Essential Tips for a Successful Balayage/Highlighting Session.

Whether you are at the beginning of your hairdressing career or a seasoned pro, here are some fundamental tips for a successful blonding session. Behind every creative process, there is structure and preparation. Let's have a look.

Consultation and Time.

If you want to be 100% sure that your colour session goes smoothly, then you need to consult your client and assess the hair you are going to work with. It sounds obvious, but one of the most common reasons for running behind schedule is that not enough time was booked for a colour application.

Add to that patches of old colour that you didn't notice or dreaded henna the client didn't mention because you didn't ask, hair being thicker than expected because of straightening, and your positive colour session can turn into a foiling marathon or unplanned colour correction in the middle of a busy day.

So, talk it through and through.

Sectioning.

This has been repeated by every educator: work on your sectioning. Planning is good for speed.

You always end up with some favourite sectioning patterns, so we will leave it for another post.

But there is one thing that is most important for all sectioning patterns.

Watch That Hairline!

Make sure that you cover the receding area and connect sides and front. There are some awkward hairlines out there, so give it most of your focus. You can cover up some mistakes at the back and sides. The front is not forgiving.

Tools.

It is a good idea to build up a personal toolkit or make sure your salon invests in a variety of tools.

Yes, you can do everything with a couple of brushes, but it's faster, neater, and more pleasant to work with specialized tools.

In short: root tint brushes are not so good for blending that seamless balayage, and clips for blow-drying sections are too big for fighting the fluff when highlighting a hairline.

If you are a fan of balayage boards, it is good to have shorter and longer ones for convenience.

Product and Application.

With so many bleaches out there, it can be tricky to get it right sometimes, especially when using a new product. So it is important to know your bleach!

Mix it a bit too loose and a bleed is almost guaranteed. Mix it too thick and you will waste your time working that product into the hair.

Find your perfect mix ratio. There might be a few for different purposes.

For balayage and foilayage blending, a smooth medium thickness of the bleach is the best. When doing super close scalp foils or tight air-touch, mix it just a touch thicker for good hold and to avoid foil bleeding. And if you want to cleanse some old toner from the length, then a looser mix will be just right.

Of course, there is so much more to it, but sometimes we can forget about the most important basic things. Remember them, and you are halfway to success.

Have a creative day.

Team Hairplank.