Hair Highlighting – Chunky vs Ribbons

In the 90’s the phrase chunky highlights meant wide pieces of lighter color in the front hairline and we can thank supermodel Cindy Crawford who was the first to make it popular amongst the fashion world and others like Ginger Spice made it mainstream. Everyone wanted chunky highlights in their hair and whether hair was short or long, brown or blonde I had clients showing me torn out pictures of chunky highlights they wanted, and to be honest after a season I got completely bored of it.


And within the last decade, periodically I have been asked for chunky highlights and I either did a few finer lighter ones in the front or I would steer the client into another direction, most likely something softer then the 90’s chunks. I have always disliked the word chunky and back in the 90’s when I would describe the look I would use ribbons, this way my clients would understand the thickness of the highlight as well it’s a nicer word, I still use the word ribbon.
Like everything in trends the ‘chunky’ highlight is back with a slightly softer version, more and more younger women want the lighter look in the front, the ‘ribbons’, and my personal preference is when the ribbons are a few shades lighter not so in your face as we saw and did in the 90’s. And there is a new generation of celeb’s and fashionistas with beautiful ribbons of lighter shades around their faces which also in almost all cases gives color to the skin, and summer is a great time to try face framing ribbons.