HAIR HELP FOR TODAY 11/05/08

NO MORE TIGER STRIPES

Today’s HH is from a client who asked a great question I see is a daily challenge for so many women I see as I walk around NY. Her hair was a bout 4 inches long and medium brown with mousy brown tone to it. Her previous stylist would generally use only foil to color her hair. As she started becoming grey she really enjoyed the lightness because it helped blend in her grey hairs. When she started becoming too blond they started doing low lights which was the perfect answer. The only problem was at times she would look like she had stripes of color or her color would look a little planned. Don't get me wrong she did not hate her hair but wanted to know if there was a way to get her hair to look a little more natural without the stripes.

I decide to baliage her hair and the first words that came out of her mouth were, “WHY BALIAGE INSTEAD OF FOILS?”

I choose baliage because, when the hair is short and you use foils, you are limited with the different colors that can be used in the single foil (like in this client's case) but with baliage you can takes pieces of hair as you go around the head and place color where you need it. This creates a blending of color in the same row instead on a row of dark and a row of light which after a while looks a little like it was done with one of those old time frosting caps. Using the baliage technique I can also take small and big pieces of hair to color and I can get very close to the hair line to get flawless color.

DOES IT TAKE LONGER?

The answer to that depends on how short the hair is. If your hair is super short instead of painting with a brush I sometimes use a mascara wand. The idea is to have the hair look soft, natural and more sophisticated rather than too spotty like a leopard’s coat (and I am not talking about no real leopard either!)

IS BALIAGE BAD FOR YOUR HAIR?

Not at all but the process does depend on who is behind the chair. The number one mistake made with baliage is not using enough product so the color does not lift enough and ends up being brassy which is generally not the desired color. The number two mistake is using too much heat. I feel that heat plus bleach can equal breakage. There are clients whose hair I cut but they have their color done some where else. I sometimes suggest they ask their colorist to not use heat. Bleach, if applied well, will do the job so be patient.


I am a definite foil man. I am a firm believer that there is a foil woman and a baliage woman and believe me when I say that these are two very different people. There are times when one can be converted to the other like with this client and it can be life changing. And there are times when I leave things as they are. If it’s not broken why fix it, right?
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