Interested in lightening your hair but unsure where to start? You're in the right spot!
There are many different methods available, and choosing the right one is crucial to achieving your desired look, pricepoint, and maintenance schedule. Blonding Specialist Dakota is giving us the breakdown on each of these services, sharing a few insider blonding tips, AND telling us how to decide which option is best for our personal needs.
Breakdown of Services
Balayage Color Service:
Balayage is hand-painted without any foils. It’s typically used for warmer tones and creates a soft, subtle, dimensional blonde—think perfectly sun-kissed hair. Maintenance is 6 months to 1 year.
Foilyage Custom Color:
Foilyage is always done in foils. It can be high-impact (bright blonde, less dimensional) or low-impact (soft and subtle, more dimensional), and there is a lot of variation with root visibility; the color can truly be customized for each client. This is the classic Instagram blonde. Maintenance is 3 to 6 months.
Allover Bleach (Roots to Ends):
An Allover Bleach is a lightening service typically done on all-natural (virgin) hair. The end result is a solid blonde canvas with no visible roots or dimension left in the hair. Maintenance is a Root Touch-up (Bleach) every 4-6 weeks (see below).
Root Touch-up (Bleach):
This is a touch-up service, typically done every 4-6 weeks (can be stretched to 10, depending on how fast your hair grows) to cover regrowth on hair that has already undergone an Allover Bleach (Roots to Ends) service. The blonde is simply brought back up to the scalp so no roots are visible.
Full Head Highlights, Partial Head Highlights, and Mini Highlights:
With Highlights, you’ll get a thicker weave. The strands are usually the size of a spaghetti noodle, but sometimes thicker, depending on the end goal. This results in a dimensional blonde, with lots of highs and lows. Highlights are always done in foils, and maintenance can be anywhere from 6 weeks to 8 weeks.
Full Head Babylights and Partial Head Babylights:
Babylights allow you to achieve a high-impact or well-blended, natural-looking blonde. They have a fine weave—similar to the size of angel hair pasta—are always done in foils (usually close to the root), and give the appearance of a really soft grow-out. A Full-Head Babylights service can create an allover blonde moment without doing a full bleach. Maintenance can be every 6 weeks to 4 months.
Difference between Full, Partial, and Mini?
With a Full, you’ll see the most blonde. All of your head—crown, nape, and hairline—is in foils.
A Partial covers just your hairline, part, and a small section of your crown in foils, so you’ll see more dimension.
When you get a Mini, just your hairline is foiled. This is typically for detailed blonding (think money piece, hairline, or color blocking).
Care tips/product recommendations for extending the life of my blonde?
To get the max longevity out of your blonde, I always recommend the following:
-Wash no more than 2-3 times a week.
-Shampoo twice with REPAIR-ME.WASH (good for blonde to repair damaged ends), condition once (REPAIR-ME.RINSE also repairs damaged ends by adding protein back in the hair that’s stripped during lightening process, or you could consider switching from a conditioner to a mask, like HYDRATE.ME-MASQUE, which rehydrates the hair without weighing it down).
-Use a leave-in conditioner after every wash. KEVIN.MURPHY’s new NIGHT.SHIFT is my go-to leave-in for overnight dry or wet hair—heavy enough to penetrate the hair shaft but soft enough to keep in your hair overnight.
-Heat style less often, and always with a heat protectant like HEATED.DEFENSE, which comes out as a foam, so it doesn’t leave you with sticky hair or patchiness.
-Oil your ends. I recommend YOUNG.AGAIN TREATMENT (light weight and flexible; I love to cocktail this in with LEAVE-IN.REPAIR and it doubles as a heat protectant).
-Apply purple shampoo 2-4 times a month (no more than that), but I actually prefer using a purple conditioner like BLONDE.ANGEL TREATMENT, because it adds moisture while still toning out unwanted tones.
-Brush your hair using a wet brush in the shower WITH conditioner—never brush out of the shower while hair is wet (it can cause snapping of the ends). For dry hair, I recommend using a boar bristle brush because they’re softer on blonde hair and add shine.
-Maintain haircuts every other blonding service.
How should I prepare for an upcoming blonding service?
To prepare for an upcoming blonding service I tell my clients:
-Not to use anything harsh directly on the scalp as it can cause irritation.
-Always wash your hair before your appointment—the day prior is perfect—because lightener will not lift on dirty hair
-Do not do any at-home toners/colors (this can turn into a color correction)
-Avoid muddy ends by not overusing your purple shampoo
-Be prepared to be in the chair for at least two and a half hours on average; plan accordingly!
How do I know which service is right for me?
Deciding which method of blonde is best for your hair really comes down to 3 things:
- How much blonde do you want to see? Do you want the majority of your hair blonde or the majority natural? Also, do you want dimensional blonde or high-impact blonde?
- How often do you want to come into the salon? Do you have time to come into the salon for a high-maintenance color every 4-6 weeks? Or would a low-maintenance color with appointments every 12-16 weeks work better for your schedule?
- What’s your budget?
Balayage, Foilyage, and Babylights will give you more bang for your buck—while they are expensive initially, they can save you money in the long run. Maintenance can be every 6 weeks or every 16 weeks, meaning less time in the chair and less money spent.
Allover Bleach (Roots to Ends), Root Touch-up (Bleach), and traditional Highlights have a harsher growout and will require more maintenance, so you’ll be coming in every 4-8 weeks. Something else to consider is that these services are typically harder on the hair and require more at-home maintenance (i.e., bonding treatments, leave-ins, etc.)
Ready to book your next blonding service? Schedule with Dakota in our Slabtown (NW Portland) or Sellwood (SE Portland) location by calling/texting 971.267.4080 or at the link below!
P.S. Still unsure which is best for you? That's no problem! Schedule a consultation with Dakota by calling/texting the salon, and she can help you figure it out.