Every hairdresser has witnessed a customer's hair after a bad highlighting service. Their hair is full of streaks and marks of a messy highlighting service gone wrong!

The main reasons for a bad highlighting service usually are fast & sloppy applications when the colorist is running late for their next appointment, heavily packed foils resulting in inadequate space for the hair to breathe while being soaked in color, uneven partings which causes the foils to move around while the customer moves their head while processing and in some cases it could be that the colorist is just plain clueless.

After trying many different ways myself I have resulted in the best solution on how to make the perfect , natural looking highlights and funnily enough, it works every time regardless whether the customer has long thick, curly hair or fine hair.

First thing you have to do is check the client's hair density. Is it thick or fine? Is their hair straight or curly? Fine hair means you have to take bigger sections with your comb and much less hair than you would with thick curly hair. Thick curly hair requires more hair in your foils and smaller sections. If you don't take enough hair in your foils when the hair is rinsed out and dried, you will hardly notice those highlights and then they really would look natural, non-existent! Also, curly hair requires bigger weaves so they can flow into the curls creating a mirage of beautiful bouncy curls, even though they might not be. It's just like being a magician!

PROCEDURE:

Start by parting the hair evenly. Take clean sections with your tail comb and separate hair with flat clips. Personally I prefer flat clips because they separate the hair more evenly without leaving flyaway hairs all over the place, unlike butterfly clips and they are easier to work with. Part hair into five sections (sections 1-2: crown to nape split in the middle, sections 3-4: mid eyebrow to ear, section 5: mid eyebrow to mid eyebrow). Remember to take time on your partings as they are very important to producing precise highlights.

When mixing your desired shade always remember to mix very little product as it will get weaker as you go along and produce uneven results. You can always mix more for each parting plus its less wasted product as we tent to mix too much for the whole head and then discard the rest.

Start at the nape, taking slices approximately 1 ½ cm horizontally. Go all the way to the top of section 1, weaving very few strands of hair into each weave. Continue the same way on section 2 (nape to crown). When finished, start on sections 3 and 4. While doing your weaves on the sides make sure you take the first strand from the face backwards while leaving some space as you get closer to the other sections in the back. Now start on the top section (section 5). On that section make sure you leave some space between your side sections (section 3-4) for even distribution.

Application hints:

Once you weave the hair, place your tail comb underneath the foil, wrap the foil over the metal part of your comb (always use a metal tail comb as it gets really close to the roots as opposed to the plastic ones) while holding firmly on the weaved part with your other hand. You place the foil underneath the weave while holding the hair tight and you press down on the foil while with the other hand you hold the color brush with your desired color. Start placing the product 1cm away from the root and cover the hair shaft with a generous amount of product. Once the hair shaft is thoroughly applied you can go over the 1cm root with the remaining product on your color brush. Don't get too close to the scalp as the natural heat coming from the scalp will cause the product to swell slightly. By going too close, it may overlap. Close the foil by bringing the edge up to the root, once the foil is closed you take your comb and sly it underneath the overlapped part of your foil (the one you folded over your tail comb in the beginning) and push that back into the scalp while holding it firmly. It will help the foil to go back into place and secure it. You can fold the foil one more time if necessary or fold the sides inwards but I would recommend to leave the foil as is, so the color can develop evenly inside the foil without causing too much pressure when the product swells up while processing.

Also, use plenty of foil. Take extra partings if necessary and keep your foils light. It might save time to try and squeeze all hair into one foil but trust me it's not worth it as the results will not be the same. You will probably end up with 'zebra' streaks all over the scalp and hair when the product swells and leaks out of the foils.

Remember practice make perfect so keep practicing on that poor sister of yours until you get it perfect. I hope this has been some help... good luck and if it doesn't go well, you did not hear this from me!