If there’s one hair color that has completely stolen my heart over the years, it’s dirty blonde hair with highlights. I’ve worked with so many clients who sit down in my chair feeling a little unsure about their natural dirty blonde base, and by the time we’re done adding the right highlights, they are absolutely glowing. Dirty blonde is one of those magical shades that sits right between brunette and blonde — it’s warm, dimensional, and incredibly versatile. When you add highlights into the mix, you create something truly stunning. Over the years I’ve experimented with so many highlighting techniques on dirty blonde hair, and I’m thrilled to share my absolute favorites with you today. Whether you’re going for something soft and natural or bold and editorial, there’s a highlight style here that will make your dirty blonde hair look extraordinary.
Sun-Kissed Balayage
What is sun-kissed balayage on dirty blonde hair
Sun-kissed balayage is one of those techniques that I keep coming back to time and time again, and honestly, I never get tired of it. The word “balayage” comes from the French word meaning “to sweep,” and that’s exactly what this technique does — it sweeps color through the hair in a painterly, freehand way that mimics what the sun naturally does to your hair during the warmer months. On dirty blonde hair, sun-kissed balayage creates a beautifully soft, gradient effect that moves from a deeper, richer base at the roots to lighter, glowing tones toward the ends. The result is effortlessly beautiful — it looks like you’ve spent a summer by the beach without a single appointment. What I love most about this technique is how organic it looks. There are no harsh lines, no obvious grow-out, and no maintenance headache. I always say that the best hair color is the kind that looks like it was made by nature, and sun-kissed balayage on dirty blonde hair achieves exactly that.
Best for sun-kissed balayage
Sun-kissed balayage is genuinely one of the most universally flattering highlight styles, and I mean that sincerely. It works beautifully for women with warm or neutral skin tones because the soft golden and honey tones in the highlights bring out that warmth in the complexion. If you have green or hazel eyes, this technique will make them absolutely pop — the warm tones in the hair create a gorgeous contrast that makes the eye color look more vivid and bright. It’s also ideal for anyone who leads a busy lifestyle and doesn’t want to commit to frequent touch-up appointments. Because the roots blend seamlessly into the highlighted ends, you can go several months between appointments without anyone noticing grow-out. I often recommend this to clients who are new to highlighting because it’s a gentle, low-commitment way to brighten dirty blonde hair without making a dramatic change all at once.
How to achieve sun-kissed balayage
The key to a perfect sun-kissed balayage on dirty blonde hair is in the placement of the color. Start by sectioning the hair and working in thin, random sections throughout — the randomness is what gives it that natural, organic feel. Use a lightening balm rather than a traditional bleach powder if you’re going for a softer lift, as it will be more gentle on the hair and give a more blended result. Focus the highlights from mid-shaft to the ends, keeping the roots completely free of product. Feather the color application in a C-shaped motion at the root end of each section so that the transition is gradual and seamless. After processing, a toner in a warm golden or honey shade will bring the whole look together beautifully. Finish with a deep conditioning treatment to restore moisture and shine to the highlighted sections.
Honey Blonde Highlights
What are honey blonde highlights on dirty blonde hair
Honey blonde highlights are one of my personal favorites to create on dirty blonde hair, and I get excited every single time a client asks for them. These highlights are exactly what they sound like — rich, warm, golden tones that resemble the gorgeous amber and golden hues of real honey. On a dirty blonde base, honey highlights add incredible warmth and luminosity to the hair, creating a look that feels rich, luxurious, and naturally radiant. Unlike very light platinum or icy blonde highlights, honey blonde tones are warm and inviting, which means they integrate beautifully into a dirty blonde base without creating too much contrast. The result is a harmonious, multi-dimensional color that looks natural yet polished at the same time. I’ve done this technique on so many different clients and it never fails to impress — there’s something about honey tones that just makes hair look healthy, shiny, and full of life.
