Highlights Hair NYC is an Upper East Side color studio for women who want dimension that looks like it grew in naturally. From balayage to full foil highlights, every appointment starts with a real consultation and ends with hair that feels healthier than when you sat down.
We built Highlights Hair NYC around one idea: highlighting is a craft, not a quick add-on. Every colorist on our team trains specifically in foiling, hand painting and toning, so whether you want subtle sunkissed pieces or a full transformation, the result reads as intentional, dimensional color, not stripes.
Balayage, ombre, foil and partial highlights, mapped to your face shape, base color and how much upkeep you actually want.
Bond building treatments and toners are part of the process, not an upsell, so color stays vibrant and your hair stays strong.
Open Monday through Sunday, 7 AM to 10 PM, so a luxury salon experience fits around your schedule, not the other way around.
A look inside our Upper East Side studio, where sunkissed highlights, balayage and precision haircuts come together.
"I came in wanting sunkissed highlights that still looked like me. My colorist mapped the placement before touching a single foil, and it grew out beautifully, no harsh line."
Manhattan client, Upper East Side"The whole visit felt like a luxury salon experience from the consultation to the gloss finish. My hair has never felt this healthy after a full highlight service."
Manhattan client, Upper East SideBook a consultation with one of our highlight specialists and start planning color that grows with you.
Book AppointmentHighlights Hair NYC sits on E 84th Street in the heart of the Upper East Side, a few blocks from Central Park. We opened with a simple goal: give Manhattan clients a genuine luxury salon experience centered on hair highlights, without the rushed, assembly line feel that so many color appointments turn into. Every chair is booked with enough time for a real consultation, a careful application and a finish that holds up.
Our founder, Sofia Marchetti, trained as a colorist before specializing almost entirely in highlighting techniques, from fine foil work to freehand balayage. She built the team around that same specialty. Every stylist here can cut and style beautifully, but highlights, in every form, ombre, sunkissed, foil, partial and full, are what we do most and what we do best.
We use professional-grade color lines chosen for how they protect hair structure, not just how they perform on day one. Bond building steps, toners and glosses are built into our highlight services as standard, because we care as much about how your hair feels in three months as how it looks when you leave the chair.
The result is a studio that regulars come back to for root touch ups, seasonal color changes and color correction when a previous appointment somewhere else did not go as planned. Whether you are after a subtle refresh or a full transformation, our professional hairstylists will walk you through what is realistic, what it will take to maintain, and how we will get there gently.
Every visit begins with a private color consultation, premium products and a calm, unhurried chair. Our colorists specialize in dimensional highlights and give each guest a plan built around their hair health, lifestyle and the look they want to grow into.
A full set of foil highlights typically takes two to three hours including the toner and gloss finish. Partial highlights and root touch ups are usually faster, and your colorist will confirm timing at your consultation.
Yes. Our color correction specialists assess porosity and prior color history before building a plan, often across more than one visit, to restore healthy, even tone without compromising the integrity of your hair.
Balayage is hand painted for a soft, sunkissed gradient with minimal regrowth line, while foil highlights use precise sectioning for brighter, more uniform dimension. Many guests combine both techniques for a fuller, more natural result.
We recommend booking ahead, especially for full highlight services and weekend appointments, though we will always try to accommodate walk ins when a colorist is available.
We accept cash, check and all major credit cards.
Every service below is available at our Upper East Side studio. If you are not sure which highlights are right for your hair, mention it when you book and your colorist will guide you.
Our balayage and ombre highlights are hand painted freehand, so the color melts from root to end without a hard line. This technique creates soft, sunkissed highlights that look like they happened naturally over a summer, with a gentle graduation that grows out beautifully instead of leaving a stark regrowth stripe. It is the most requested service for clients who want dimension but not much upkeep. Your colorist will map the placement around your part and face shape before any color touches your hair, then finish with a toner chosen to complement your skin tone.
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When clients search for highlights near me, this is usually the service they mean. Foil highlights use precise sectioning to deliver brighter, more uniform hair color highlights than hand painting alone. We offer full highlights for maximum brightness and partial highlights around the face and crown for a lower maintenance option. Whether you want highlights for long hair, highlights for dark hair or highlights for blonde hair, our highlight hair color specialists will build a foil pattern suited to your density, length and the level of contrast you want.
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Keep your color looking fresh between full appointments with a root touch up or single process hair coloring service. We match your formula precisely so new growth blends seamlessly with your existing highlights or base color. This appointment is faster than a full color service and is ideal for maintaining balayage, covering gray, or refreshing an all-over shade without disturbing the highlights you already love. Regular touch ups also protect hair health by limiting how often lightener is reapplied to previously colored lengths.
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Blonde is one of the hardest tones to get right, and our blonde specialists spend years learning to read undertones before they ever pick up a bottle of hair toner. A gloss treatment finishes almost every highlight service in our studio, neutralizing brassiness and adding shine that lasts weeks rather than days. If your last blonde appointment turned brassy or uneven, this is the service to book to correct tone and restore a clean, cool or warm finish depending on what suits you.
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Color correction is a specialty, not a standard color appointment, and we treat it that way. Before any product goes on your hair, we assess previous color history, porosity and current tone to plan a safe path back to a healthy, even result. Corrections are often completed over more than one visit to protect hair strength, especially when lifting through box color or a previous salon's work. If a highlight service somewhere else left you with brassy, patchy or uneven color, this is where we start over correctly.
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Add length, volume or both with hair extensions custom matched to your natural color and highlight pattern. We work with your stylist to blend extensions seamlessly into existing balayage or foil highlights, so the color transition looks continuous rather than layered on top. Extensions are fitted and cut to your face shape, then styled before you leave so you can see exactly how the finished look moves and falls. Maintenance appointments keep the blend looking natural as your own hair grows.
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A precision haircut is often the difference between highlights that look good and highlights that look finished. Our professional hairstylists cut with your natural texture and how you actually wear your hair day to day, then style you out so you leave ready for whatever is next. Whether you want a fresh shape to show off new highlights or just a trim to keep length healthy, this service is available on its own or paired with any color appointment.
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Dimensional color layers multiple complementary shades through your hair to create depth that a single flat color can never achieve. We combine lowlights and highlights, foil and hand painting, to build movement that catches light differently throughout your hair rather than sitting as one uniform tone. This service works beautifully for clients who want richer, more multi-tonal color without going drastically lighter, and it holds its shape well as it grows out between appointments.
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Every appointment at Highlights Hair NYC includes the parts of a luxury salon experience that other studios treat as optional: a real consultation, bond building care during processing, and a finish that prioritizes healthy hair care over speed. This is not a standalone service so much as the standard we hold every highlight, color and style appointment to. If you want a full pampering visit with scalp care, deep conditioning and styling built in, ask your colorist to build it into your booking.
Book This ServiceHighlights Hair NYC is located on the Upper East Side, a short walk from the 4/5/6 train and Central Park. Call, message us on WhatsApp, or send the form below and our team will confirm a time that works. We are open every day of the week from 7 AM to 10 PM, so early mornings and evenings after work are both easy to book. Whether you are planning a first consultation for balayage, a root touch up, or a longer appointment for color correction, let us know what you have in mind and we will recommend the right specialist and the right amount of time.
