My Favorite Foil Placement from June 2013

This post will be most interesting to the hairdressers out there, but I have been playing around on a simplified variation on one of the block color techniques from the Doves, who were using a lot of triangles when I visited them in Santa Monica last summer.

This technique is great for clients that have a consistent part. I take that part and create a triangular section right over the part that is foil width at the front hairline and then comes to a point on the crown just beyond the part. From there, I take a section at the hairline and then follow them back to the point. Sometimes I keep the foils perpendicular to the part, other times I put them in diagonally for softness. What I love about this technique is that there is a subtle emphasis around the face. The hair is slightly lighter in the front and contains more of the natural or base color in the back. I also throw a few foils around the hairline on both sides just to further add emphasis to the front and also to give a soft natural look. To me, it mimics how hair would naturally lighten if you had it pull back in a low to mid pony tail.

I have been using this on just about everyone with longer layers or one length cuts. On shorter layers I would either take the triangle in more and mainly just focus around the face or go through the whole head with a baliage technique. Any foil techniques on shorter layers that focus on the top of the head will make the underneath area look too dark.

I made a crude headsheet to show the placement of the foils on top of the head.

Another variation on horizontal partings or diagonal partings is to go diagonal in one direction with a lighter color and have every third or fourth foil be a lowlight crossing back in the other direction. I did this a few days ago on a client. I would do three thin slices going diagonal back according to the heavy side of her hair and then throw in a lowlight on the opposite diagonal on the smaller side, so the low light would still cross the part but there wouldn’t be as much of it.

Beautiful and natural with soft emphasis at the face and less work. Perfection.

Balayage Highlights with Illumina, Plus a Beautiful Textured Cut

Earlier this week I was honored to be the first professional to color Nichole’s hair. I wanted to start her off with something that required minimal commitment and a definite, yet natural, change. I chose to go with balayage highlights using our Illumina color line.

Illumina is Wella’s new color line and it works beautifully on blondes. It has a violet base, giving a cool and unique tonality that also cuts some of the warmth. Even the warm tones have bite of cool, giving a complex tonality. Illumina imparts incredible shine and keeps hair as close as possible to its virgin state. It does not lift or cover grey as much as Koleston Perfect, Wella’s other permanent color line, but neither of those issues were relevant to Nichole. With her hair texture it would not be difficult for her hair to lift.

Her formula is: Illumina .2 8/81, .2 9/60, .4 10/36 = 40 vol

I painted on Nichole’s color with a medium small brush and did a balayage technique using Saran Wrap, based on the method from our class last month with The Doves,

Next we cut! She lost about five inches of length for a summery new look with lots of interior and exterior layering. Nichole has a great texture and density; even though she has fine hair she can handle a lot of layering without looking sparse. I did a variation of Sebastian’s Jagged Edge cut, throwing in more layering with a back cutting technique.

Styled with Volupt Soray, Trilliance and a little bit of Matte Putty.