Highlighting Hair

Techniques for Coloring Hair With Foils

This page will detail the technical aspects of highlighting hair using foils (or another material).

Visit this page on foiling hair for information on methods and materials to use for creating foil highlights.

Begin with clean dry hair, parted and styled the way you wear it most often. Make sure you're set-up with everything you'll need beforehand.

Now, observe your hair...how it moves, where it falls, and which areas you'd like to highlight.

Formulate a plan before you start. Once you've decided which methods you'll employ, here are the technical details.

Highlighting Hair with Foils

PREPARE YOUR HAIR
For best results (and to avoid common color mishaps), make sure your hair is ready for the color.

Minerals from water, chlorine from swimming pools, and build-up from styling products can all impede the haircolor formula's ability to do it's thing.

Use Joico K-Pak Chelating Shampoo before coloring to help eliminate these impurities.

Clip away the hair in a way that'll reveal the piece you've chosen to foil. With your tail comb, weave or slice out a section and hold in one hand.
Keep your comb in the other hand and grab a piece of foil. Bring the foil to the other hand and lightly hold it (and your section of hair).
Slide the tail of the comb up under the foil, near the top, and fold about an inch (2.5cm) of it over the tail of the comb.
Now that your foil is secured over the comb, slide the tail of the comb right up under the section of hair. Make sure it's taut, then lay a hand over the whole thing to hold the hair in place while you load up your brush with the other hand.
Keep a good grasp on the section until you've applied the color to either just the re-growth of the entire strand (depending).
If you're coloring the re-growth only... Just dab the color onto the hair you're coloring, then fold the foil up in thirds. If the hair not being foiled is going to be colored, make sure the ends of your highlighted pieces are protected inside the foil. But not touching the color or you'll get a nasty band across the hair.
If you're coloring the entire strand... Be sure to work the color in adequately. I generally flip the hair over a bit on the foil and apply color to the underside as well. Fold up the foil in thirds, but be sure not to make a strong crease, which'll squish the hair inside. That'll create a slight, but still unsightly, banding effect.
In every case... To prevent leakage at the root, flip the foil up and, with the tail of your comb, unfold the one inch flap you created when you started the foil. Press it down to the scalp with the tail of your comb, and call that foil...DONE!

Whew! Okay...20 or 30 more like that. Just kidding...of course, you can do that, highlighting hair can be a very involved process, but it's not necessary. Just a few foils in the top, or underneath can give a nice highlighted effect. In some cases, 1, 2, or 3 panels are all you'll use foil for. I usually stick with about 15-20 on my fine hair, and they go a long way.