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  • - Welcome to The Life of Hair, my name's James Atkinson

  • and in this week's episode, I've got

  • an absolutely cracking balayage technique.

  • Now I know a lot of you out there are afraid

  • of freehand painting without back combing,

  • without putting things into place,

  • to reassure yourself that you're going

  • to get that perfect blend.

  • I can absolutely guarantee

  • this technique is virtually foolproof,

  • providing you follow the tips and tricks in this video.

  • And it is an excellent technique

  • to have up your sleeve for when you wanna get things done

  • in a hurry, because it is a super quick technique.

  • And I charge usually half head highlight prices,

  • including toner, and I can get this technique out

  • in 30 minutes.

  • Now, if you're not sure about this technique

  • in the beginning, then I recommend that you use

  • a freehand lightener

  • or a clay lightener that is specific designed

  • for balayaging and that way that you will get

  • the ultimate blend from that product as well

  • that will help you along the way.

  • However, once you get this technique down

  • and you get the pressure right from your brush strokes,

  • you can just go back to using normal bleach

  • and you will experience a lot more lift from it.

  • I can guarantee almost six levels

  • of lift out of these techniques these days.

  • And it is so useful to have that in the bag

  • when you just wanna pull it out really, really quickly.

  • This technique got me outta trouble twice last week

  • when I needed to do some balayages pretty quickly.

  • It's Christmas guys, you know what happens.

  • You know, clients get squeezed into your columns

  • and you've gotta get things done really, really fast,

  • and this technique saved the day.

  • So I hope it does the same for you

  • and if you enjoy it, you know what to do.

  • Hit the subscribe button,

  • give it a thumbs up and I'll see you again next week

  • for another episode of The Life of Hair.

  • (upbeat music)

  • With this particular technique,

  • we're going to take a diagonal forward section

  • that is approximately three inches from the hairline,

  • traveling down to the corner of the back hairline.

  • We start approximately one third of the way down the hair

  • and we build up our saturation.

  • Once we've started to build up our saturation,

  • then we can put in our highlights.

  • In this instance, I'm gonna call them points of light.

  • Once our points of light are in,

  • we then work our way down, saturating the ends,

  • but we are not going through and fully saturating the ends.

  • I shall show you in just a moment what I mean by that.

  • Using your finger to smooth out your saturation

  • is such a good tip.

  • It means that you can get that perfect end result.

  • Again, on the opposite side,

  • we're going to do exactly the same thing.

  • We're going to just start one third of the way away

  • from the root area.

  • And we will apply an even layer of product before going in

  • and painting in our points of light.

  • Note when we are doing the point of light

  • that is in the center back of this section,

  • we do not want to take it all the way back up

  • towards the root area,

  • as it will create one giant point of light

  • in the center back.

  • Something that I personally don't like.

  • So as you'll note, I have just created

  • a shorter point of light

  • and that will meet my point of light

  • in the center back and create a much finer, dainty piece.

  • As you can see underneath,

  • I have not gone through the section

  • and saturated the hair underneath.

  • That is particularly important, guys,

  • in this technique, when you are wanting

  • to blend a balayage without using back combing.

  • Full saturation techniques

  • or techniques that want a lot more saturation

  • through the ends will generally need a lot more blending.

  • This takes time, and this costs money

  • or makes the service more expensive.

  • Whichever one comes first.

  • For our next section,

  • we are working two and a half inches up the head.

  • You can take a three section

  • if the client's hear or head shape determines you can.

  • E.g., they've got a larger head than my mannequin has

  • 'cause mannequin heads are quite small

  • and it is a diagonal forward section again.

  • Working first of all on our saturation

  • of the ends is very, very important.

  • Once we've worked on our saturation,

  • we can then put in our lines or our points of light

  • as I described earlier.

  • These points of light wants to be the same thickness,

  • in terms of saturation, as our ends.

  • This will mean that we will get even and consistent lift

  • from root to tip.

  • This is one of the best pieces

  • of advice I can possibly give you in terms

  • of creating a beautiful, even balayage result.

  • Try not to have less lightener

  • in certain places on the areas that you have painted,

  • because if you do,

  • you will inevitably lift those areas differently.

  • And I've noted that when I'm teaching my classes

  • and teaching these balayage techniques,

  • that one of the things

  • that I see a lot is people putting less product

  • further up the hair

  • because they're worried about blending.

