Hair Color
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05.18.2021
3 Ways to Ensure the Best Foils
No matter how hard freehand painting and balayage may try, foils are simply here to stay. As any good colorist knows, there’s nothing that beats the satisfaction of seeing a head full of perfect foils and no better way to add detail and dimension within the hair.
When we sat down and figure out what makes the best foils, we boiled things down to these 3 tips.
1. Have proper foil length. We know, we know, it’s tempting to buy that giant box of foils at Costco and cut them up for your salon. Consider this, though, the end outcome is beautiful hair, and a key piece to that is having enough foil that the hair lays properly. The foil should be cut to about the length of the hair you’ll be using it on, or just a couple inches shorter.
A foil roll and cutter like Wella Professionals Foil Dispenser is a great solution for this issue. Foils can be cut to the exact length you need, and you can cut the exact amount you need.
Amongst all the issues improper foil length can cause, there are a couple to be aware of. Too much product in too small of a space can cause the foil to expand and bleed out of the top. Nothing is worse than removing the beautiful foils you’ve done and realizing your Blondor highlights became some Blondon’ts and you have bleed marks to fix now (oh, and you’re double-booked?!).
2. Ensure proper product saturation. We’ve all been there, we were booked for a partial foil and Rapunzel shows up for a full, really dimension foil. We start speeding through the foils, trying to take as few trips back to the mixing area as possible and we’re scraping that bowl for any remnants of product left. As we’re blow-drying, we see those dreaded dark areas that didn’t quite get enough of the product, and we’re left trying to explain this “new trend” to our client. This is such a simple fix that is often overlooked by many, but proper product saturation, no matter if you’re using Koleston Perfect, Color Touch, or Blondor (all of which are amazing to use in foils, by the way).
We all know to take paper-thin sections of hair, but do you ever swatch a little product onto the foil before laying the hair down? This not only “sticks” the hair to the foil, but it also gives some product in back to help saturate that hair for a nice, even lift.
3. Fold it up, but keep it cute. Our foils are the right length, our hair is saturated, now it’s time to close these perfect little foils up into perfect little takeout swans. We’re totally kidding, we actually want as few folds as possible, we want in the middle, to meet the foil end-to-end, and we want one on each side, to ensure they’re nice and secure. What if the hair is really short, or that one pesky foil is just giving you all the problems? No worries, we can solve for that, too. Simply fold one small triangle in one corner near the scalp, and that foil is more secure than Area 51.
And there you have it. Three simple steps to an easy, beautiful, and stress-free foil service. Remember to keep those foils the right length, keep that hair saturated, and the folds simple. You’ll have a beautiful result and most importantly, a return client for years to come.