It’s always exciting when you’re considering a new style. However, changing your hair color does not mean you have to completely redo your look. For a polished update that moves easily from daytime appointments to dinner downtown, consider face framing highlights. This is where our stylists strategically place lighter pieces in the front to create brightness.
Targeted highlights around your hairline can be a great upgrade to brighten your face.1 The effect can range from barely there to dramatic. That flexibility is important because face framing describes a placement concept, and the finished look is up to you.
Unlike traditional highlights, which distribute color across a larger section of your hair, face frame highlights concentrate the visual effect near the front. Our professional stylists personalize the result by adjusting:
Face framing works with different lengths, textures and base colors. It can also complement your current color without completely changing what you love about your current style.
The difference between dramatic and subtle face framing highlights comes down to the choices made in your consultation.
Soft brightness in highlights comes from finer sections, less contrast, and a gradual transition into the rest of the hair. Wider sections or a greater difference between the base and highlight colors will make your face frame more prominent.2
For our team, styling hair is a two-way street. Bring reference photos to show your stylist what “subtle” or “bold” means to you. The same service name can describe very different results, so a visual example helps clarify your preferred width, tone, contrast and starting point. This helps us make sure you walk out the door loving your new look.
Face framing describes where the brightness is placed. Balayage describes how the color or lightener is applied. The technique involves hand-painting color or lightener onto sections of hair to create a sun-kissed effect. The term comes from the French word meaning “to sweep.”
The two can work together. A stylist may use balayage to create a face frame highlight, including as part of a partial or mini balayage focused around the face. The best technique depends on your starting color, desired finish and overall color plan.
Copying a reference photo exactly may not create the same result on everyone. Professional face framing highlight placement accounts for the hair you already have and how you wear it.
One of our expert colorists will talk to you about:
Moving a highlighted section, changing its width or adjusting its tone can noticeably alter the final effect. We carefully place the highlights so the color complements your features, haircut and routine.
Face framing highlights use color to direct attention toward the face. A face framing layered haircut uses different lengths to create shape and movement around it.
Combining the two allows strategically placed color to emphasize the movement of the cut. The placement of the layers still needs to suit your hair, face shape, and preferred style.
Someone with a long, layered, face framing haircut may need a different color plan than someone with shorter pieces near the cheekbones. The cut provides the structure, while the highlights help bring that structure forward.
Face framing does not have to mean maximum lightness. Accent highlights can be adjusted to complement a wide range of base colors.
Existing artificial color may affect what can be achieved safely in one appointment. You can always ask your colorist to assess your starting point and recommend an appropriate tone and level of lift.
To make the most of your new style, we always suggest the appropriate at-home routine to help protect lightened or color-treated hair. Ask your colorist which products make sense for your specific color, texture, and hair condition.
Because the front pieces are so visible, regrowth or tonal changes may be more noticeable with a high-contrast result. Subtle face framing highlights may create a softer grow-out, depending on their placement.
In some situations, a gloss or toner can refresh the tone without repeating the entire color service. If this is your circumstance, try a Color Melt Gloss. It’s designed to blend highlights or balayage toward the root and soften visible lines.
A consultation helps turn inspiration into a color plan that works with your actual hair and lifestyle. Before choosing your accent highlight placement, consider:
A reference photo is a useful starting point. Our stylist can then adapt the idea based on your base color, haircut, styling routine and desired upkeep.
For a trusted face framing highlight, you can turn to our team at Smith + Morgan. For nearly a decade, we have brought an individualized approach to face framing haircuts and color from our salon at 205 West 80th Street on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.
Started by James Morgan and David Smith, Smith + Morgan combines individual artistic approaches to color and cut with a relaxed atmosphere. Our stylists have backgrounds that include training at some of the most prestigious institutions, including Sassoon, Arrojo, and Frederick Fekkai.
Whether you want barely-there brightness or a statement face frame, book an appointment with our team to help determine the placement, color and technique that make you walk out the door with that perfect-style feeling.
{{Book an Appointment at Smith + Morgan}}
Face framing highlights are lighter pieces strategically positioned around the front of the hair to create brightness, contrast and dimension around the face.
No. Face framing describes where brightness is concentrated, while balayage is a hand-painted coloring technique. A stylist can use balayage to create a face frame highlight.
Yes. Subtle face framing highlights use customized placement, tone, width and contrast to produce a softer effect around the face.
Yes. A colorist can adjust accent highlights to complement dark hair using anything from a subtle tonal change to stronger contrast. The appropriate lift and tone depend on the starting color and desired result.
Yes. Layers create shape through the haircut, while strategically placed color emphasizes that movement. A long layers face framing haircut can be paired with highlights designed around where those layers begin and fall.
We all want to look and feel our best. We focus the majority of our attention on the face and hair when it comes to beauty and personality. Hair is a huge factor that helps in changing one’s overall appearance. However, to achieve the desired style, you must contact a reputable hair salon. As a […]
When it is time to update your look to maintain your favorite hairstyle, how do you select a salon on the Upper West side? Do you…
One of the most significant elements of your look is your hair. To keep it perfect and turn heads, you must have an extraordinary professional hairdresser. However, choosing the perfect stylist to trust with your hair for the first time is no easy task. If you’re in the market for a New York hair stylist, […]
© 2026 Smith and Morgan Salon. All rights reserved.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.