Highlights formula

Highlights formula: level 4 to 8

The highlighting cap that leaves a medium brown striped and orange, and the foil, the nine percent and the two toner bowls that take the same head to a light blonde.

Published 2026-10-26. Written by the Easy Hair Edit team and checked against the rules the rest of the site follows.

Before and after: medium brown hair at level 4, then foil highlights lifting it to level 8, light blonde — Left: medium brown hair at level 4, before. Right: warm light blonde 8 in the foils, yellow at the rinse, cool or sandy once toned, with her medium brown left between them, after powder lightener with a bond builder in the bowl or built in on 30 vol, 45 to 60 minutes. Illustration, not a photograph.

The formula

In the chair: Around 2 hours for a partial; a full head runs to a half-day with the toner Hard Lasts Toner 4 to 8 weeks; the regrowth is foiled again at 6 to 10 weeks

Product: Powder lightener with a bond builder in the bowl or built in; after it, a demi 6N or 7N for the root tap and 8.1 (8A) with 8.2 (8V), or 8.13 (8NB) for sand, through the lengths
Developer: 30 vol (9%) on the virgin 4, 20 vol (6%) on any hair foiled before; the toner on 10 vol (3%) or the line's toning developer
Ratio: 1:2 by the tub, some tubs 1:3
Amount: A scoop of lightener, about 30 g or an ounce, to 60 g of developer, a scoop and a half at most per bowl, mixed fresh as the foils go up
Processing: 45 to 60 minutes, the first foil opened from 25; the tap 3 to 5 minutes, then the 8 toner 5 to 20 minutes, watched
Result: Warm light blonde 8 in the foils, yellow at the rinse, cool or sandy once toned, with her medium brown left between them

Steps

Put the kit down and ask three things first: where she parts it, whether it goes up in a ponytail, and whether any of the hair has ever seen color. A dab of the lightener behind the ear two days ahead, and again for the toner.
Mix one scoop of lightener with two of 30 vol, the bond builder at its own dose, in a small non-metal bowl whisked smooth. A scoop and a half is the most any bowl holds before it swells.
Off her part, sections thin enough to read through. Weave the top and the hairline, slice the pieces she wants brightest, hold each one straight out and pull the foil tight to the scalp.
Lightener starts a little below the fold and never past it, saturates both sides of the hair, and feathers off at the top. Brown stays out between the foils on purpose.
One timer from the last foil. Open the first foil from 25 minutes and every 5 to 10 after; yellow with the orange gone is the finish, up to 60 minutes on 30 vol. Foils that get there early come out with a water bottle and a towel.
Shampoo, condition, towel-dry. Tap a 6N or 7N over the top inch on 10 vol for 3 to 5 minutes, then the 8.1 and 8.2 through the lengths, wiped every 5, rinsed before it goes gray, dried before it is judged.

From the chair

Lightener on the hair looks whiter than it rinses. Scrape a piece clean inside the foil and read the level under it before deciding a foil is done.
A cap cannot pick the face frame and a foil can. The finest, closest-packed foils go around the face, and the very shortest baby hairs are last or left out, because they lift fastest and break first.
Keep the bowls small. Mixed lightener starts working the moment the developer goes in, so mix what the next few foils will use and mix again as you climb the head.

The bowl that replaces the kit

Powder lightener with a bond builder, mixed 1:2 with 30 vol (9%), in see-through foils on a virgin level 4 for 45 to 60 minutes read by opening the first foil, then a 6N or 7N root tap and a demi 8.1 (8A) with 8.2 (8V) through the lengths on 10 vol. The foils rinse a warm yellow 8 with some orange left in it, and the toner is where the blonde happens. Twenty vol goes on any piece that has been foiled before, and 40 stays out of the foil.

The kit for medium brown hair comes with a cap, a hook and a violet rinse, and on a natural 4 it delivers stripes. The hook pulls thick and thin at random, a thick piece stalls at orange, and violet is built for yellow, so the orange stays put. A hairdresser who tested one called it random and stripy on dark hair. The other shortcut, a high-lift tube, takes the whole head one warm color. Medium brown on the chart has red-orange under it.

Can you highlight medium brown hair blonde in one sitting?

Yes, to a warm level 8 in foils on 30 vol in 45 to 60 minutes, brown kept between them. Icy, or a 9, is a second session. A foil traps the scalp’s warmth and lifts cleaner than open air, more yellow and less orange. The rinse is what the light blonde a foil lands on looks like before its toner: yellow, orange still in it.

