From blonde to balayage

[Cole111]

I have a bleach blonde client she bleached it herself over lockdown TWICE! she then got a full head of foils twice over it, second time they added heat!! Disaster! (which I didn’t do) and she has broken bits from previously beaching herself. I have give her a good cut and also a condition treatment and sent her home with products to help condition a few months ago preparing it for me colouring it. But anyway what I need is advice or a second opinion...she has a lot of warmth in her natural hair and her blonde always washes up yellow. Before I do her hair I have advised her to go darker as I wouldn’t risk a full head of bleach foils, We have agreed on blonder round her face (IF her hair can take it) and then soften out the root and a few dark foils to add depth. Working with the blonde already there. Her natural hair/roots is about a base 6, But here is the problem.. I’m not sure weather to do an ashy base, or will I have to do a flat base with no ash tone? Or will I have to add a warm tone(not sure about This as her natural root has warm undertones) but because of the rest being bleach blonde I don’t want it going green. HELP I need a second opinion.. also I don’t mind certain colours being advised as I can always use a different brand.. as long as it is good.

 

[Thatgothicstylist]

Hi Cole111,
So I work with this kind of client a lot...
I wouldn’t try to highlight traditionally (woven). I think it’d be a good idea to try and turn this look into a root shadow/ balayage kind of look. I would colourmelt this starting with a level 6, buffering with an 8 and blending down to a 9, blending the dark down more underneath and gradually keep the dark closer to the root as you work up the head, using more 8 and 9. This will give a blonder look on top with more depth. Avoid foils almost entirely except for the money piece area at the front. Then tone that after with your level 9 colour. I would advise if you want an ashier look to add ash to your brands basic ‘natural’ range, so basic 6.0 for example. But I’d only add it to the equivalent of a 1/4 of your colour content or it could turn a yucky green/grey.
You should check out ‘beige’ shades, especially chocolate beige, as they look beautiful and go straight on to blonde hair quite well. I think these would be prettier than ash and softer too.
schwarzkopf do a fantastic chocolate beige range.

 

[Cole111]

Thank you for your reply, I look forward to taking your advice on board, would you add darker foils to break up the bleach blonde ends? To help blend dark to light?

 

[Thatgothicstylist]

No problem, glad I could help. I’d advise checking out a tutorial on colour melting...
You shouldn’t need foils. If you’re struggling to keep bits separate, you can foil but more as a barrier than weaving/high/lows.
This site has some useful info on colourmelting...
https://behindthechair.com/articles/watch-color-melting-toning-tips-for-color-corrections/