31 Black Hair With Highlights Ideas (Lookbook Inspiration)

When we think of highlights, it’s often classic beachy blondes that spring to mind. However, dark-haired sirens, rejoice: highlights in black hair can give your tresses more depth, help your locks look more voluminous, and supply a healthy dose of multi-tonal beauty, too:

With dark hair winning the gold for sensuality and allure, adding highlights only serves to strengthen the appeal. Whether you’d like to go lighter overall or simply infuse some intrigue and depth, highlights are the way forward—but of course, the finished effect largely depends on where they’re placed and the shades you select.

Fancy the best of both worlds? Great news: blonde looks gorgeous on dark hair, if done masterfully. Balayage-style highlights can work wonders in revamping your look, and you get to keep that lustrous base color. Even better, keeping your natural root color brings maintenance requirements down significantly, so you can skip the 6-weekly color appointment if you don’t have time. You needn’t go too light either (in fact, we advise against it): caramel, chocolate, and mocha tones look showstopping paired with a black base color, too.

It is a great look for summer; just a few well-positioned highlights go a long way in giving that coveted sunkissed vibe. Whatever you pick, we (and, like, every stylist on this planet) recommend staying within a few shades of your natural color for an effortless aesthetic, as well as to keep your hair straggle-free and nicely nourished.

So, browse through our guide to the best black hair with highlights, from sumptuous chocolate brown tones to richly autumnal reds and ochres and everything in between.

P.S. check our style guide to the best dreadlock hairstyles for women and our style guide to the most gorgeous hairstyles for black girls to see other beautiful looks.