How to foil your best friend’s hair

Posted on November 8, 2012

Sunday was a fun work day for me. Mostly because I got to drink wine and watch 2 of my dear girlfriends foil each others hair for the first time. Here is what happened. I told them that I’m going to be moving back to Seattle, and they were both sad because we are a part of a small and tight knit community together and we love each other and our children are friends. But also because they would be losing their hairstylist.

We decided that maybe it would be fun for me to teach them to do each others hair. They are both bold and brave ladies and Brookie has been foiling her own hair at home anyway. Iris is the kind of girl that can learn to do anything by watching.

I gave them a quick rundown of my favorite foil pattern ever. They were pleased to learn that the key to a DIY foil, and hair in general, is sectioning. If you get your sections right, you can’t go wrong. The foil technique that we used is simple geometrics. A rectangle inside a diamond inside a rectangle. 12 foils in the whole pattern, for perfect, blended, even color distribution. BAM!

They mixed up bleach and 20v, and dove in. They used slices, no weaving (but I did have them weave out pieces that were already very bleached from previous foils so as not to over process.) I have to say that they both totally nailed it. And they even used teamwork to help each other out along the way.

And wouldn’t you know it, they were both so surprised and pleased by how easy it was, that they decided to add a little dip-dye to each others ends, just for fun. When they finished putting in their foils, they gathered each others hair into a loose ponytail in the back, and applied color to each others ends. Brookie got a deep dusty pink, Iris a hint of violet.

They blew me away. They both left with beautiful hair color, and an empowered sense of DIY hair passion. I Loved it. Let them be an inspiration to ladies out their with good girlfriends that they can trust. That is what friends are for. Let your best friend foil your hair.
Are you ready to DIY your color? make sure to have the proper coloring tools like the DIY Beauty Salon Tool hair coloring Kit
which has everything you need to get started!

A new category for DIY foilers!

Posted on October 13, 2012

Are you thinking about foiling your own hair? HTHG just added a category just for foiling, so that you have a place to go when you need assistance with your DIY foil. XO!

A perfect foil

Posted on October 12, 2012

Here is a video that breaks down how to do a nice, even, straight, perfect foil that will process your color evenly without bleeding out. Check it out if you plan on foiling your own hair.
Practice up a bit on your technique.

Are you ready to DIY your color? make sure to have the proper coloring tools like the DIY Beauty Salon Tool hair coloring Kit
which has everything you need to get started!

My favorite foil trick ever

Posted on September 13, 2012

Here is another lesson in how to foil your own hair. I will thank the friendly and fashion forward crew at the Redken Exchange Manhattan for passing me this gem of knowledge that I use constantly. I foil 90% of my clients hair using this same pattern. Is all about sectioning. That is the key to good hair if you ask me. Reagan of Hdofblog says “teasing is practically the high heels of hair” and I say “Then sectioning has got to be the arch support”

This foil sectioning pattern is fool proof. It is maximum effect, minimum effort, and it looks perfect every time.You can DIY it. It would be perfect to try on a friend or yourself however keep in mind that the back is a bit hard to do on yourself, so ask for help if you need it. Maybe you and your sister or friend should try it on each other.I also do have a video of a DIY face framing foil which is an easier and quicker version of this technique.

I tried to make this one as simple as possible to understand but do email me if you have any questions.

You can use any combinations of color, however I generally use 2.

Here is a breakdown. Start by watching with this video to practice your technique.

Then, grab a friend and your DIY hair color tools and pick out your color or colors of choice. On Iris, I used bleach with 10v, and a 11a with 40v (light ash blonde).

Section off a rectangle on the top of the head, across the front hairline, down both sides, and across just below the crown.

Slice a thin section down the side, from the right front corner of the rectangle, to the top corner of the ear. This foil is bleach. Make a subsection, then a small sliced foil just behind it, of the other color. Repeat on the other side. Then do another thin sliced foil of bleach across the front hairline.

Now, you are going to outline your rectangle in 4 sliced foils of your 2nd color.

When you are done, section off a diamond in the middle of your rectangle, from the center of each side. This is your second section.

You will use chunky woven foils to outline this section.

Section 3 goes from the center of each side of section 2, to create a small square. Outline section 3 with finely woven foils.

That’s it. !5 foils total, for maximum range and coverage. The section pattern and the range of sliced-fine woven foils makes for a gorgeous ribbon-y color effect and beautifully blended color distribution, which is just shop-talk for “super hot color job that grows out very gracefully”. Enjoy!
Are you ready to DIY your color? make sure to have the proper coloring tools like the DIY Beauty Salon Tool hair coloring Kit
which has everything you need to get started!

Bold chunky colorblock highlights

Posted on August 8, 2012

This bold chunky colorblock highlight technique is for people looking for a bang of color to compliment their cut. I love to use this DIY color technique to enhance a specific element of a haircut, like the heavy choppy fringe of this cut.

It involves choosing 3 colors….A light one, a dark one, and a bright one. These colors are applied in back to back sliced foils, or ‘panels’. The bottom foils are the lightest, then the dark fall over the light, and the bright falls over both. This creates maximum ‘pop’ and contrast within the triangle block. You can use more natural colors as I did in this photo, or you can use very bright vivid colors to create the look of tropical bird feathers!

This technique is easy and quick to apply, as it is just 5-6 back to back foils within a shape. For a more in depth look, read this post.

Do you want to try it? You can now purchase a more in depth how-to video of this look in the HTHG video store right now!. Try it on yourself or a lucky someone else. Don’t forget to send HTHG a before and after picture!

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