Best for honey blonde highlights
Honey blonde highlights are a dream come true for women with warm or peachy skin undertones. If your skin tends to look golden or bronze in the sun, honey highlights will complement your complexion in the most beautiful way. They’re also incredibly flattering on women with brown or amber eyes — the warm honey tones in the hair draw out golden flecks in the eye color that might otherwise go unnoticed. This style works wonderfully on medium to long hair because the warmth of the honey tones really shows up beautifully when there’s enough length to display the gradient and dimension. I particularly love this look on women in their thirties and forties because honey blonde tones are sophisticated and radiant without looking overly dramatic or high-maintenance. It’s a flattering, age-defying highlight choice that feels fresh and modern.
How to get honey blonde highlights
To achieve honey blonde highlights on dirty blonde hair, I recommend using a warm lightener followed by a golden or amber-toned toner to lock in that rich honey color. Start by selecting pieces throughout the hair — I like to use a foiling technique for more precise placement with honey highlights, as opposed to a pure balayage, because foils create a slightly more saturated, richer result. Choose sections that catch the light naturally — around the face, along the top of the head, and through the mid-lengths. After lightening to the right level, tone with a warm golden shade to neutralize any brassiness and enhance the honey tones. I also recommend glossing the hair after every honey blonde service to keep the color vibrant and the shine intense. At home, maintain the look with a color-protecting shampoo and a weekly nourishing hair mask.
Caramel Highlights Technique
What are caramel highlights and lowlights on dirty blonde hair
Caramel highlights and lowlights are something I describe to my clients as the ultimate definition technique for dirty blonde hair. While highlights add lighter tones to the hair to create brightness, lowlights add slightly darker, richer tones to create depth and shadow. When you combine both on dirty blonde hair using caramel shades, the result is extraordinarily dimensional — the hair looks like it has multiple layers of color woven through it, creating that gorgeous, rich effect that you see on high-fashion editorial hair. Caramel shades sit beautifully within the dirty blonde color family because they’re warm enough to complement the natural base without clashing. I love this technique because it gives the hair a sense of movement and life, making even fine hair look thick and voluminous thanks to the contrasting tones.
Best for caramel highlights and lowlights
This technique is genuinely perfect for anyone who feels like their dirty blonde hair looks flat or one-dimensional. If you look at your hair in natural light and feel like it lacks depth and interest, caramel highlights and lowlights are exactly what you need. It’s also a wonderful technique for women with fine or thin hair because the contrasting tones create the illusion of more volume and texture. I particularly love caramel tones on women with olive or warm beige skin tones — the richness of the caramel shades echoes the warmth in the complexion in the most stunning way. This is also a fantastic option for women who are transitioning from a darker color back to their natural dirty blonde because the caramel lowlights help blend the transition seamlessly.
How to achieve caramel highlights and lowlights
Achieving a beautiful caramel highlights and lowlights look requires a thoughtful, strategic approach to placement. I like to start by identifying the natural highlight and shadow areas of the hair — where does the light naturally fall? Those are the areas where I place the lighter caramel highlights. The lowlights go in the areas that naturally fall into shadow — around the underneath sections and through the mid-lengths. Use a warm, medium brown for the lowlights and a rich golden caramel for the highlights, and alternate them throughout the hair in a natural, unpredictable pattern. After processing, a warm gloss or toner will bring the two tones together harmoniously. The key is not to overdo either the highlights or the lowlights — balance is everything with this technique.
Face-Framing Money Piece
What are face-framing money piece highlights
The money piece is one of those hair trends that I fell completely in love with the moment it emerged, and it has stayed popular for good reason — it is genuinely transformative. A money piece refers to bold, bright highlight sections placed right at the front of the hair, framing the face on both sides. On dirty blonde hair, a money piece can range from a subtle, barely-there brightening right at the hairline to a dramatic, high-contrast statement that draws all the attention to the face. I call it a “brightening frame” because that’s exactly what it does — it frames your features like a beautiful piece of art. What I adore about the money piece is how much it draws attention to the eyes and cheekbones, instantly making the face look more defined and radiant.
