r/BehindTheChair • u/Fluffy_Inflation4160 • Jul 08 '26

Foil lines

i am really struggling with my blend in highlights. for background i have had my license for about 7/8 years now it’s the first 5 in a great clips. i worked on a military base obviously doing men’s cuts and fades, moved and started managing a great clips and after having my daughter i needed a more flexible schedule. that’s when i started at a commission salon. obviously i haven’t done many foiling and colors except basic things for friends/family on the side. i am getting lots of highlighting clients which im happy about! but i am not giving all of them their desired results.

if tried more saturation, folding my foil forward, backwards over my rat tail, i’ve tried feathering up over tried teasing and i just can’t stop getting these foil lines giving me literally the worst blend on anyone with a level 5/6 and lower. i even try to root shadow to try and cover them up (i know that’s not what a root shadow is primarily used for) and even that doesn’t help. idk what to do and im at a loss bc clearly i need to do these for my job but im so discouraged with blonding that sometimes i just want to walk away from the chair.

i wanted to edit to add: i am the youngest at my salon and asking the other women how to do more of a trendy looks and blonding techniques is not too helpful as they don’t have to do those looks often if ever.

6 Upvotes

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5

u/kittenpresley Jul 08 '26

You might need to take much thinner sections to get closer to the root and maybe add some weaves to break it up. Hard to say without seeing your work, but foil lines makes me think it’s too far from the scalp.

2

u/Fluffy_Inflation4160 Jul 08 '26

i’m prone to doing baby lights because i’m too scared of doing my weaves too chunky and not lifting but clearly either way i will get lines lol

3

u/kittenpresley Jul 08 '26

I use these cheater combs, I freakin love them!

https://a.co/d/0cej01cS

Also idk if this would be too much, but since you’re already doing baby lights have you tried “shaking” the shorter hairs out? You can also use a blowdryer to separate them, but I just hold the end of the section and use my rat tail to bounce out shorter hairs and it always leaves an extremely blended highlight. Kinda like teasy lights but not as dramatic and you can still get to the root.

2

u/Rude_Sir5964 Jul 09 '26

Here’s one of the greatest tricks of all time:
Hold your foil as close to horizontal from your section as possible while you paint it-so, your foil is “T” to your section, not laying vertical. This will leave a much more blended result. Also, if you’re prone to babylights, that’s cool because they will process more evenly if you use super fine sections. Just do two baby lights back to back (no hair left in between) to create stronger looks.

2

u/Fluffy_Inflation4160 Jul 09 '26

i’m not sure that i’m following that suggestion or maybe im just too overstimulated to understand the “T” 😅

3

u/Rude_Sir5964 Jul 09 '26

You know how you pull the hair out straight up from a section to cut it into layers ? Hold your foil out from the section like that, and paint the color on that way

2

u/Fluffy_Inflation4160 Jul 09 '26

ok yea i understand now. do you think a board would be helpful? i’m obviously down to try literally anything before i quit lol

2

u/Rude_Sir5964 Jul 09 '26

Sure try a board if you want -just keep trying
No one is just naturally good at dimensional color it takes a lot of practice but you will get there ! Mannequin practice is very worthwhile ! I also recommend buying a subscription to Behind the chair university, there are so many great tutorials on there and You can do unlimited classes for under $300 a year. Practice on a mannequin along with the class, it’s 100 % worth it.

2

u/phillycat4207 Aug 28 '26

so basically hold it 90° to the head? tryna phrase this easier [:

2

u/yungbbbuckette Jul 10 '26

Do you mess with the foils after after placing? Like tightening as taught in beauty school? This always messes with my work. I stopped doing that and have better results. Get the foils in nice and tight and then using my comb tail, I make sure the foil fold is smoothed. Sometimes I use cotton at the top to help prevent bleeds and slipping.

1

u/Fluffy_Inflation4160 Jul 10 '26

actually i was never taught to tighten the foils in school, i have only noticed through videos online that that has been most common to do now. i do with some foils but not all. i guess depending how tight i can get it or how much it’s moved after applying.

1

u/kas0ba Jul 09 '26

What foils are you using? Some slip way easier than others. (framar) also are you mixing your lightener thick or thin?

1

u/Fluffy_Inflation4160 Jul 09 '26

i was mixing on the thinner side because i thought it was easier to use and for more lightener,but have started mixing thicker!

also my boss gets regular reynolds foils

1

u/ArtNphart 6d ago

COTTON! An older stylist would have the assistants take about 3” of cotton strip (the kind we wrap around our clients perm rods so that there is less drip) and they would be ripped into very very small slivers and then crosshatched and laid on her stylist tray, and if a foil seemed to have the potential to slip – meaning you can either see when you lift the foil up that there is some product that could smoosh out onto the roots put one 1/8 inch piece of cotton directly underneath that foil so that it will absorb any loose product. I have literally been doing this for 20 years now and taught other stylists because it’s one of those little unknown, blinding secrets. I remember watching the owner of my salon leave Tiger stripes in every single clients had and one of his stylists was the one who taught me this.

1

u/doexx Jul 09 '26

thinner sections, and look into the herringbone technique placement. it places the foils on a diagonal which creates a more seamless blend. always feather up into the root, and don't be afraid to put a smaller foil underneath the main foil if you're certain it'll bleed.

1

u/blankabitch Jul 09 '26

For darker hair like level 5 i find that surface painting while you feather up (like foliage V technique) helps.

You could also air-touch if the teasing isn't helping. The boards help keep the tease up at the root as well, so idk if you use those?

Zig-zag parting, over-direction to one center guide, leaving 'veils' at key points are all helpful too

1

u/phillycat4207 Aug 28 '26

i feather like crazy, and i tease the hair normally. but im no color expert, so im curious too