I finally learned why you never leave foils in too long during a partial foil highlight

It was a busy Saturday at the salon in Austin, I had a client with thick dark hair wanting caramel highlights. I got distracted by a walk-in asking about a perm and left her foils in for 55 minutes instead of 35. When I rinsed, the sections came out almost white, not caramel. I had to tone them down with a warm brown toner and then add lowlights to fix the contrast. Client was patient but I felt awful, took me an extra 45 minutes to correct. Has anyone else had a timing disaster like this?

2 comments

2 Comments

stella_roberts3d ago

Oh man, I've been there with the exact same thing actually. Did you have to use a bonder or anything to get the white sections to take the toner? I swear sometimes when hair lifts that much it gets so stubborn about grabbing color. That warm brown toner must have been tricky to balance without getting muddy on such a light base. I'm curious how long you let the toner sit before you checked it the first time. Sometimes you gotta babysit those corrections every two minutes or it runs away from you.

brian_kelly913d ago

Lift a torch to my own hair and it'd probably run away from the color too, honestly... I once tried a demi-permanent at home and ended up with orange streaks that looked like a bad Halloween costume. But yeah, the babysitting part is so real - I set a timer for like 8 minutes and checked it, then every 2 minutes after, and it still got a little splotchy in some spots. I think the white sections just needed extra love, like a stubborn toddler who won't eat their veggies...