Illuminating Your Look with Macrolights Hair Technique
In a social feed filled with pumpkin spice highlights and mermaid hair, babylights shine as a softer way to add dimension. Also known as Macrolights Hair babylights are fine wisps of color that add dimension and can even camouflage grays.
Using foils, your stylist will paint on small sections of hair for an allover lift or more precise placement. A toner will then be applied to balance the color.
When it comes to becoming a lighter blonde, there are many different methods and options. From platinum mermaid locks to a sun-kissed effect on your brown hair, there are endless possibilities and techniques that will help you achieve your dream blonde look.
Before you can get to a beautiful lighter blonde, you will need to lighten your natural color base. This is usually done with an all-over bleach that can lift the hair by up to 6 levels. This process can be quite harsh on the hair so it is necessary to do a strand test first and be sure that you are ready for an all-over bleach.
A strand test will determine the strength of developer you need to use to get the results you want. A strand test will also tell you how much time the bleach needs to be left on the hair. The length of time that the product is on your hair will affect how much your hair lifts. If you leave a lightener on for too long it can lead to serious damage.
There are a few ways to lighten your hair including all over bleach, babylights, and balayage (bah-lee-AHZGE). Babylights are very fine highlights that can be placed anywhere on the head. These are ideal for anyone looking to add a subtle highlight with the smallest amount of maintenance possible. For a more intense highlight, your stylist can “baby bump” or “root smudge” your highlights to brighten them.
Balayage is a freehand technique that involves painting small sections of pre-lightener onto the hair. It can be used for highlighting, lowlights, or to create an ombre effect. It is often left to process in the open air and can be insulated with foil or plastic wrap. The balayage technique can be used to highlight the face-framing layers, mid-lengths and ends of the hair. It can be combined with babylights to create a very natural dimensional look.
All-over bleach is a more traditional way of lightening your hair. This method uses an oxidative product that is typically an ammonium peroxide with an added developer to speed up the lightening process. The ammonium swells the outer covering of the hair strand, which opens up and allows the oxidative to penetrate deeper into the hair strand to break down the melanin pigment that gives it its natural color. When the melanin breaks down, it becomes oxidized and lighter.
Pre-lightening Treatment
During the pre-lightening process, stylists use a variety of tools and techniques to prepare the hair for the lighter color results they desire. Depending on the desired result, this could include all over bleach or a specific highlight technique such as foilyage or balayage.
The first step of a pre-lightening service is to cleanse the hair and remove any buildup from styling products or previous color services. This ensures the colour won’t grab unevenly and create patchy results.
Another important element of the pre-lightening process is to assess the texture and porosity of the client’s hair. Different hair textures have varying levels of density, meaning some will lighten faster than others. A stylist will then apply the appropriate amount of product and time to ensure the client achieves their desired result without damaging the hair too much.
For example, fine textured hair will not hold a bright fashion color and may need to be pre-lightened a few shades prior to application of the bold hue. Similarly, coarse textured hair can only take so many levels of lightening before it becomes damaged and brittle.
If you’re working with a natural blonde, the highlighting or balayage technique you choose will determine how much pre-lightening is needed. For example, if you want to add strawberry red highlights to your blonde client’s hair, you will need to do a pre-lightening treatment to ensure the blonde pieces don’t grab onto the dark red dye and turn a pinky shade.
For a more subtle highlight, try teasy lights or babylights. These are created by teasing sections of the hair with a fine-tooth comb before applying a lighter with a lower concentration of developer (such as Magnet Blondes Ultimate Soft Lightener Cream Opens in new window at 10 vol).
Babylights are often mixed with foilyage or balayage, but they can also be applied all over the head for a sun-kissed look. They are a great choice for clients with dark roots or previous color who are wanting to lighten their hair without committing to a full all-over bleach.
Post-lightening Treatment
When a client’s hair has been previously colored they may need more advanced lightening techniques. Pre-lightening reduces the pigment of a hair color by using an alkaline solution to swell the hair shaft before applying the bleach, or “persulfate,” which uses very powerful oxidants to penetrate the hair strand to dissolve melanin and lighten the hair. Depending on the strength of the product, and length of time it is left in, the hair can lighten anywhere from two to six levels.
The stylist will use foils or freehand painting to apply the lightener and process until the desired result is achieved. A toner is then used to neutralize any unwanted tone and enhance the final color. Toners are also a great way to soften the look of roots as they grow in, which can often be a problem for blondes.
A specialized treatment to soften and brighten the hair is a must-have for any lightening service, especially for clients with fine or medium textures. This treatment, which combines honey and chamomile extracts (and smells pretty amazing), is applied to the hair and left in for up to three weeks. The results are a subtle, natural-looking brightness.
All-over bleach
If you’re a brunette looking to become a natural blonde, all-over bleach is the only technique that can make it happen in one session. But be careful: pushing a hair color too far can lead to serious chemical breakage and damage. Your stylist will take the hair’s history into consideration, ensuring that the lightener doesn’t exceed its tolerance level.
Maintenance
As with all lightening techniques, babylights require some maintenance to keep them looking their best. But, since the color is so finely woven into the hair, your client may not need touch-ups as often as they would with other highlighting services like foilyage or ombre. When it’s time for a touch up, Amy can use base bumping or root smudging to brighten the babylights or blur where color and roots meet to help your client keep their color longer between appointments. She recommends Kenra Professional products to her clients to keep their hair healthy and shiny! Interested in trying babylights?