Foiling Placements & Techniques Every Hairdresser Should Know

It’s no surprise that foils have been a staple within the salon for years, and for a good reason too! When it comes to lightening your client's hair, foiling techniques offer control, precision, and a whole lot of creativity, which allows hairdressers to customise colour placement to suit every client. If your client wants to go for a softer, natural look or wants a high-impact blonde transformation, it all comes down to the way you place your foils.

In collaboration with our Quif Educator, Sara Simpson, we’ll go through the different foil placements, including horizontal sections, custom placements, as well as more modern techniques, so you can understand how each approach works to help you create the perfect look for your client. Let’s break down some of the most popular foiling techniques and the results they can give in your salon.

Full Head Foils

Clients ready to go significantly lighter or completely refresh their colour? Then a full head of foils is what they’ll need.

If your client is looking for a serious transformation to brighten up their look, then a full head of foils is often the go-to technique. Using back-to-back foils, with either fine slices or heavier weaves, this method leaves very little natural hair out. The aim is maximum lift throughout the hair, making it ideal for clients transitioning from darker shades to blonde, as well as for larger colour correction work.

The end result is high-impact brightness, often giving the appearance of an almost all-over blonde. Because of the level of lift achieved, a strong toning strategy is essential to refine the colour and create the finish your clients truly want.

Custom Highlights

Custom highlights are exactly what they sound like: a fully personalised approach to foil placement. Rather than sticking to a set number of foils or a standard pattern, the stylist treats the hair like a blank canvas, carefully placing colour to enhance the client’s haircut, skin tone and natural hair movement.

This technique works particularly well for clients who want a more low-maintenance colour. Strategic placement, root taps, or baby lights help blend the colour into the roots to create a seamless grow-out with no harsh lines.

The result is a multi-dimensional, expensive-looking colour that feels natural but still delivers brightness and depth. It’s also a perfect option for clients transitioning from darker colours to lighter shades or those wanting to softly blend any greys away.

Teasy Lights

If a client asks for that lived-in, beachy blonde, then teasy lights are the perfect technique.

The teasy lights method sits somewhere between traditional foils and balayage. Before applying the lightener, the hair is gently teased at the root, which allows the brightness to concentrate through the mid-lengths and ends while keeping the root area softer and darker. The result mimics how the sun naturally lightens the hair, resulting in brighter ends and a softer look at the top.

Teasy lights are hugely popular with clients who want a low-maintenance colour because there’s no harsh regrowth line. The natural blend is created by the teasing, meaning that a root smudge isn’t even necessary. This is also perfect for clients who want to go four to six months between appointments!

Horizontal Highlights

For clients who want to feel lighter and brighter without looking too highlighted, horizontal highlights provide the perfect balance!

When it comes to creating soft, natural-looking colour, horizontal foiling is often considered the gold standard. The placement of the foil runs parallel to the floor, allowing the lightened sections to blend seamlessly through the hair. This creates a veil of brightness that moves naturally with the hair rather than appearing as separate streaks.

Horizontal foils are particularly effective for fine or thin hair as the colour placement can create the illusion of thicker, fuller hair. The technique delivers soft, all-over brightness that still keeps the natural depth.

Halo Money Piece Foiling

For clients wanting maximum brightness without committing to a full head of highlight, halo money piece foiling is a game-changer!

This technique combines two popular trends, the halo placement and the money piece. The focus is on brightening the exterior of the hair, particularly around the face and crown, while leaving the interior darker for depth.

The result is a glowing frame around the face and a halo of brightness through the top layers of the hair. When the hair is worn down and tied into a ponytail, the lighter pieces create a 360-degree brightness effect. And not only does this technique look high impact, but it’s also so much quicker than a full head of foils. This makes it ideal for clients who want that brighter look but without the time, cost and potential damage.

Hairdressers love foiling due to the endless level of customisation it can offer. The placement and technique can be completely tailored to suit the client’s hair type, lifestyle and desired maintenance level, and this definitely needs to be taken into consideration within the consultation process. For hairdressers, foiling techniques open the door to limitless creativity by mixing placements and sectioning patterns to create more bespoke, personalised results. In today's world of trending and inspiration-led hair looks, bespoke colour services are exactly what clients are looking for, and will be sure to set you apart from the competition.

If you want to learn more about foiling techniques and get hands-on experience with creating bespoke looks, then discover our education course with blonding expert and award winner, Brooke Evans. Discover placement strategies that maximise impact and enhance results, developed to help stylists work faster & smarter with greater confidence. Click here to find out more.