Know Your Placement

THINK YOU KNOW EVERYTHING THERE IS TO KNOW ABOUT COLOURING CURLS? THINK AGAIN! WE CHECKED IN WITH THE CURL EXPERTS FOR THEIR TOP TIPS ON CURLY-HAIRED COLOUR PLACEMENT.

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.”

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.

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.