Avoid Spotting on Midlengths When Doing Balayage, Cancel Red When Lifting and More With Nick Stenson's Fast Tip Friday

Every Friday on his Facebook page, The Salon By InStyle's Senior Creative Director Nick Stenson shares the answers to YOUR burning questions--everything from color to texture to career development and even making it big. He's always eager to hear from YOU about your everyday salon life challenges, so add your comments HERE for the shot at getting your question answered in the next Fast Tip Friday. (Oh.... and if he picks your question, you also score free Matrix products, woo!).

Level 5, no red

QUESTION: “I have a client with natural level 2 African-type hair who wants to be a level 5, rich brown. She doesn’t want to see red but still wants to be warm. Which developer of choice would you use? I’m getting mixed opinions.” --David

ANSWER: "It’s good that she wants to see some warmth," Stenson says. "I would do a virgin application on the mid-lengths and ends with 5A and 30 volume and 5A and 20 volume at the new growth. You don’t want to do 30 volume at the new growth because that’s the heat zone and that’s where it’s going to get warm and bright and that could go hot. So make sure that you go up to 30 volume so you can lift it as light as you need. Use the A, it will cancel out that warmth but still keep it nice and rich brown.

Avoiding spots on midlengths and ends

QUESTION: "Do you ever have spotting in the middlengths and ends or toward the underneath when you are working on triangular-shaped sections when balayaging?” --Michelle

ANSWER: "This question came in from the MODERN SALON Facebook Live we did on-set with L'Anza and Matrix in New York City," Stenson says. "We just focused on doing balayage on the top of the strand until you got to the ends and then we emulsified it through the midlengths and ends. As long as you are staying on the top and you are really consistent with the fluidity of your brush stroke and keeping the consistency very creamy, it will isolate to the place that you put it. The reason we don’t go all the way underneath through that mid-length and ends is what’s going to happen is you’re going to have one big chunk of lightness. We want to see the diffusion of light and dark so that they can see the beautiful transition of color going from dark all the way to light never seeing where that color starts and stops.

Staying healthy as a salon pro

QUESTION: "Working on your feed all day can be very rewarding but also physically demanding at times. With full day busy schedules and work weeks, what are some tips to really get back to the physical demands to being a salon professional? Any ideas on how to stay healthy?” --Jimmy

ANSWER: "You have to take care of yourself, so stretching at the beginning of the day, stretching periodically throughout the day, drinking tons of water," Stenson says. "It’s no joke when people say eight to twelve bottles of water, make sure you are hydrating throughout the day. Make sure you are stretching between clients and follow MODERN SALON's Healthy Hairdresser tips and advice. Every single month they come up with different tips and tricks for each and every professional to be healthy."