Best for face-framing money piece highlights
Money piece highlights are an absolutely wonderful choice for anyone who wants to brighten their look without committing to an all-over highlight service. Because the color is concentrated at the front of the hair, it’s a lower-commitment option that still delivers a serious impact. This style is particularly stunning on women with strong facial features — defined cheekbones, expressive eyes, or a beautiful jawline — because the framing highlights draw attention directly to those features. It works beautifully on all hair lengths, from a short bob to waist-length hair, and suits women of all ages. I love recommending the money piece to clients who are a little nervous about highlights for the first time, because it’s a relatively small amount of color that makes an enormous visual difference.
How to create face-framing money piece highlights
To create a beautiful money piece on dirty blonde hair, I section out the front two panels of hair on either side of the center part — roughly one to two inches wide on each side. I then lighten these sections to a level or two lighter than the rest of the hair, using a lightening cream applied from root to tip for a more even, saturated result. The key is to make sure the transition between the money piece and the rest of the hair isn’t too abrupt — I like to blend a small amount of product slightly back into the neighboring sections to soften the line. After lifting, apply a warm golden or honey toner to keep the highlighted sections warm and radiant rather than cool or ashy. For maintenance, use a purple or blue shampoo only sparingly to avoid toning out the warmth in the money piece.
Chunky Retro Highlights
What are chunky retro highlights on dirty blonde hair
Chunky retro highlights are having a major moment right now, and I am absolutely here for it. This is a throwback to the bold, thick highlight sections that were hugely popular in the late nineties and early two-thousands, but reimagined with a modern, intentional twist. Instead of the fine, baby-thin foils we associate with natural, blended highlighting, chunky highlights use wide sections of hair that are lightened to a noticeably lighter tone, creating a strong, graphic contrast against the dirty blonde base. On dirty blonde hair, chunky highlights look incredibly cool and editorial — the bold contrast between the natural base and the brighter highlighted sections creates a statement look that is confident and fashion-forward. I love doing this technique on clients who want something with real personality and edge.
Best for chunky retro highlights
Chunky retro highlights are best suited for women who love bold, statement-making hair and aren’t afraid to stand out. If you’re someone who gravitates toward fashion-forward looks and loves experimenting with your appearance, this is the style for you. It works particularly well on medium to long hair where the wide highlight sections have enough length to really show off their drama and impact. Women with a strong, angular bone structure or those who love a cool-girl, effortless aesthetic will find that chunky highlights complement their vibe perfectly. This technique also works wonderfully on naturally wavy or textured dirty blonde hair because the waves and bends in the hair naturally catch and reflect the contrasting tones, making the highlights look even more dynamic and interesting.
How to do chunky retro highlights
The technique for chunky retro highlights is actually one of the more straightforward highlighting methods, which is part of what I love about it. Divide the hair into larger-than-usual sections — I typically use sections that are at least an inch wide, sometimes wider. Apply lightener to each section using foils, lifting the highlighted pieces to a level that creates obvious contrast against the dirty blonde base. Depending on the look you’re going for, you can lift to a bright platinum, a warm golden blonde, or anything in between. The placement of the chunky sections should feel intentional but slightly random — scatter them throughout the top layer of the hair where they’ll be most visible. Finish with a gloss to unify the tones and add incredible shine to the overall look.
Babylights Blonde Effect
What are babylights on dirty blonde hair
Babylights are one of the most delicate and refined highlighting techniques in my toolkit, and I absolutely adore the result they create on dirty blonde hair. The term “babylights” refers to extremely fine, thin highlights placed throughout the hair to mimic the natural, subtle color variation seen in the hair of young children — hence the name. These highlights are so small and finely placed that they don’t read as individual highlighted sections; instead, they create an overall brightening and luminosity throughout the hair that looks completely natural. On dirty blonde hair, babylights add a beautiful, soft shimmer and dimension without dramatically changing the overall color. It’s the perfect technique for women who want to enhance their dirty blonde shade rather than transform it entirely into something different.
