Collection: Burgundy Hair Color With Highlights

Burgundy Hair Color With Highlights: Adding Dimension Without Overcomplicating It

Burgundy hair color with highlights takes a strong single-tone shade and breaks it up with lighter or contrasting strands, creating movement and depth that flat, all-over colour can't achieve. It's a more involved look than a straightforward single-process colour, so understanding how the two elements interact before attempting it, or requesting it, saves you from a muddled result.

Why Highlights Change How Burgundy Reads

Burgundy on its own is already a rich, saturated tone. Adding highlights introduces a second layer of visual complexity, and the interaction between the two determines whether the final look feels intentional or accidental.

• Highlights lighten specific sections, creating contrast against the deeper burgundy base

• The width, placement, and lightness of highlights all affect how dramatic or subtle the combined effect looks

• Poorly balanced highlights can compete with the burgundy tone rather than complementing it, resulting in a patchy rather than dimensional appearance

Types of Highlights That Pair Well With Burgundy

Copper or auburn highlights Echo the warmth in red-forward burgundy, creating a cohesive, blended look rather than a jarring contrast.

Caramel or honey highlights Work well against brown-based burgundy, softening the overall depth without introducing a competing cool tone.

Subtle babylights Very fine, closely spaced highlights that create dimension without a strong contrast, useful for those wanting movement without an obvious highlighted look.

Placement Considerations for Burgundy With Highlights

• Face-framing highlights tend to brighten the overall look and draw attention to the face, working well with darker, more saturated burgundy bases

• All-over highlights create more consistent dimension throughout, though they require more maintenance to keep both the highlight and burgundy base looking fresh

• Highlights concentrated at the ends only create a subtler, lower-maintenance dimensional effect compared to highlights throughout the whole head

Why This Look Requires More Planning Than Single-Process Burgundy

• Achieving clean, well-placed highlights typically benefits from professional application or careful, methodical technique if done at home

• The burgundy base and highlight colour need to be planned together, since applying them as separate, unrelated processes can result in a mismatched final tone

• Grey coverage becomes more complex with highlights involved, since grey sections may need to be specifically incorporated into either the burgundy base or the highlight pattern, rather than treated uniformly

How Grey Hair Complicates the Highlight-and-Burgundy Combination

Grey and white strands behave differently from pigmented hair regardless of whether they're part of the burgundy base or the highlighted sections.

• Grey included in the burgundy base tends to show the burgundy tone more vividly than pigmented hair would

• Grey included within highlighted sections may lighten differently than pigmented hair, sometimes requiring adjusted timing

• A strand test that includes a grey section, tested separately for both the burgundy base and any highlight product, gives the clearest preview of the combined result

A Step-by-Step Approach for At-Home Attempts

1. Decide on your burgundy base shade first and apply it as you would a standard single-process colour, following full processing time

2. Allow the base colour to settle for the period recommended by your product before considering highlights, since applying multiple chemical processes too close together can cause unpredictable results

3. If adding highlights, use a dedicated highlighting product designed for that purpose, applied only to the specific sections you want to lighten

4. Strand test both the base and highlight combination before committing to a full application

Why Simpler Might Serve You Better at Home

Highlights combined with burgundy is a genuinely more advanced technique than either process alone. For those newer to at-home colouring, starting with a well-formulated single-process burgundy shade, and adding highlights later once comfortable with the base colour, tends to produce more consistent, satisfying results than attempting both simultaneously.

Formulation Considerations for the Burgundy Base

Since the burgundy base needs to hold its own visually against the highlighted sections, formulation quality matters even more here than with a straightforward single-process application. Understanding how a brand approaches pigment stability and richness, as explained on Natrique Naturals' Science In Us page, is useful before choosing a base product for this kind of layered look.

Maintaining Burgundy With Highlights

• Use a colour-safe shampoo formulated for both fashion tones and highlighted hair, since the two elements can fade at different rates

• Wash with cool water to help preserve both the depth of the burgundy base and the vibrancy of the highlights

• Expect more frequent touch-ups than a single-process colour, since root regrowth affects both the base tone and the highlight pattern

• Limit heat styling and sun exposure where possible, since both elements are more prone to fading than a simpler, single-tone colour

Where to Start With Your Burgundy Base

For those planning to build toward this layered look, starting with a well-formulated burgundy base is the foundation. The gel hair color collection includes burgundy and wine-toned options suitable as a base for this kind of dimensional styling.

Setting Realistic Expectations

Burgundy with highlights is a striking, dimensional look, but it comes with more maintenance and more room for uneven results than a single-process colour. Approaching it with patience, proper testing, and realistic expectations about upkeep leads to a result that looks intentional rather than accidental.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I add highlights to burgundy hair colour at home?

It's possible, but this is a more advanced technique that benefits from careful planning and testing compared to a single-process colour.

Which highlight tones pair best with burgundy?

Copper or auburn highlights complement red-forward burgundy, while caramel tones work well with brown-based burgundy.

Does grey hair complicate this combination?

Yes, grey sections behave differently in both the burgundy base and any highlighted areas, so testing both separately helps.

How much more maintenance does burgundy with highlights need?

More than a single-process colour, since both the base tone and the highlight pattern require touch-ups as regrowth appears.

Should I apply the burgundy base and highlights at the same time?

It's generally safer to apply the base first, let it settle, and then add highlights separately to avoid unpredictable results.

Is this look suitable for a first-time at-home colouring attempt?

Starting with a single-process burgundy base first, before adding highlights later, tends to produce more consistent results for beginners.