After 12 years of foils, hand painting took my highlights to another level

I finally tried balayage on a client last Tuesday instead of my usual foil method. She has that warm brunette color that always turns brassy with foils. The hand painted sections melted way better and I cut my processing time by about 20 minutes. Ive been nervous to switch because foils are predictable, but this result was honestly smoother and more natural looking. She booked her next appointment before leaving the chair. Has anyone else made the switch later in their career and dealt with the learning curve?

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foster.ruby11d ago

Was the 20 minute time cut mostly from skipping the foils themselves, or did your processing steps change too? I’m curious if you had to adjust your saturation level for the warmer brunette to keep it from grabbing too dark at the roots. Also, how much extra cleanup did you deal with vs foils, because that’s always been my mental block with freehand. Did you find yourself second-guessing your placement the whole time, or did muscle memory just kick in after the first section?