Best for babylights on dirty blonde hair
Babylights are ideal for women who want the most natural-looking highlighting result possible. If you’ve been reluctant to try highlights because you’re worried about looking overly done or unnatural, babylights are the perfect entry point. They’re also a wonderful choice for women who want to brighten their hair during the warmer months without making a drastic change. This technique is particularly flattering on women with fine hair because the delicate, finely-placed highlights add the illusion of texture and dimension without weighing the hair down with heavy color sections. I also love babylights for women in professional environments who want a polished, subtle enhancement rather than an overtly styled look. It’s quietly beautiful — the kind of hair color that people notice but can’t quite put their finger on why it looks so good.
How to achieve babylights on dirty blonde hair
The key to beautiful babylights is patience and precision. This technique requires extremely fine sectioning — I use the thinnest foils possible and take hair sections that are almost thread-like in their width. The lightener should be applied carefully to avoid bleeding onto neighboring sections, and the foils should be packed tightly to ensure even processing. Because the sections are so fine, the processing time may be slightly shorter than with larger highlight sections, so it’s important to monitor carefully. After lifting, a subtle warm or neutral toner can be applied to refine the tone of the babylights and ensure they blend seamlessly with the dirty blonde base. The final result should look like the hair has simply been touched by sunlight — incredibly natural and beautiful.
Ash Blonde Highlights
What are ash blonde highlights on dirty blonde hair
Ash blonde highlights are a stunning contrast to the natural warmth of dirty blonde hair, and I love recommending them to clients who want a cooler, more sophisticated spin on the classic dirty blonde look. Ash blonde shades sit on the cooler side of the blonde spectrum — they have silvery, platinum, or slightly violet undertones that give the hair a chic, modern appearance. On a warm dirty blonde base, ash blonde highlights create a beautiful tension between warm and cool tones that is incredibly visually interesting. The contrast between the warmer base and the cooler highlighted sections gives the hair incredible depth and dimension, and the result is a look that feels high-fashion and editorial without being over the top.
Best for ash blonde highlights
Ash blonde highlights are particularly flattering on women with cool or neutral skin undertones. If your veins appear blue or purple rather than green, you likely have cool undertones and ash blonde highlights will complement your complexion beautifully. This technique also looks stunning on women with blue or grey eyes, as the cool tones in the highlights echo the color in the eyes in a really harmonious way. I also love ash blonde highlights on women who want a low-contrast, smoky blonde look rather than a bright, sunny finish. It’s a more understated approach to highlighting that feels very grown-up and polished. Women with grey hair that they’re embracing will also find that ash blonde highlights blend their grey seamlessly into the overall look.
How to get ash blonde highlights
To achieve ash blonde highlights on dirty blonde hair, you’ll need to lift the highlighted sections to a fairly light level before toning, as ash toners require a pale enough base to show up correctly. After lifting, apply a cool-toned toner — violet-based or silver-toned ash shades work beautifully on dirty blonde hair. Be careful not to over-tone, as ash highlights can look too stark or grey if the toner is left on too long. A quick toning treatment of five to ten minutes is usually sufficient. At home, use a color-safe shampoo and avoid excessive heat styling, which can cause ash tones to fade toward brassiness over time. A weekly purple or blue shampoo can help maintain the cool ash tone between salon visits.
Platinum Blonde Tips
What are platinum blonde tips on dirty blonde hair
Platinum blonde tips are one of those bold, high-contrast looks that I absolutely love creating on clients who want something with real visual impact. This technique involves lightening only the ends of the hair to a very bright, almost white-platinum blonde, while leaving the roots and mid-lengths in the natural dirty blonde shade. The result is a striking ombre effect that transitions from the warm, natural dirty blonde at the root to an intensely light, almost luminous platinum at the tips. This look has a slightly edgy, modern feel that I find incredibly cool and fashion-forward. It’s one of those styles that photographs beautifully and always turns heads in the best possible way.
Best for platinum blonde tips
Platinum blonde tips on dirty blonde hair are a fantastic choice for women who want maximum impact with a somewhat contained application of color. Because the platinum is concentrated at the ends, the look is bold but not overwhelming — it makes a statement without transforming the entire color of the hair. This style works particularly well on naturally wavy or curly dirty blonde hair, because the movement of the waves and curls causes the platinum tips to peek in and out of the darker base, creating a beautifully dynamic, three-dimensional effect. It’s also a wonderful choice for women who are growing out a previous platinum or bleached look, as it allows them to enjoy the lighter ends while transitioning back to their natural dirty blonde base gracefully.
