Embrace the beauty of you.

The beautiful client whose hair is featured in this article  has been a client of mine for about 8 years now. Her locks are interlocked and are absolutely  beautiful. A few weeks ago, she texted  me to say that she wanted highlights for a change of pace. I did the mental calculation of procedural  steps and told her that we would need to add-on 2 hours to her typical 3-hour  service. She was down, so we moved  forward with scheduling. Because she is  a seasoned lock wearer, I didn’t go into a detailed explanation of the process  via text. But for newer clients, it’s  important to explain the step-by-step process to ensure that they understand  what will occur and how to care for their hair going forward.

Color Selection: Finding the right color for your client’s hair depends on their stated  interest. We spoke in advance and she wanted  a honey blonde. When dyeing black hair,  the final outcome is dictated by two primary variables: the amount of lift  that is applied to the hair and the amount of time the product is left on the  hair. There is no hard and fast rule  here, so you have to make the determination of what is most appropriate based  on the client’s needs. When using a crème  developer, the products available are at strengths 10, 20, 30 and 40. For black hair, a higher developer is most  useful in obtaining the color that you are interested in achieving. However even a 40 developer may provide a golden  brown hue rather than a blonde color. Black hair is the most difficult to color. For this reason, many mainstream color kits  include bleach which provides the additional life needed to achieve a blond  hue on black hair. Crème of Nature and  Dark N Lovely are two products that are specifically formulated to color African  American hair. The formulations  consider the typical black hue as well as the delicate nature of kinky/curly  hair and its tendency towards dryness. Likewise,  the kits include conditioning products for use after coloring. For this client, I used Crème of Nature Ginger  Blonde. I used this color because of  the thickness of the locks and some degree of uncertainty about the color penetration  to the lock interior.

Lock Selection: Because I am only highlighting the hair, I first selected the locks  that I would be applying color to. With  loose hair, this step is not needed. But with locks, you don’t want to be trying to determine where to apply  the color while working. The color  needs to be applied as quickly as possible and the distribution of color needs  to be proportionate throughout the clients head. This process itself took approximately 20-30  minutes. I put a metal clip on each of  the locks so that I could quickly identify the chosen locks and expedite color  application. I spaced the locks in a  way that made sense to my understanding of the client’s hair. I gauged how many locks would be colored as  I was using two kits of color for this client’s hair. (When the color ran out, I only had two  clips remaining near the nape of the client’s hair. So my guesstimation was pretty close!)

Color Application: Permanent color is always applied to dry hair. So, coloring is the next phase of this  client’s hair care service. In addition  to having gloves and a brush applicator, I used sheets of aluminum foil for  this client’s service. The foil should  be placed underneath each lock being colored at the root. With hair this long, I folded the lock  several times so that it could all fit into the 11-inch-long foil sheet. I then used the brush to apply the color. Please note that the lock must be turned  over on the foil sheet to ensure full coverage in color application. Once color is applied, the foil sheet should  be folded around the lock so that none of the lock is exposed. This step is critical in ensuring that the  color does not inadvertently leak onto or touch locks that you don’t want  highlighted. 

Start at the front of the client’s hair and move backwards. Try to complete this process as quickly as  possible. Because highlights are  lifting the color, the locks at the front will reach the lightest hue. Locks at the rear will invariably experience  less processing time. It would ideally  have liked to apply the color to the front, rinse it out and then apply it to  the rear. But with this amount of hair,  it was not feasible. Another  consideration that I had was to leave the rear locks covered in foil while  rinsing the color off of the locks in the front. If this is something you want to try, have  at it. I didn’t bother with it because  the foil sheets weren’t substantial enough to hold with the introduction of  water. But if you create your own foil  sheets to suit your client’s locks, you may have success with this approach.

Rinse, Shampoo and Condition: You should regularly check  the locks at the front to see how much the color has processed. Once the hair has reached the desired hue,  you should remove the foil sheets and rinse the hair thoroughly. Then, shampoo with a color-friendly shampoo as  you ordinarily would. After rinsing the  shampoo, condition the locks with an effective after-color treatment. Highlighted locks will tend to be drier than  locks that have not been colored. So,  you want to be sure to add conditioning to the regular lock maintenance routine  going forward. The hair can now be  receive the regular lock maintenance service, as the highlighting process is  complete. Embrace the beauty of you.