While colouring any hair type and texture comes with its challenges, curly texture can bring on a unique set of concerns when deciding on the placement of your client’s colour.
Since curls are often more delicate, it’s especially important to assess the hair type, curl pattern, porosity, density and overall hair condition before deciding on your colour placement and committing to being able to achieve your client’s colour goals.
“Curls are so sensitive to damage, so when it comes to consulting with somebody with curly hair, understanding the history of the colour and chemicals in their hair is really important,” says Lauren Wilde, a Wella design team artist, curl specialist and owner of Rose and Onyx in St. Albert, Alta. “Even if they are just a little bit overprocessed, it can massively impact the curl pattern in the hair, so it’s important to understand that before you begin working with their hair.”
Curl Classification
While some clients (and stylists) can get pigeonholed into classifying curls into one curl type (such as 3B or 4C), it can be quite common for clients to have more than one curl pattern on their head.
“There are so many reasons why a client will have multiple curl types,” says Wilde. “It could be a result of damage or how they wear their hair. They may have some waves and pieces that are more coily with tighter curls, so if you classify them into only one curl type, you can get trapped and the colour isn’t going to translate the way you want it to.”
Wilde suggests assessing the tightness of the curl to determine if it’s going to shrink and provide a different result than expected. “When it comes to tighter coils, I think this is especially important when you’re highlighting or colouring since it’s going to diffuse differently, especially if someone wants a high-contrast look.”
PRO TIP
FOR HAIR THAT’S WORN CURLY, IT’S IMPORTANT TO APPLY THE COLOUR IN THE CLIENT’S NATURAL STATE AND AVOID THE TEMPTATION TO STRAIGHTEN IT FIRST. WHILE APPLYING THE COLOUR WHEN THE HAIR IS STRAIGHT MAY MAKE THE COLOUR APPLICATION EASIER (AND FASTER), IT WON’T CREATE THE RESULT THAT YOU (OR YOUR CLIENT) IS LOOKING FOR.
Style Matters
Before deciding on your colour placement, it’s important to understand how your client prefers to wear their hair on a daily basis. For example, if they wear their hair curly most of the time, the placement (and result) will drastically differ compared to if (or when) they wear their hair straight.
“If you’re foiling, balayaging or painting hair that’s styled curly, it’s going to give you a darker, more diffused result than if it’s worn on straight hair, in which colour tends to look brighter,” says Wilde. “If you decide to do traditional foils, babylights or weaves, it’s going to have a big impact on straight hair but may disappear on curly hair. Because curls are more compact, they appear darker and the highlights aren’t as apparent so you definitely want to choose a more impactful approach.”
While you may need to be more heavy-handed with your placement for curly hair, that doesn’t mean you need to reach for stronger lightener or colour products. “It’s about being low and slow and as gentle as possible,” she says. “The most devastating thing for a client is to see their curl pattern destroyed, which is very common. The slower and gentler the method, the better.”
“CURLY-HAIRED CLIENTS TEND TO BE MORE CONSERVATIVE WITH THEIR COLOUR CHOICES SINCE IT OFTEN TAKES THEM SO LONG TO FIND SOMEBODY WHO UNDERSTANDS HOW TO WORK WITH THEIR HAIR AND THEY DON’T WANT TO TAKE ANY CHANCES TRYING SOMETHING THAT MIGHT NOT BE RIGHT FOR THEM.” — MARILYN ROSE, INTERNATIONAL REDKEN ARTIST, CURL SPECIALIST AND OWNER OF CURLOLOGY BY MARILYN, OTTAWA
All in the Application
While wavy (type 2) hair can often be approached similarly to straight-hair types, curls (type 3) and coils (type 4) require a more tailored approach. Experts recommend hand-painting the individual curls to ensure that the placement is soft yet visible.
“It’s not to say that you can’t foil curly hair if you need that incubation, but my approach is geared toward hand-painting and insulating it with a processing cap or plastic wrap to ensure that the lightening result is enough,” says Marilyn Rose, an international Redken artist, curl specialist and owner of Curlology by Marilyn in Ottawa. “Saturation is important for any lightening service, but it can be tricky on curly hair. It’s important to make sure that the curl is saturated all the way around, underneath and throughout that curl strand.”
When applying highlights or babylights to curly hair, it’s important to colour individual curls and avoid slicing the hair as you would for straight-hair types. For those who want an all-over lightened result, Rose suggests applying babylights back to back for a lighter and brighter result. However, note that applying only a few babylights throughout the head will often get lost in curly hair.
“Some people may feel like they put in so many highlights, but you can’t see them when the hair is dried because the highlights were too small. The colour wasn’t customized to the client’s hair and they weren’t painting individual curls,” she says. “The more textured the hair is and tighter the curl, the finer the sections should be to make sure you have complete saturation for depositing or lifting.”
For curly-haired clients who are just looking to add some dimension into their hair, it’s recommended to avoid high-contrast (and high-maintenance) colour. Instead, opt for a more natural, sun-kissed approach.
“Having some colour and dimension in the hair will make curls look better,” says Rose. “For dimensional colour, maintenance is very low. They usually need to do it twice a year. Hair grows out before it grows down, and the roots aren’t as noticeable compared to straight hair.”
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