Strawberry Blonde Highlights Are Trending—Here’s How To Get The Look

If you love the idea of strawberry blonde hair but aren’t ready to commit to a full transformation, strawberry blonde highlights offer the perfect middle ground. This soft, dimensional shade of warm blonde works beautifully with a range of base colors, making it a versatile option for anyone looking to freshen up their look. Plus, highlights are a low-commitment way to experiment with color without straying too far from your roots (pun intended). Ahead, we’re breaking down how to get strawberry blonde highlights and different ways to wear them.

What To Consider Before Getting Strawberry Blonde Highlights

Before embracing a new hue, it’s important to take a couple of things into consideration to ensure you’re happy with the end result.

1. Your base color

Before committing to strawberry blonde highlights, it’s important to consider both your base color and your undertone. Strawberry blonde is a light, warm shade, so it tends to pair best with other lighter, warm-toned hues, such as chestnut brown, copper, and cinnamon. That being said, you can rock strawberry blonde highlights even if you have dark brown or black hair—but bear in mind that the end result will be high-contrast and dramatic rather than soft and subtle. If you have dark hair and want a softer look, it may be worth lightening your mane to a medium chocolate brown before adding in your sunny highlights.

2. Your desired style

Because highlights are so customizable, simply asking your colorist for strawberry blonde streaks may not be specific enough. Think about the look you want to achieve: are you going for something subtle or bold? Do you want a low-maintenance option that grows out seamlessly, or are you open to regular touch-ups for a more precise, defined highlight? Clarifying your preferences will help your colorist tailor the technique to your lifestyle and ensure you get the strawberry blonde effect you’re after.

3. Upkeep and maintenance

Maintenance is another key factor to consider when choosing your strawberry blonde highlights. Traditional foil highlights are a classic choice, but because they create a sharp contrast with your natural roots, they typically require more frequent touch-ups to keep the look fresh. Balayage, on the other hand, involves hand-painting sections of hair further down from the root, which allows for a softer grow-out and longer time between salon visits. If you’re looking for something lower maintenance, balayage is often the better choice, while traditional highlights work well if you don’t mind scheduling regular touch-ups for maximum brightness.

Strawberry Blonde Highlight Ideas By Base Color

If you’re still not sure how to make strawberry blonde highlights work for you, keep scrolling. Ahead, we’re sharing some of our favorite ways to wear this warm, sunny hue on blonde, brown, red, and even black hair.

Strawberry blonde highlights on blonde hair

Spice up your natural blonde by having your colorist add fine, copper-blonde streaks throughout your mane. The warmer hue will give your natural color depth and dimension, allowing you to try out a new look without having to commit to a total hair overhaul.

Strawberry blonde highlights on brown hair

If you’re looking to go lighter but aren’t quite ready to part ways with your brunette base, consider asking your stylist for ribbons of copper, strawberry, and cinnamon blonde highlights. The lighter hues will help brighten up your mane, but won’t require you to bleach your entire head. If you really want to keep maintenance to a minimum, you can also ask your stylist for a dark root with a strawberry blonde balayage. This technique involves blending your natural roots with your highlight color (or, in this case, colors) for a seamless-looking blend that grows out beautifully.

Strawberry blonde highlights on red hair

Natural red hair is relatively rare, so it would make sense that if you’re blessed with this flattering hue, you wouldn’t want to part ways with it. Fortunately, you don’t have to stray too far from your roots to embrace a new look. Head to the salon and ask your stylist for light strawberry blonde highlights to add subtle brightness and dimension to your natural fiery hue.

Strawberry blonde highlights on black hair

If you like the look of trendy calico hair but aren’t ready for such a drastic change, dark strawberry blonde highlights on black hair make for a great starting point. To achieve a blended (rather than overtly high-contrast) look, ask your colorist to weave in streaks of chestnut, copper, and maple, too.

Coloring Techniques for Strawberry Blonde Highlights

Once you have a clear picture of what you want, you’ll have to work with your colorist to assess which coloring technique will yield the best results. Below, we’re sharing four different options.

1. Traditional highlights

Traditional (foil) highlights involve sectioning the hair and applying lightener or color to select strands, which are then wrapped in foil to process. The foils help isolate the hair, giving the colorist more control and allowing for precise placement from root to tip. This technique creates a bright, uniform look that can significantly lighten the hair, add noticeable contrast, and deliver a polished, high-impact finish. It’s also one of the most approachable options for DIY transformations. To do strawberry blonde highlights at home, you’ll need bleach (we love the L’Oréal Paris Colorista At-Home Hair Bleach & Lightener highlighting kit), your strawberry blonde dye, and plenty of patience. We break down the full process in How To Do Salon-Quality Highlights At Home.

2. Balayage

Balayage is a highlighting technique where the colorist hand-paints lightener onto the hair without using foils, creating a soft, blended effect. Because the highlights are placed more naturally and don’t start directly at the roots, balayage grows out seamlessly and requires less upkeep than traditional highlights. To ace your balayage, precise placement is a must. As such, we recommend leaving this one in the hands of a seasoned pro.

3. Ombré

Ombré is a coloring technique that gradually transitions your hue from darker at the roots to lighter at the ends. Unlike traditional highlights, the color isn’t placed throughout the entire head but focused on the mid-lengths and ends, making it a relatively low-maintenance option. With a strawberry blonde ombré, the lighter tones concentrate toward the bottom of the hair, adding warmth and brightness while keeping the roots natural for an easy, grown-in look. If you’re up for DIY-ing the look, bleach your mid-lengths and ends with the L’Oréal Paris Féria Hyper Platinum Advanced Lightening System Bleach, then color the lightened portions with the L’Oréal Paris Féria Multi-Faceted Shimmering Permanent Hair Color in Strawberry Blonde.

4. Sombré

Sombré —short for soft ombré—is created using a balayage technique but with a gentler, more understated effect. Instead of using a highlight shade that sharply contrasts your base color, sombré relies on subtle, blended tones for a softer transition. If you’re looking for a low-key way to wear strawberry blonde highlights, this technique offers a natural-looking gradation of color that feels effortless and chic.

FAQs About Strawberry Blonde Highlights

What skin tone looks best with strawberry blonde highlights?

Strawberry blonde is a warm shade, so it tends to pair best with warm-toned or neutral skin. If you have a cooler skin tone but want to embrace a reddish hue, you may want to consider a more neutral tone, such as soft auburn or maple blonde.

Who should get strawberry blonde highlights?

Anyone can get strawberry blonde highlights—it all comes down to choosing a shade and technique that suits your goals and preferences. If you’re unsure how to make strawberry blonde highlights work for you, consider consulting with a pro via our Hair Color Concierge.

Does strawberry blonde hair make you look younger?

Strawberry blonde hair won’t make you look younger, per se, but it can help warm up your complexion, giving you a flattering, lit-from-within glow. The right hair dye can also help cover up stubborn grays, which could contribute to a more youthful appearance.

What color highlights work best with strawberry blonde hair?

If you have natural strawberry blonde hair and want to brighten it up, opt for warm blonde highlights. Butter blonde, light copper, and rose gold can all be beautiful options—or, you could blend all three for a dimensional, sun-kissed look.

Next Up: 32 Auburn Hair Color Ideas To Help You Find Your Perfect Shade

Photo courtesy of L’Oréal Paris