Money Piece Hair: The Face-Framing Highlight to Try This Summer

Who wouldn’t love to give their hair a luxurious, dimensional, and “expensive looking” finish this summer? Adding lighter pieces at the front of the hair is known as the money piece hair technique, and it’s a low-maintenance way of refreshing your hair. It’s no wonder, then, that the money piece has been trending this season.

This face-framing colouring technique brightens your overall look, without the need for you to commit to a full head of highlights. Relative to the low effort required, money piece hair is a high-impact option.

You might, though, have some questions about what a money piece is, who this face-framing style suits, how to pull off the look (whether you have bleach to hand or not), and even the best styling and upkeep tips.

This article addresses all these common queries about this latest must-have look.

What Is a Money Piece

The creation of money piece highlights involves highlighting or lightening the front sections of your hair that frame your face. These brighter strands sit at the hairline and bring a framing effect that draws attention to the facial features.

A money piece shouldn’t be confused with a full head of highlights or balayage, which entail the more even distribution of lightness throughout the hair.

Instead, the money piece focuses purely on the front sections. This helps create maximum visual impact with minimal maintenance.

The money piece technique helps give the face a fresher and brighter complexion because of how lighter shades reflect more light around the face. Lightening the pieces surrounding the hairline and temples adds dimension and a sun-kissed glow.

The name “money piece” comes from the idea that these flattering pieces “make you money”, due to how they elevate your whole look. It can be an especially radiant look under the summer light.

Who Money Piece Hair Suits

The sheer versatility of money piece hair goes a long way to explaining its popularity. Almost any hair colour, length, or face shape can potentially suit a money piece.

A particularly sought-after version of the trend is a money piece in blonde on brown or dark hair. The contrast between the lighter front pieces and darker base colour creates a striking yet flattering and natural-looking frame.

Brunettes interested in the money piece look often go for warm honey, caramel, or golden tones. Meanwhile, women with lighter bases might opt for cooler pearl or ash hues.

If you embrace this style, one of your key decisions will be whether to choose:

• A subtle money piece that is only a shade or two lighter than your base colour. This version of the money piece blends softly into the surrounding hair to produce a natural, “grown-out” look.
• A bolder money piece that creates stronger contrast. It can be an excellent way to deliver chunky visual drama reminiscent of early 2000s trends, but with modern refinement.

How to Get the Look

There are several ways to achieve money piece hair. The route that you take will depend largely on your level of commitment:

• Getting a salon colourist to work their magic

This is the traditional approach to having a money piece created. It involves visiting a salon where a professional and skilled colourist can lighten the front sections and blend them seamlessly with the rest of your hair.

Choosing this option offers the greatest scope for customisation, as a proficient colourist will be able to tailor the placement, tone, and brightness in line with your skin tone and base colour.

Be sure to ask for face-framing highlights that start near the roots but blend naturally backwards.

• Investing in a no-commitment clip-in

Yes, if you aren’t ready for permanent colour and fancy experimenting first, it really is possible to “clip in” a money piece.

This is the “DIY”, unfussy answer to how to get the money piece look. You just clip extensions easily into your front sections and remove them whenever you want.

Clip-in face-framing pieces can create the brightening effect of a money piece instantly, without the need for bleach, permanent colour, or ongoing maintenance.

Here are a few placement and blending tips: focus on the front two to four sections around your temples and hairline. The lightened sections should sit naturally around the face and blend smoothly into the surrounding hair. Make sure the sections aren’t too far back, so that they catch the light when you move.

Styling and Upkeep

Money piece hair is already designed to stand out. However, your own styling touches can further help showcase the lighter front sections:

• Loose waves, soft curls, and face-framing layers can all help emphasise the contrast and dimension that the money piece creates.
• You might also draw attention to the lighter strands around your face by wearing your hair in a ponytail, bun, or half-up style.
• Applying a bit of texturizing spray or sea salt spray can help enhance movement and bring even greater pop to your highlights.

As for the day-to-day upkeep of your money piece:

• Use a purple or silver toning shampoo once a week to help preserve the brightness of blonde pieces and prevent brassiness.
• Put on heat protectant and ultraviolet (UV) hair mist during sunny days to protect your money piece from UV damage.

Remember: much of the whole attraction of a money piece is that it involves only a small section of hair being lightened.

So, compared to going with full highlights, money piece hair will be generally low maintenance, with touch-ups only typically needed about every eight to 12 weeks.

Conclusion

Of all the easy and effective updates that you could make to your summer look, it surely barely gets easier or more effective than adding a money piece.

The face-framing highlights brighten your face, introduce greater dimension, and require hardly any effort to maintain. You’ll get a flattering glow out of this look, without having to dedicate yourself to a full colour transformation.

Are you curious about trying out money piece hair? In that case, giving the clip-in route a go first is likely a wise course of action. This will be a simple and low-risk way to determine whether the look works for you, before you go ahead with any permanent changes.