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)