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Natural-Looking Caramel Balayage

Jenna Bullaro of Dennis Bartolomei Salon in Chicago gave this brunette more dimension and pops of brightness with this easy-to-maintain, natural-looking color.

Jamie Newman
Jamie NewmanSenior Digital Content Strategist
Read Jamie's Posts
June 19, 2017
Natural-Looking Caramel Balayage

 

Jenna Bullaro

3 min to read

Jenna Bullaro of Dennis BartolomeiSalon in Chicago gave this brunette more dimension and pops of brightness with this easy-to-maintain, natural-looking color. 

Jenna's client began at a natural level 5.  

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Step 1: Jenna started by applying babylights. To do this, she applied heavy foils around the face and hairline, including the nape for when the client wears a ponytail. When foiling at the crown, Jenna prefers to backcomb, so the highlights do not begin at the root. 
Step 2: Jenna took a heavy weave to the hair between the foils. For this hair, she backcombed only twice, starting at the midlength of the strand. She used a higher volume to make these pieces really pop. "Remember less is more," Jenna said. "You don't have to tip everything out, unless they are looking for an ombre look. Leaving a touch of demension on the bottom can be gorgeous; personalize each client's hair!"
Step 3: When Jenna foiled, she started in the front with 10 volume. As she worked her way around the head, she bumped it up from 10, to 15, and then to 20 in the back. Using this method, all of the processing is finished at the same time. The hair was lifted to a level 8, and because the hair along the hairline is thinner and processing longer, it will be lifted to a level 9.


Step 4: Rinse everything and part hair off to be toned, leaving an inch out around the hairline.
Step 5: When toning Jenna likes to recreate a prettier version of her clients' natural hair. For this specific client, she used Wella Color Touch: 2 parts 5/0, 1 part 6/73, and 6 volume. Jenna applied the toner to about 1.5 inches of the root of the main section of hair, and she combed it back, then she shadowed a half inch on the hairline section and combed, still leaving it separate from the hair.
Step 6: Her client's ends lifted much warmer than her root, so Jenna used Wella Color Touch: half 6/0 and half 7/89, with 5 grams of 6/3 and 13 vol.  She saturated very, very well and blended the root down to create a nice blend, still leaving the hairline out.
Step 7: Jenna emulsified the entire head, including the hairline, as if she was shampooing the head with the color, but only for a minute.  This helped blend and melt everything together and added the tone to the hairline without making it darker.
Step 8: Jenna applied a blow dry spray and oil to the hair before blowing dry with a round brush for smoothness and volume. Using a 1" XL curling Iron, she curled everything away from her face, leaving the bottom out. Without letting the curls cool, she messed it up right away with her hands. She added a touch more oil for shine, and sprayed the hair with a texture hairspray for added volume and hold.

Topics:WellaCareerExpert AdviceHow-ToColorBrunette
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