A scoop and a half on nine percent

Thirty is for a virgin or dark start, 20 for anything lightened before, so a natural 4 gets nine percent developer in the foil and none on skin. Mix 1:2 by the tub, some tubs 1:3, grams for one scoop at either ratio, loose enough to travel a fine weave and stay in the packet. A scoop, a scoop and a half at most, per small bowl, since it swells, with a bond builder in each.

Seen through, saturated, brown left between

Off the part she wears, sections thin enough to read print through. Weave for soft, slice for bright, the finest foils packed close at the hairline. Foil tight to the scalp, lightener started under the fold and never past it, because it swells with the heat and bleeds a stripe onto the hair outside. The brown dropped out between foils is her lowlight, and every piece of it is chosen.

One timer as the last foil closes, then the first foil opened from 25 minutes and every 5 to 10 after.

Why did my highlights come out orange?

The foil came out before it reached yellow. A 4 climbs through red-orange into orange and sits there, and the rest of that climb on 30 vol takes 45 to 60 minutes. Rinsing at 20 because it looks scary is the common fault. Better to give a foil at 40 ten more minutes than find orange at 20. An orange foil takes blue in the bowl at the level it reached, or another foil next visit. A stripe at the root is a bleed mark, corrected on its own page.

8A on one tube, 8.1 on the other

Wash the lightener out, put a conditioner through it, squeeze the hair to damp, and mix two bowls on 10 vol or the line’s toning developer. A 6N or 7N tapped over the top inch for 3 to 5 minutes softens where the foil starts, 20 minutes makes it a smudge, and some colorists skip it because the next retouch lifts through it. Then the 8 through the lengths, 5 to 20 minutes, wiped every 5, off before it turns gray. Letter lines and decimal lines name the same pigments differently, and the 8 bowl in grams has a page of its own.

Decimal	Letter	On a foiled 8
8.2	8V	Violet for the yellow
8.1	8A	Blue for the orange a 4 leaves
8.13	8NB	Ash plus gold, sand that keeps its shine
8N and 8.1 together	8NA	Natural ash, a softer tap some use
6.0 or 7.0	6N or 7N	The tap, or a 20-minute smudge

Damp hair shows a level deeper than the truth, so no verdict until the dryer has been over it. The toner holds 4 to 8 weeks, the regrowth is foiled again at 6 to 10, and a light brown starts a level closer to the same 8.

Twenty on anything that has seen a foil before A retouch lightens the regrowth alone, ends kept out of the foil or given 10 vol and a bond builder, the top feathered into peaks, because a straight thick line there bands.

Why are the foils still yellow when they come out

Because yellow is what a level 8 is under the lightener, and on a 4 it keeps a little orange. The toner turns that yellow into the blonde in the photo in 5 to 20 minutes. White in one round is close to impossible on a medium brown, and a foil pulled early comes out warmer than it looked under the paste.

Asked with the kit still in the bag

Is 30 volume too strong for highlights on brown hair?

In a foil, off the skin, it is the strength a virgin medium brown needs to reach an 8 inside the hour. Twenty vol is the everyday foil developer, and the colorists with a virgin or dark start reach for 30 and step it up through the head so every foil finishes together. It stays off the scalp, and 40 vol in a foil lifts fast, quits early and blows the cuticle open, so it stays out.

Can I use a highlighting cap on dark hair?

You can, and on a natural 4 the result is what the box photo never shows. The hook pulls thick and thin at random, thick pieces lift slow and stop at orange, and there is no way to choose the pieces around the face. One hairdresser who tested a cap got a ponytail through the top and called it stripy and random on dark hair; over hair that was already blonde it passed. A foil chooses every piece.

Will a purple toner fix orange highlights?

No. Violet cancels yellow, and an orange foil has not reached yellow yet. Blue cancels orange, so a blue-based 8A on a foil that stalled just short reads cleaner, and a piece that rinsed a real orange 7 wants a 7.12 or another foil on the next visit. The rinse in a kit is violet and built for pale yellow, which is one reason the kit result stays orange.

How long do you leave bleach in foils on medium brown hair?

Forty-five minutes to an hour on 30 vol, and the number is where you look rather than where you stop. Open the first foil placed from 25 minutes and every 5 to 10 after, scrape a piece clean and read the level under the product. Foils that reach yellow early come out with a water bottle and a towel and the rest keep going. Rinsing at 20 because the foil looks scary is the common home fault.

Do I need a root smudge after highlights on brown hair?

Not always. A tap of 6N or 7N on 10 vol over the first inch for 3 to 5 minutes softens where the foil starts and makes the grow-out gentler, and most colorists do one on a dark base. Some skip it on purpose, because the next retouch has to lift through that deposit and can band there, and they blend with feathered foil tops instead. The tap is the usual finish and both are honest.