5 Timesaving Tips For Rooty Balayage Blends

5 Tips To Help You Achieve Rooty Blonde Dimension Much Faster

Have you seen a spike in requests for color that takes anywhere from 8 to 10 hours? In an industry where time is money, nobody’s got time for that. So while in Atlanta for Ulta Beauty’s General Manager Conference, we sat in on Ulta Beauty Pro Team Member Sean Godard’s (@seangodard) hands-on balayage class to grab tips that’ll help you achieve rooty blonde blends so much faster. Read on to see what he shared!

Products Used

Demi-Permanent Color

Shades EQ

Redken

Glossing/ Toning

Shades EQ Processing Solution For Precision Application

Redken

Hair Color

Flash Lift Bonder Inside

Redken

1. When Sectioning, Keep It Simple

And by simple, we mean you only need two. Because most clients want to see that impact in the face-frame, start by taking a thin section in front and then follow the shape of the hairline. Then, clip it out of the way. 

From there, take an additional 1-inch section at the top of the head to incorporate where the part would be. “If the client were to have a side part, you might want to move the section over to be on that side part,” shares Sean. 

Pro Tip: When sectioning the part, make sure to go down low enough in the back so the whirl is included.  

2. Don’t Feel Like The Whole Head Has To Be Painted

Have you ever gone into autopilot and painted foil after foil, achieving an all-over blonde rather than blonde dimension? Sean has a good rule of thumb that helps him feel better about not painting every piece of hair: “In order to see light, you need to see dark. So you need to have shadow to see light.” Instead of going heavy with the lightener, let the depth of the lowlights enhance the brightness of the blonde pieces. 

Sean’s formulas: 

• Formula A (root shadow): 2 oz. Redken Shades EQ 05NA + 2 oz. Shades EQ Processing Solution For Precision Application

• Formula B (face-frame & highlight): 1 oz. Redken Flash Lift Bonder Inside + 1½ oz. 30-volume developer

3. What To Do With The Lowlight

Do not bring the lowlight formula all the way down to the ends, otherwise the color could look muddy OR it’ll start to lose its contrast. Sometimes it’s better to just work with the client’s natural color rather than trying to hide it with a lowlight.

Pro Tip: Be sure to keep your sections elevated as you paint to avoid harsh lines of demarcation.

4. Does Combing Out A Tease Take Too Long?

Sean agrees, which is why he pushes the hair once. Just hold the section out toward you, insert your wide-tooth comb either at the midlengths or ends (depending on how much hair you want out of the way) and push the hair up one time. The best part? It’s much easier to comb out!

Pro Tip: Place a clip directly underneath the single tease to keep it in place.

5. A Genius Tip For Checking Saturation

If you’re ever worried about your saturation, here’s what Sean says to do: Place your section on foil and paint the one side. Place another piece of foil over it, walk over to the other side of the head and peel the foil back to check the saturation of the underside.

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Click through the slideshow to see the balanced dimension this technique achieves!

CLICK HERE to get three tips that’ll help you get more time!