We've all experienced the cringing realisation that a newly tried hairdresser's concept of 'subtle highlights' doesn't quite match our own.
What seems under the bright lights of the salon to be a nice even glow, suddenly appears garish in the daylight, with the highlighted hair sitting in obvious, thick bands from the parting to the tips.
And while stripy highlights might have had their moment once upon a time, the 90s have been and gone and a new era of sophistication has been ushered in.
For those uninitiated into the world of hair lightening, of the many options available, the more subtle balayage hair painting techniques tend to be the popular ones.
Stylists are ever experimenting with new ways to ensure that the colour they're adding to our locks blends naturally with the tones that are already there.
Those with a fresh set of unwelcome chunky streaks need not be too worried, though, because almost any dye-job mishap can be rectified by a shrewd pair of hands. And a fix doesn't always have to take an eternity either.
Enter 'stretch lights' - a new technique for blending out your current highlights and softening obviously grown out roots.
What Are Stretch Lights?
Developed by Sam Burnett - Founder of Hare & Bone salon and a frequent Creative Stylist at London Fashion Week shows - this new trend combines softer baby-lights (fine highlights that mimic your natural hair colour), with a new balayage technique, to give a soft, shadow effect at the roots and sun kissed ends.
How do Stretch Lights work?
Taking inspiration from the colours already in the hair, the stylist prepares a mix of highlight and lowlight shades, which are then applied very finely, using a hand-painting technique that delicately brushes the colours upwards towards the root, instead of just downwards towards the ends.
The aim is to diffuse a blend of high and low tones throughout the uppermost part of the hair, disrupting any streaks of colour and masking any tide marks from recent colours that have begun to grow out.
What do Stretch Lights look like?
The effect is that hair looks refreshed, with more of a glow, but without the impression of a recent dye job that hasn't had a chance to settle in yet.
What is more, the technique takes roughly half the time of a full set of highlights, so it's a great option for those wanting to feel salon fresh, but who don't have five hours to spare. Lunch break highlights just became a thing.
Who can get Stretch Lights?
Stretch-lights aren't just for blondes. Anyone with highlighted hair can benefit from root-stretching and it can be used to blend out an ombré style as well as chunkier highlights.
So stop cringing in the mirror at your Britney 'Baby One More Time' 'do and get thee to a trustier salon for a quick fix.