  • This is a mistake,

  • especially when you're using a freehand lightener,

  • as I am here.

  • You definitely want to ensure

  • that your saturation is a bit like icing a cake,

  • the pieces of hair where you have put lightener,

  • you do not want to be able to see any hair

  • through that lightener.

  • This will ensure maximum lifting

  • and get the result that you were genuinely after.

  • If you can see the hair through the section,

  • then you need to go back, reload your brush,

  • and apply more lightener to the hair.

  • The section that I've taken here,

  • as you can see, is running from a point

  • between the crown and the occipital bone

  • and down towards the top of the ear.

  • Once I've completed my sections,

  • I then cover with a perspex sheet.

  • This is similar to cling film.

  • I'm now going to take a section

  • from between the highest point of the head

  • and the crown down to the front recession.

  • These diagonal sections are super important

  • for added softness in this technique.

  • So be assured that you are very diligent

  • about the shape and the size of the section that you take.

  • And you will also note,

  • I'm not particularly elevating my section in this instance,

  • but I'm holding it in natural fall.

  • This will help immensely when it comes to blending the hair

  • and deciding where you want your color to live.

  • I'll note, in this particular instance,

  • I have not showed you me painting the right side

  • of this technique

  • because I am simply just mirroring exactly

  • what I am doing here on the left side.

  • I am working up the head in even sections though.

  • I started on the left.

  • Then I did the right, the left,

  • the right, the left, the right.

  • This is very important for even lift.

  • The section that you about to see me paint

  • is a big triangular section, and it is the final section.

  • But what you are watching me do is a superb trick

  • for a freehand money piece.

  • One of my absolute favorite money piece techniques

  • is this particular technique

  • and I have showcased it in a previous video

  • where I showed a freehand balayage painting technique.

  • Now, I have elevated that section straight up into the air,

  • and now I'm combing my section

  • so that I can lower my section.

  • This is not always necessary,

  • but I wanted to show you that it is sometimes necessary

  • so that you can get your section down

  • so that you've got no elevation

  • to paint in your points of light

  • that will sit in the natural parting

  • or wherever the client wears their hair.

  • On the opposite side,

  • I won't do this just to prove

  • that it's not always necessary,

  • but if you do need to comb your section,

  • then make sure that when you have combed your section,

  • you will remove product and you reapply

  • so that you have got even an thick saturation.

  • On this opposite side,

  • I will simply just work my section straight up to the sky,

  • making sure my saturation is thick and even,

  • and I cannot see any of the hair that I want to be blonde,

  • but you will note, as I work towards the top,

  • I will simply just drop my section slightly.

  • And this will allow me to paint it

  • without having to comb it through

  • and disturb my even saturation that I just created.

  • That is a little tip that I learned along the way

  • and one that I really wanted to share with you guys,

  • but equally I wanted you to see

  • that sometimes you will need to comb your section

  • to be able to lay it down horizontally

  • so that you can put your points of light in.

  • People ask me all the time,

  • where should I put my points of light

  • when I'm working in the parting?

  • And my response to that is wherever you see fit.

  • I know that that's not the best answer

  • that anyone could want,

  • but balayage is a freehand painting technique

  • and it's to the discretion of you and your client

  • how much color you leave in that parting area.

  • Here's the finished painting phase of this technique.

  • You will note that I have just left it to process

  • with the cling film on and removed it

  • for the virtue of showing you this picture.

  • Now, once I have removed my color

  • after 45 or 50 minutes of processing,

  • I will then apply a toner evenly throughout

  • with no root stretches or anything like that

  • to disguise my blending.

  • And you will see that you will have a really nice,

  • beautiful blend at the end here.

  • And I hope you'll agree that

  • that money piece around the face looks absolutely stellar.

  • A technique that I love to do.

  • So easy, so high impact and a great commercial technique.

  • One that you can do in a absolute pinch

  • in around 30 minutes, it is all done.

  • I hope you've enjoyed this episode and if you have,

  • then please hit that subscribe button,

  • hit that thumbs up button.

  • It really helps me with the videos

  • and I will see you again next week

  • for another episode of The Life of Hair.

  • (peaceful music)

- Welcome to The Life of Hair, my name's James Atkinson

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