How to create platinum blonde tips
Creating platinum blonde tips requires careful bleaching of the ends while protecting the mid-lengths and roots from the lightener. I like to work with a thick, creamy bleach mixture that stays in place and doesn’t bleed upward. Start by combing the lightener through the last four to six inches of the hair, or longer depending on how dramatic you want the ombre effect to be. Check the hair regularly during processing, as platinum requires significant lifting and you want to avoid over-processing. Once the desired lightness is achieved, rinse thoroughly and apply a purple or silver toner to achieve that true ice-platinum finish. Maintaining platinum tips requires regular toning at home with a purple shampoo and deep conditioning treatments to keep the bleached ends hydrated and healthy.
Golden Bronde Highlights
What are golden bronde highlights on dirty blonde hair
The word “bronde” is one of my favorite beauty portmanteaus — it’s a combination of “brown” and “blonde,” and it perfectly describes a hair color that sits beautifully between the two. Golden bronde highlights on dirty blonde hair are designed to enhance the natural in-between quality of dirty blonde by adding warm, golden tones that celebrate both the blonde and brown aspects of the color simultaneously. These highlights are rich, warm, and radiant — they have a sumptuous quality that makes the hair look almost like it’s lit from within. I love golden bronde highlights because they feel like the most elevated, polished version of dirty blonde hair — like the natural color has simply been turned up to its most beautiful, vibrant potential.
Best for golden bronde highlights
Golden bronde highlights are incredibly versatile and suit a wide range of skin tones and eye colors. They’re particularly stunning on women with warm or neutral skin undertones because the rich golden tones in the highlights harmonize beautifully with the warmth in the complexion. This technique is also fantastic for women who love the idea of blonde hair but find very light, bright blondes too stark or high-maintenance — bronde highlights give you the warmth and luminosity of blonde without the extreme contrast. I love recommending this look to women who are naturally dirty blonde but feel like their color looks dull or washed out, because the golden tones in the highlights instantly revive the vibrancy and richness of the hair.
How to achieve golden bronde highlights
Golden bronde highlights are best achieved using a combination of foiling and balayage techniques. Use foils for the sections closest to the face and along the top of the head where you want the most vibrancy, and use a freehand balayage approach through the mid-lengths and ends for a more blended, natural result. Lift the highlighted sections to a medium golden level rather than going all the way to platinum — you want a warm, rich golden tone, not a cool or icy one. After lifting, apply a warm golden toner to deepen the richness of the color and prevent any brassiness. Finish with a nourishing gloss to seal the color and add the intense shine that makes golden bronde highlights so breathtaking.
Tortoiseshell Blonde Look
What are tortoiseshell blonde highlights on dirty blonde hair
Tortoiseshell highlights are one of the most artistically complex and visually stunning techniques I work with, and every time I complete a tortoiseshell look on a client, I feel like I’ve created something truly special. The technique is named after the beautiful, mottled pattern of a tortoiseshell, which features irregular patches of warm amber, rich brown, golden blonde, and deep caramel tones all blended together in an organic, unpredictable way. On dirty blonde hair, tortoiseshell highlights create an incredibly rich, multi-dimensional color that is unlike anything else. The result is a warm, complex, endlessly interesting hair color that looks different in every light — it shifts and moves as you walk, catching different tones at different angles.
Best for tortoiseshell blonde highlights
Tortoiseshell highlights are perfect for women who love the idea of a complex, artisanal hair color that stands out from the crowd. If you’re someone who appreciates craftsmanship and wants a hair color that looks like it was genuinely painted by hand, this is the technique for you. It’s particularly stunning on medium to long hair where there’s enough canvas to display the full range of tones and their interplay. Women with warm or olive skin tones will find that the amber and caramel tones in tortoiseshell highlights create an extraordinarily beautiful harmony with their complexion. I also love this technique for women who want a bold, fashion-forward look without resorting to unnatural or fantasy colors — tortoiseshell is wild and artistic while still being entirely rooted in natural, warm blonde and brunette tones.
