Root Smudge and Money Piece + Extension Transformation

If you have a committed blonde client looking to elevate her colour, roots smudge, and money piece techniques are a great way to change your client's colour while maintaining the blonde colour they love. For today's transformation, we will be elevating Charlotte's hair to have a bright money piece, root smudge, and toning down the ends for a beautifully lived-in blonde look. We will also add tape hair extensions to Charlotte's finished look for added length and thickness.

 

 

Step 1:  Starting with lowlights and highlights, we prepped our formulas. We used 20G of 8N, 15G of 9G and equal parts of gel gloss for the lowlights. For the highlights, we used 40g of the developer, and 30g of powder plus Olaplex.

 

 

Step 2:  Next, we took a section directly down the centre of the hair, all the way to the nape of the neck and clipped one half out of the way. For our first step of application, we took a diagonal slice at the nape of the neck and weaved this into baby lights to apply with our highlight formula and foil. We used this in an upward motion to the bottom of the hair so that when the hair is tied back, it gives a beautifully saturated slice of hair. We ensured that we left the already lightened ends of our client's hair out of the bleach to avoid over-processing.

 

 

Step 3:  Repeat this process for the following 3 foils before using the tipping out technique. This involves collecting up all of the hair that did not make it inside the foils, backcombing and applying bleach and fill to the ends.

Step 4:  Now, you can switch to a broke slice to add colour depth and dimension by applying the low light formula. To avoid colour transfer, we are also applying this with a foil. Repeat this so you have two back to back foils with lowlight formula.

Step 5:  Switch back to bleach and continue with the broken slice weave.

Step 6:  Clip the bleach foil out of the way and use the hair underneath to apply your lowlight formula. Apply the bleach section first, and the low light underneath after; this will ensure every lowlight has a complimentary highlight on top and brighten the overall finished look.

Step 7:  Continue this process as you work your way up the head.

Step 8:  Once you have reached the top, you can add baby lights around the face frame in preparation for the money piece. We applied back to back baby lights around the hairline.

Step 9:  Once all of the face frame baby lights are in place, we revert to our low light highlight broken slice technique until all hair has been covered on your first side.

Step 10: Repeat this entire process on the opposite side.

Step 11:  Keep an eye on the foils as they develop and when ready, move your client to the basin.

Step 12:  Start by removing the bleach foil first, pulling the excess bleach through to the ends of the hair as you go (always use gloves when handling bleach).

Step 13:  Remove all of the lowlight foils and then thoroughly rinse your client's hair, washing with shampoo and conditioner.

 

 

Step 14:  Brush through your client's hair to remove any tangles, ready for the root smudge toner. We are using RedKens Shades EQ range, 8g or 7N, 5g of 7T, 2g of 7M and equal parts of gel gloss.

Step 15:  Section the client's hair in the traditional hot cross bun formation so that you have four separate parts to work with.

Step 16:  Starting at the back, apply your toner to the roots, sectioning parallel to the parting. Once you have added toner to the back sections, brush through the toner to pull it through the ends.

Step 17:  Repeat this process on the side pieces, sectioning in parallel to the parting and using a foil to prevent the transfer to the opposite side of the head.

Step 18:  Apply your toner to the top layer of your money piece and leave it to develop before rinsing and washing.

 

 

Step 19:  Now, you are reading for your extension fitting. We prepared our client's hair first by drying and straightening the hair before colour matching.

 

 

Step 20:  We removed some of the weight from the ends of our client's hair before fitting our tape hair extensions in colours 22 and 60, row by row. For advice on how to fit tape hair extensions, please see video.

Step 21:  Trim and blend your hair extensions to look natural, before curling and styling your client's hair to reveal their final look.