Money piece: what it is and how to wear it

Discover the money piece technique and learn how to do money piece highlights to flaunt your hair. Feel inspired by this look for your hair.

What is money piece?

Known as money piece highlights, this look falls somewhere between contouring and balayage highlights.

These highlights are a technique to highlight our hair focusing on drawing attention to a specific part of our face, known as “money piece” or “golden frame”. The aim is to brighten and highlight that part of the hair to confer brightness and create a frame effect around our face.

These highlights usually consist of flecks or lighter parts at the front of our hair, normally around the edge of our face, known as face framing. Those lighter areas contrast with the rest of our hair, creating more shine that frames our face to highlight it and give a new dimension to our hairstyle.

The name comes from the idea of conferring a glamorous, luxurious look to our face, similar to a shiny coin to highlight it. The best thing about it is that it is 100% customisable, which is why it suits everyone.

The truth of the matter is that it is nothing new. It first appeared with the e-girls and 90s-girls fashions, who wore what they referred to as “chunky highlights”. This type of highlights was inspired by the grunge movement and to a certain extent the punk movement, consisting of dying the front part of their hair with thick highlights, using two colours to set off the lighter and darker parts of their hair. It gave more volume and movement to their hair, and also conferred extra brightness. It is a very versatile style and can be adapted to any hair type, regardless of colour, and can then be touched up in any colour.

How to do money piece highlights: step-by-step guide

Check with your stylist. Getting advice from a professional stylist is important to make the most of your money piece highlights. Your stylist will be able to recommend the colours that will work best with your hair colour and type, and the best way to achieve the required contrast.
Decide on the colour and thickness of the highlights. The colour can range from light blonde to golden or copper tones. It is essential to previously decide if you prefer more subtle highlights, or thicker, bolder ones around your face.
Think about your base colour. Money piece highlights must complement the colour of your hair. Your stylist will be able to help you choose the right shade to enhance it and to contrast harmoniously with your base colour.
Dying process. Your stylist will apply the dye or bleaching agent selectively to the front sections of your hair to create the money piece highlights. It is a delicate process that requires a certain degree of skill to obtain the required effect without damaging your hair.
After care. After having your highlights done your hair will require some care to keep it healthy, and also to make sure the colour stays in place and shiny for longer. Use specific products for dyed hair to avoid unwanted yellow and orange colours from appearing. You should also make regular appointments with your hairdresser for touch-ups if necessary.

Money piece technique: what you should know before trying it

Since this is a customised, personal style, you should bear the features of your face closely in mind:

The shade of your skin. Money piece highlights can be adapted to different shades of skin, but it is important to choose the right tone. For example, golden or warmer tones can complement warmer skin colours, whereas colder tones can suit people with fresher skin colours better.
The colour of your hair. Money piece highlights can be applied to a variety of hair colours, whether blonde, brown, black or even deeper coloured hair. The key is to create contrast, to set off the part framing the face.
Your style and preferences. In other words, this technique is versatile and can be adapted to different personal styles, depending on whether you want a more subtle, natural look, or something bolder and more striking.
The texture of your hair, whether straight, wavy or curly. The key is to adapt the technique to bring out the natural beauty of the texture of your hair.
Your willingness to maintain it. Some people prefer dying techniques requiring low maintenance, whereas others are willing to have it touched up more frequently.

Money piece hair: styles and recommended care

Money piece highlights are the perfect choice for people who prefer to have a fringe.

Firstly, you need to decide what sort of fringe you would like to have (straight, tousled, side-parted...). On the other hand, if you already have a fringe, you can keep it and add the highlights around your face to complement your style.

Furthermore, brown hair can also benefit from this type of colouring. Creating money piece highlights in brown hair is a simple matter, providing that the highlights are lighter around your face for contrast.

Although dark hair does require more work to achieve this style, it can still be done. For lighter hair, on the other hand, the technique is the exact opposite. The locks of hair framing the face are dyed darker to achieve the colour contrast.
Haircare tips:

Use shampoo and conditioner that are safe for the colour. Dyed hair requires special care. Use shampoo and conditioner specially designed for highlights and dyed hair.
Get rid of that unwanted metallic effect. Since these highlights entail lightening your hair colour, the metallic effect is likely to happen. Some shampoos are available to help neutralise that effect.
Avoid applying heat to your hair. Heat not only makes your hair more brittle and causes split ends, it can also fade the dye. Whenever possible avoid using hair irons or tongues so as not to damage your hair.