How to do tortoiseshell blonde highlights
Tortoiseshell highlights require a multi-step approach that involves both lightening and adding darker tones simultaneously. Start by painting lighter sections throughout the hair using a balayage technique, varying the placement, width, and direction of each section to create an organic, irregular pattern. Then, weave in sections of a warmer, slightly darker amber or caramel shade using foils or a direct tinting brush to add depth between the lighter sections. The key to a successful tortoiseshell is variation — no two sections should look exactly the same, and the overall pattern should feel spontaneous rather than planned. After processing, a warm gloss in an amber or golden tone will pull all the colors together into a cohesive, harmonious result.
Strawberry Blonde Highlights
What are strawberry blonde highlights on dirty blonde hair
Strawberry blonde highlights are one of the most romantic and whimsical color options you can add to dirty blonde hair, and I absolutely adore the result. Strawberry blonde refers to a warm, peachy-pink toned blonde that sits on the warmer end of the spectrum, with delicate rose and copper undertones woven through golden blonde. When these highlights are added to a dirty blonde base, they create a wonderfully warm, glowing effect that is feminine, radiant, and utterly unique. The combination of dirty blonde base and strawberry blonde highlights gives the hair a slightly peachy, sun-drenched quality that looks incredible in natural light. I love recommending this technique to clients who want something a little unexpected and romantic without going for an overtly pink or fantasy color.
Best for strawberry blonde highlights
Strawberry blonde highlights are particularly flattering on women with fair, peachy, or rosy skin tones. If your complexion has pink or peach undertones and you tend to blush easily, strawberry blonde highlights will echo those warm undertones in the most beautiful way. This technique also looks stunning on women with green, blue, or grey eyes — the peachy warmth of strawberry blonde creates a gorgeous complement to cool eye colors that makes them look even more striking. I also love this look for women with freckles — the warm, peachy tones in the highlights seem to echo the freckles across the nose and cheeks in a way that looks utterly magical and cohesive.
How to achieve strawberry blonde highlights
Achieving strawberry blonde highlights on dirty blonde hair involves a careful combination of lightening and warm pink-gold toning. After lifting the highlighted sections to a light blonde level, apply a toner that has both golden and pink-rose undertones — many professional color lines offer specific strawberry or rose gold toner shades that work beautifully. The amount of pink in the toner can be adjusted depending on how subtle or vibrant you want the strawberry effect to be. For a very subtle hint of strawberry, a mostly golden toner with just a touch of rose is perfect. For a more vivid, rosy strawberry result, increase the pink component of the toner mixture. At home, use a color-protecting shampoo and conditioner and avoid harsh sulfates that would strip the warm tones from the highlights quickly.
Dimensional Highlight Technique
What is the dimensional highlight technique on dirty blonde hair
The dimensional highlight technique is something I like to describe as the art of creating hair that looks like it exists in three dimensions rather than two. This isn’t one specific color or placement method — it’s a philosophy of highlighting that combines multiple different shades, multiple different application methods, and careful placement to create a hair color that has true depth, movement, and visual complexity. On dirty blonde hair, a dimensional highlight technique might involve a combination of babylights for fine brightness throughout, wider balayage sections for soft warmth, and a few strategically placed foil highlights for concentrated pops of light. The result is a hair color that looks endlessly interesting — rich and deep in some areas, luminous and bright in others, and beautifully complex throughout.
Best for the dimensional highlight technique
The dimensional highlight technique is honestly my recommendation for anyone who wants the most sophisticated, long-lasting, and universally flattering version of highlighted dirty blonde hair. Because this technique layers multiple colors and methods, it works beautifully on every skin tone and every hair type. It’s particularly wonderful for women who have been highlighting their hair for several years and want to refresh and elevate their look without making a drastic change. It’s also ideal for women who want a low-maintenance color — because the dimensional technique uses multiple tones that mirror natural hair color variation, the grow-out is seamless and the color stays beautiful for months without touching up. I consider this the most refined and complete dirty blonde highlighting technique available.
