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Highlighting Process
Products Used In Highlighting:
.Color
.Bleach/lighteners
.New technology products designed for specific highlighting needs
.Demi permanent colors for toners and overlays
Tools Used In Highlighting:
.Color bowls
.Tint brushes
.Metal tip tail combs
.Long sectioning clips
.Professional foil-not supermarket food wrap
.Meche paper-in place of foil
The Cap: this unfortunately requires no skill and cannot produce strategically placed effects of color. This type of highlighting is limited in what it produces and can be done by your clients at home by a neighbor or friend. Although still used, the cap; is slowly finding its way out of many salons as the client demand for foil highlights increases. The skill and beauty of the limitless highlighting techniques commands top dollar in all salons that employ these techniques.
Highlighting is no more than the perfection of the single process hair-color. The same understanding of color is required with the addition of the needed skill to place the physical highlight in the hair.
Contrast Zone:
This is the most important part of the highlight. The Contrast Zone is the amount of light to dark you produce in the highlight.
It is wrong, and a misconception that all highlights are done with bleach and lifted to the lightest level.
The Contrast Zone is what you decide the level of the highlight to be. How much lift do you want?
The Contrast Zone is the contrast of color and dimension in your highlight.
The technique or placement of the foil is the architecture of the highlight. This gives you the contrast and dimension of shape.
Your highlight is based on contrast of color and shape.
Your choice of the Contrast Zone is based on the underlying pigment. Since most of your highlighting clients have color in their hair you will need to use a lightener/bleach of some type to lift the hair to your desired Contrast Zone.
Pigment: each natural level has an underlying pigment and each color treated level needs to fulfill these pigment requirements in order for color to properly hold.
This underlying pigment goes from deep red to pale yellow.
10 VERY LIGHT/LIGHTEST BLONDE PALE YELLOW
9 LIGHT BLONDE YELLOW
8 MEDIUM BLONDE YELLOW/ORANGE
7 DARK BLONDE ORANGE
6 LIGHT BROWN RED ORANGE
5 MEDIUM BROWN BRIGHT RED
4 DARK BROWN RED
3 VERY DARK BROWN/DARKEST BROWN DARK RED
2 BROWN/BLACK DEEP DARK RED
1 BLACK DEEP DARK RED
A good general rule of thumb based on fashion aesthetics is to have your Contrast Zone 1-3 levels lighter than the base color whether the base is natural or color treated.
Suggested Contrast Zones
BASE LEVEL HIGHLIGHT LEVEL
1 BLACK LEVEL 2-4
2 BROWN/BLACK LEVEL 3-5
3 DARKEST BROWN LEVEL 4-5
4 DARK BROWN LEVEL 5-6
5 MEDIUM BROWN LEVEL 6
6 LIGHT BROWN LEVEL 7-9
7 DARK BLONDE LEVEL 8-9 OR HIGHER
8 MEDIUM BLONDE LEVEL 9-10 OR LOWLIGHTS
9 LIGHT BLONDE LOWLIGHTS
10 VL BLONDE LOWLIGHTS
Once you achieve your desired Contrast Zone it is important to finish your work by customizing the highlight with some sort of toner or overlay.
The creation of a Contrast Zone when using lighteners/bleach leaves a raw unfinished look. The underlying pigment is not a finished result but merely the inner workings of the hair. Use your demi permanent color to add a tonal quality to the hair
Now that we are familiar with highlighting theory we will begin to explore the physical skills required.
Once you decide on the amount of sections you take, you must decide how heavy/how many highlights you want to produce.
Rules:
1. The more foil, the more highlights
2. The larger the space between foils the more pieced the look.
3. The more hair in each foil the heavier the contrast.
4. The less hair in each foil the more natural/subtler the look.
The amount of foil used, amount of hair in each foil and the space between them determines the look.
Bleeding:
Bleeding is when the foil or meche slips or product is applied higher than the foil or meche, causing product stains on areas not intended for highlights. It is not a very becoming thing and is a sign of an unsuccessful highlight.
Causes of bleeding:
Foil slippage
Product overlap
Improper foil placement
Product oozing out of top or sides of foil
To prevent bleeding:
Neat clean sections and subsections
Make sure foil or meche is secured using proper folding
Make sure your slice or weave is not too far from the scalp
Do not apply product at very top of foil or meche, leave a minimal space
Fold your foil or meche slightly higher than your placement point
The Need for Toners, Glazes and Overlays:
Once you have created your highlight and reached the desired Contrast Zone. It is important to realize that what is produced is nothing more than raw underlying pigment.
These toners are also a great way to eliminate any bleeding that may occur. Check through the sections of the client's head and apply toner where a bleeding mark is present.
This is not a finished or flattering look. What has been achieved is the pre-lightening stage of the look. You merely created the desired level of the highlight. It now requires tone!
Using a semi or demi permanent color you can produce any type of tone you and your client wish. I like to use dessert names to express the finished ideas.
Pay attention to your skin tone, eye tone, base color and life style to determine the best tonal finish.
Cool tones on warm bases are in style on lighter hair. But warm tones are always in style. Use colors that resemble cherry, chocolate, walnut, champagne, caramel etc.
Final Thoughts:
Highlighting is more than just stacking foils for the sake of putting in as many highlights as possible.
It involves the creative process as well as the practical moves in order to create a look.
Unfortunately, the most common highlighting practices involve too many foils and very over processed hair that loses all integrity.
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