Have You Ever Had Cap Highlights?

October 2, 2009

A few weeks ago, I bought one of those highlighting kits from the beauty supply store to give myself a few subtle highlights. Besides the standard mixing bowl, application brush, and product, the kit also came with a "crochet" hook and frosting cap, similar to this Color Trak Tools Xtreme Highlighting Chunking Cap ($3). I've had these frosty cap highlights before from the salon with decent results, but I don't know if I'd attempt to make it a DIY project at home. Tell me: Whether professionally or at home, have you ever had highlights from the cap? If you did, were the results OK or were they completely disastrous?

23 Comments

3 years 12 weeks

I used to have highlights done by foil, but the roots are worse and re-touch is needed more often. I am back to the rubber cap method at the salon and they use the hooks to dig the hair out. It does hurt, but the results are way better and last longer. The trick is to really pull all the hair out of the hole, and to use the hook thing in many many places, that give me awesome results....beauty is pain

3 years 23 weeks

I've had foils, cap and streaks using a comb and I'd go for the cap anytime. trick is to fit it tighly and have the one pulling look properly where they willl pull through and pull small bits of hair. Small bits through many wholes is the key...

3 years 28 weeks

my mom has shorter hair, but not a boy cut or anything.. anyways she mixes these at home but doesnt always use a cap. i guess she has just done them for a long enough time to gain the knowledge of how to apply the paste in a natural-looking way. my aunt on the other hand cannot do it for the life of her (She actually has shorter hair btw) and gets my mother to do her hair sometimes. so i dont think it has so much to do with the length of hair as opposed to experience and patience. and if you dont care about costs, youd probably never care to learn!

3 years 29 weeks

The new CompurCap overcomes the pulling and is more comfortable than the seamed caps with color-coded programs and graphic results.

dark chocola 3 years 29 weeks

well..i bought at home highlights kit, but it is not a cap it is a large hat with many holes, so i'll try it and hope it will look great

napqueen87 3 years 29 weeks

I had cap highlights, however I only did it twice. After a while it's harder to control where the highlights are going and it doesn't turn out as nice as foils.

kalibrooke 3 years 31 weeks

i've been using the cap on and off for years, and there are definitely some things i've learned along the way: 1) the main one is that you HAVE to go beyond the grid of predetermined holes in the cap--generally double the amount. 2) pulling the cap as tight as you can manage is also key, along with making sure you pull hair from as close to the hole as possible so you can cut down on having big roots. 3) never pull as much hair through the holes as the picture above unless you actually want circa 1997-style stripes on your head. (see #1: go for quantity of holes, not quantity of hair clumps) 4) the formula should not be runny... the one time i tried to get away with a liquidy solution, i ended up with leopard-spotted highlights on my head because it seeped through. 5) it's only worthwhile to spend this much time on your hair if you turn it into a highlighting party with some good friends and some cocktails, ha ha...

robynhannah 3 years 31 weeks

I was 21. My boyfriend and I just broke up and naturally, I decided to cut my hair. ...Or get a tattoo. ...Or pierce something. Or all 3. It was midnight. I called my best friend in tears to tell her how I was going to find a tattoo place and might also get something pierced while I was there. And then I was coming home to cut bangs. She talked me down to a drugstore cap highlights kit. Purchased at 1am and applied immediately upon returning home. I yanked out little pieces the best I could and applied the Playboy Bunny platinum paste to my naturally honey colored Medusa strands. I panicked as it started turning orange, decided I better take it out soon than instructed. Disaster. I went to the salon first thing in the morning with a ball cap covering my calico cat-like mop. Had to go DARK brown to fix it. NEVER AGAIN.

KristaMK 3 years 31 weeks

I got cap highlights at a salon once when I was in college and of course, cash-strapped. It turned out okay...but it hurt and didn't feel it was as natural looking.

Allytta 3 years 32 weeks

i don't highlight my hair. but i do colour it. i don't get one chunk of colour anyway, it's naturally highlighted and downlighted

inmybubble 3 years 32 weeks

The results have been fine when I've used a cap at home, but it takes FOREVER and it can definitely be painful. It's cheaper, but I'm not sure the extra time and pain is worth it.

Briandiesel 3 years 32 weeks

DO NOT do chunky highlights from a cap! How horrible My mom did my hair through a cap when I was little- and it looked great. keep in mind I'm a boy so it's a lot easier

suzpuz 3 years 32 weeks

I work in a high end salon, and cap highlighting is kind of looked down on as an older technique to hair highlighting. Most of the stylists I work with don't even do them. Foil highlights all the way!

elsita 3 years 32 weeks

I did it once, and even when the results were good, it was painful!!! So, Im not willing to do that again...

weffie 3 years 32 weeks

ah, so that's how they achieve that unnatural, stripey look!

Dana18 3 years 32 weeks

The first and only time I had highlight they used a cap . My hair was short at the time and the highlight s cap out great.

Yogaforlife 3 years 32 weeks

I always think of the cap method for older ladies who like that "frosted" look. I have had the cap done before and it can be done well by the salon but they only ever use it on me when I had really short, almost pixie length hair. My mom does the DIY cap method at home and it looks okay on her but again she has the older lady "frosted" look. I prefer foils. I think caps are better for ladies with really short hair that isn't long enough for foils or for men. I once gave a classmate in college highlights because he wanted a silly surfer look for a halloween costume and I used the cap and it was easy since his hair was shorter to begin with.

mamasitamalita 3 years 32 weeks

sorry, highlights from the cap look totally cheap and home-done and ridiculous

3 years 32 weeks

*The compliments never stopped. So yeah, be open-minded and consider some people just do not have the skill or eye for doing hair stuff at home.

3 years 32 weeks

Foils tend to be seen as more professional and modern, but foils leave an ugly grow out line most of the time (my hair grows super fast) and I rarely find people's hair looks natural with foils. I have been to so many salons and none of them are chintzy, but foils aren't that great. The most natural highlights I ever had was at this more-natural-than-Aveda salon where the hippie lady used a cap on me. The compliments never stops, because it was the ultimate in beachy gorgeous hair.

steen 3 years 32 weeks

The first time I ever got highlights, I went with the cap and it sucked. It HURT and the results were uneven and shoddy. I stick with foils if/when I get highlights done.

bchicgrl 3 years 32 weeks

I've always gotten foils, I've heard horror stories using the caps and is the main reason why I won't highlight my hair at home ever even though it's cheaper.

3 years 32 weeks

It did not go well. For one thing, it was actually pretty painful pulling my hair through all those little holes, and it took forever. And then it turned out that the hair did not get pulled through evenly or in a way that made any sort of sense, so the highlights looked like they were done by a blind five-year-old. This was years ago and the kits have probably improved since then, but for me it was not a good experience and I wouldn't do it again.

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