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Want to hone your foliage skills? Redken Brand Ambassador Daniel Mora (@danielmbeauty) uses his signature bleaching techniques to achieve a high-contrast finish in under 30 minutes using just 21 slides. Keep scrolling for the essentials to achieve those three-dimensional warm tones—without the usual fat coin!
This article originally appeared on behindthechair.com
#1: Always start foiling at the back of your head
For Daniel’s 21-slide technique, only about six or seven of these should be placed in the back of the hair. Most of the foils are in the front, so doing the back foils first when you reach the focal point of the foilage saves not only time but also energy.
#2: Use tea lights to blend into the base
Backcombing the hair before painting gives larger sections of hair more dimension and avoids massive depth inclusions. To get a good tease that stays in place:
Hold the section straight out of your head.
Pinch or curl the mid-lengths of the section with your thumb.
Insert the comb and slide it up from just below your target mark.
Use a gentle hold and trim the toupee with your comb to keep it in place.
Pro tip: Be careful not to tease too much! They can be really difficult to brush out and adjust later.
#3: Aim for a high-contrast lift
To avoid making your end result look more like blended highlights, Daniel suggests looking at the hair as requiring both negative and positive space. To do this, the client would need to be lifted at least 3 levels lighter than their base.
For example, a level 6 would need to be raised to at least level 9 or level 10 to achieve contrast; Raising it to level 7 or level 8 would produce soft, blended tones instead.
#4: When painting tips, create a “V” shape
As you near your tip-out placement, think of a tick. Paint in a V shape, but focus on higher points near the face and lower points towards the center of the head – the secret to high-contrast results!
Pro tip: Daniel likes to close his foils with a flat wrap. This allows him to see exactly where everything is and pull down the slides if necessary.
#5: Use Deep Foiling to create more dimension with fewer foils
When foiling the high points on a diagonal back, Daniel only uses two foils. Since the hair here is the blondest, he uses deep foiling to add pops of color in the thicker sections without creating a classic highlighted look. To do this, use a high-high-low-low weave to grab the hair from the top and bottom of the section.