How to achieve a dimensional highlight technique
Achieving a truly dimensional highlight on dirty blonde hair requires planning and a deep understanding of how light interacts with the hair. Start by identifying three different levels of brightness: the base dirty blonde, a medium highlight tone one to two levels lighter, and a brighter highlight tone three to four levels lighter. Apply the brightest highlights sparingly in the areas where light falls most naturally — the top of the head, around the face, and along the very ends. Use the medium highlight tone more generously throughout the mid-lengths to create overall warmth and brightness. Finally, add a few strategic lowlights in a warm brunette shade to create shadow and depth in the areas that naturally fall away from the light. The interplay of all three tones creates a result that is breathtakingly dimensional and beautiful.
Copper-Kissed Dirty Blonde
What are copper-kissed dirty blonde highlights
Copper-kissed highlights are one of my most recent obsessions, and I am convinced that this combination with dirty blonde hair is one of the most underrated and stunning color choices available. Copper-kissed highlights involve introducing warm, rich copper and auburn tones into the dirty blonde hair — not in a way that reads as a full red color, but subtly woven through as accents that add incredible warmth, spice, and richness to the overall look. The copper tones sit beautifully against the dirty blonde base because they share enough warmth to feel cohesive while still providing enough contrast to be visually exciting. The result is a hair color that feels autumnal, sensual, and extraordinarily rich — it glows with a warmth that is completely unlike traditional golden or honey highlights.
Best for copper-kissed dirty blonde highlights
Copper-kissed highlights are absolutely gorgeous on women with warm or olive skin tones, and they’re particularly stunning on women with brown or amber eyes. The warm copper tones in the highlights echo the warmth in warm eye colors in a way that makes the eyes look incredibly rich and vivid. This technique is also a wonderful choice for women who want to try a hint of red or auburn without committing to a full copper or red hair color. It’s a low-commitment way to experiment with warmer, spicier tones while staying rooted in the dirty blonde family. I also love copper-kissed highlights as a seasonal update — they’re particularly fitting in the autumn and winter months when warm, rich tones feel most at home.
How to create copper-kissed dirty blonde highlights
To create copper-kissed highlights on dirty blonde hair, I recommend using a direct copper or auburn shade as the highlight color rather than lightening and toning. Because copper shades are darker than traditional blonde highlights, they work as a combined highlight and color application — no pre-lightening necessary in most cases. Apply the copper shade using a balayage technique through selected sections of the hair, focusing on the mid-lengths and ends. The sections should be placed where they’ll catch the light and create warmth — around the face, through the top of the hair, and along the most visible sections of the length. After processing, a warm gloss can be applied over the entire head to blend the copper sections seamlessly into the dirty blonde base and add incredible shine that makes the whole look feel polished and intentional.
Conclusion
I hope this article has given you a real sense of just how extraordinary dirty blonde hair can be when you bring the right highlights into the picture. I’ve spent years working with this incredibly versatile hair color, and I genuinely believe it is one of the most beautiful natural bases you can have — it’s warm, rich, complex, and works with so many different highlighting techniques. Whether you choose the effortless, natural beauty of sun-kissed balayage or the bold drama of chunky retro highlights, the right technique can completely transform the way you feel about your hair.
As Belle Hathaway, I always tell my clients that your hair is one of the most powerful tools you have for expressing who you are and how you feel about yourself. The right color can make you walk a little taller, smile a little brighter, and feel more like the most confident version of yourself. Dirty blonde hair with highlights is not just a trend — it’s a timeless, endlessly adaptable canvas for self-expression, and I am so grateful to have spent my career helping people discover the version of it that makes them feel truly, beautifully themselves.
Whatever style you choose from this list, remember that beauty is not about following a formula. It’s about finding what makes your eyes light up when you look in the mirror and leaning all the way into that. Trust your instincts, trust your stylist, and most importantly, trust yourself. Your dirty blonde hair is already something special — highlights just help it shine exactly the way it was always meant to.