In L’s case, there was an additional reason to be speedy: Because she wanted parts of the hair
bleached and other parts colored, we needed to be sure that we finished quickly allowing the bleach to process properly on the last
highlights without having to wait so long that we ran the danger of “over-processing” the first highlights.
Once I was ready to begin, I donned my gloves and mixed the color and bleaching mix in separate
bowls with separate brushes. After taking down the top section of hair and combing the hair to smooth it, I sliced a thin segment for
the first highlight. The foils I used had been pre-cut to be approximately two inches longer than the hair I was working with.
After separating the slice, I held it apart with the last two fingers of one hand and took a foil in
my free hand. I folded the top edge of the foil over the back and tail of a tail comb and placed it flush against the scalp with my
free hand, and laid the segment I’d been holding over the foil. I repositioned my hands to that the hand I had held the hair with was
now pressing the comb and foil to the head using the thumb and forefinger. This allowed me to brush on the bleaching mix without my
holding hand being in the way.
Once the bleach was applied, I placed the brush back in its bowl and folded the foil in half,
bringing the bottom half up to hold the bleaching hair between the folds. The sides were then folded in to enclose the hair segment.
I used small clips to secure the foil and hold it out of the way while I proceeded to the next segment.
The next segment was to be a color segment, and I left an equally sized segment of hair the original
color between each colored or bleached segment. I applied the color using a foil as described above, and continued the process until
the top section of hair was complete.
I continued working, adding bleach and color to foils on one side, then the other, and finally in
the back of the head. Total application time was about 15-20 minutes. I set my timer for 15 minutes and waited for the color and bleach
to process keeping an eye on the bleached segments to be sure they didn’t over-process and burn the hair. {I used my own formula in
mixing the bleach. I combined 2 tablespoons of bleach powder with 1 ounce of 20-volume cream developer and one ounce of deep
conditioning treatment. Because L’s hair had been lightened previously and repeatedly, I wanted to make extra sure to make the
bleach as gentle as possible and still be effective.)
Once the time was up, I removed the foils carefully and rinsed the hair thoroughly with warm water.
I patted the hair to remove the excess moisture and applied an after-color conditioning treatment to the hair and placed a plastic cap
over it. The hair was allowed to sit under the cap for another 20 minutes.
Finally, it was time to rinse the hair of the conditioner. L’s hair had been a bit rough-feeling
when the color/bleach process was done, but was now smooth and silky. I towel-dried the hair once more, removed any tangles using a
wide-tooth comb and finished drying the hair with a blow-dryer, and styled it with a round brush.
As you can see from the photos, L’s hair had started out being somewhat bland and monotone. After
the foil coloring, we see the alternating bands of original color, highlight and spice color. She was very pleased with the result (and
very glad that I had talked her out of going with the darker red color she had initially requested).
Hopefully, this will help you understand the process involved in foil coloring techniques and perhaps
keep you from being afraid of trying them for you own “simple” coloring ideas. I don’t recommend trying to perform this technique on
yourself, but perhaps you and a friend can try it out with one another.
Once again, I also do not recommend this as a “DIY” project except in cases where you are working
with simple highlights using a haircolor formula (not bleach). The risk is great enough that you might damage your hair using the bleach
to do foil highlights because of the time it takes to apply the foils that it is worth the expense to have these processes done by a
professional. And applying multiple colors has the same time issue: You won’t be saving money if the foils take you so long to apply
that your color goes inert.
