Converting Foils To Balayage: 4 Tips To Slay The Process

4 Tips To Replace Stripy Highlights With A Soft Balayage

A new client comes in with chunky highlights and wants to transition to a beautifully blended blonde balayage. Don’t know where to start? We can help! BTC Team Member and balayage babe Jenn Malone (@jmalonehair) stopped by The BTC House in West Hollywood to share her technique and expert advice—keep reading to get four of her tips!

Products Used

Lightener

Blonde Life

Joico

Demi-Permanent Color

Shades EQ

Redken

Eliminate Harsh Lines

When eliminating stripy highlights around the face, Jenn uses her reverse face-frame highlighting technique to soften those harsh lines. Just take thin sections on a diagonal and paint back-to-back babylights. This will seamlessly blend out those chunky highlights and give your client a pop of blonde instead.

Blend Out The Base

Have dark strands mixed in with the highlights? Following a bricklay pattern, Jenn parts the hair horizontally, weaves out the blonde pieces, lightly teases and then paints Joico Blonde Life + 20-volume developer from the midlengths to the ends.

Feather Out The Lightener

To ensure everything is seamlessly blended, use the brush to feather the lightener up toward the root. If you’re newer to the teasy light technique, Jenn says to use a clean brush instead to lightly blur the product.

Add A Shadow Root

Jenn likes to shadow root with Redken Shades EQ 5N + 7NW + Shades EQ Processing on wet hair after she’s shampooed out the lightener. Here’s what she does:

• Start in the front and bring the formula down about 3/4 an inch.
• Make your way around the head in a teardrop pattern.
• Then, use the Y.S. Park 452 comb to ensure everything is blended.

Want more blonding education from Jenn? Click here to learn her hybrid balayage & foil technique!