think natural, seamless, bright, and blended,” she describes, kind of similar to Chrissy Teigen’s hair with subtle, melted pops of honey blonde framing her face and the ends of her hair, or Beyoncé’s recent color with flecks of cool-toned platinum.

The babylights technique

Babylights are accomplished by applying a lightener with either foil or hand-painted balayage techniques. The trick is “creating small pieces,” O’Connor explains. “The application process can take longer depending on the amount of hair and how light a client would like to go,“ Blitch explains. This can range from finely placed highlights for a brightening effect to a full head of babylights for the appearance of all-over lightening. “Either way, there shouldn’t be a line showing where the babylights start or stop,“ she says.

Like other highlight techniques, many colorists follow babylights with an all-over glaze (usually in a darker tone) from the roots to the mid-shaft of the hair. “Once you apply a darker tone over the already highlighted hair, it brings the color down to a more natural level with lightness from the babylights shining through,“ Blitch explains. This also makes a stark contrast less obvious as your color grows out.

Babylights vs. highlights vs. balayage—what’s the difference?

Highlights, balayage, and babylights are all color techniques that differ based on application and appearance. Traditional highlights are applied using foil, balayage is a free-hand painting technique, and babylights are the finest, most delicate type of highlight. They can be applied using both foil and hand-painted balayage applications.

When it comes to babylights, the specific application technique is dependent on the look you are hoping to achieve. “I could use both techniques (foil and hand-painted balayage) on one head of hair,” Blitch explains. “Let’s say my client wants a full head of highlights to achieve a natural blonde look—I would do babylights in your typical foil highlighting application, then I go through and balayage to lighten the ends and layer babylights around the hairline,” explains Blitch.  Suki Waterhouse’s bright blonde is an excellent example of babylights carefully placed throughout her fringe (for subtle dimension) before getting brighter towards the mid-shaft and ends.

How to maintain babylights

Like most hair color services where lightener is used, babylights will last until your hair starts to grow or you color over them. This looks different for everyone but can range from eight to 12 weeks, depending on how soon you want to freshen up your color.

However, babylights also lend the convenience of a more natural, lived-in look as the color grows out, so you can go longer in between coloring appointments. Experts also recommend using color-safe shampoo and conditioner (we love the L’Oreal Paris Elvive Hyaluron Plump Shampoo and Conditioner Set) to help maintain color and keep babylights looking vibrant between appointments. They also recommend a weekly conditioning mask to keep your color from fading or turning brassy.

Final thoughts

Ultimately, if you’re looking to brighten up your hair without drastically changing your look, babylights are a great option. The technique creates subtle hints of color and can truly complement any hair color, length, and texture. Where traditional highlights can appear streaky and quickly reveal darker roots as the color grows out, babylights are less apparent and blend into your natural hair color. So, you don’t have to feel tons of pressure to book touch-up appointments every few months (unless you want to). 

As with most hair coloring, this precision technique comes at a price. While the cost for babylights varies based on factors like salon, colorist experience, and hair length. The service is often more expensive than traditional highlights, starting at around $150. However, given the low maintenance nature of babylights, it’s the type of style you can splurge on for a one-time hair color refresh without committing to regular hair color appointments, which is worth it if you ask us.