How Long to Wait between Dying and Highlighting Hair

I have about 20% gray hair. Instead of doing a root touch up, I apply the hair dye all over my head every 8-9 weeks. Is this damaging/drying to my hair? Should I be doing only root touch ups?
Also,I would like to highlight my hair. How long should I wait after dying my hair before applying the highlights? And how would I touch up the highlights?

It would seem to me that I would need to dye my whole head, then apply the highlights every time, as done in the first process. Otherwise, I may be pulling different hairs out of the highlighting cap, not getting the exact ones to touch up. So how should I do all this? Thank you for any info you have for me.

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Great questions! Coloring your hair from root to tip every time you color is a big hair color no no. Yes, you are likely to damage your hair and the color changes over time if you keep reapplying it to your hair. You should soap cap any leftover color you have to refresh your color, once every few months. This method won't damage your hair at all. You can get more information by purchasing my hair color ebook. Its very inexpensive and packed with information every woman should know that colors her hair.

Hair Color Guide

So yes, you should only be doing a root color. Color your roots once every 4 to 5 weeks for best results.


Root Hair Color - How to Do a Root Touch Up

Root Hair Tips – For Better Color Coverage

After you do highlights once, there is no way to exactly touch up the ones you've already done. You would simply just have to add more. Sometimes you will luck out though and grab hair (from pulling through a cap) that has already been highlighted. In this instance, only apply color/bleach to the hair that wasn't previously lightened. (root growth)

That's why it's a good idea to only do a few highlights at a time. If you plan to do them again, you would simply have to add a few more. Applying highlights strategically around your face helps to brighten your eyes and make your hair shine more.

Apply your regular hair color to your root growth as your hair grows out. Your highlights will still blend in with your hair just fine!

If you aren't using really dark hair colors, then you can apply highlights very soon after coloring your hair. If you have used a dark brown hair color, you'll need to wait until the color isn't still coming out of your hair. Dark hair colors have very dense color molecules. You must wait until you shampoo a few times before all of them have been removed, that could not get absorbed into your hair's cuticle.