One salon-approved color trend is gaining serious momentum in a world of pumpkin spice highlights and mermaid hair. Meet babylights, aka micro highlights.
These pencil-thin strands of lightener mimic the natural wisps of lightness that are present in children’s hair. They’re smaller than regular highlights, which means they have a less noticeable grow-out process and can be maintained with fewer touchups. Click the Macrolights Hair to learn more.
If you’re considering going brighter for summer or are due for a blonde re-fresh, it may be time to explore the world of micro highlights. This hair coloring technique uses ultra-fine precision foiling to create a subtle yet impactful result. Unlike traditional highlights, micro highlight sections are much smaller, resulting in a soft dimension and more natural sun-kissed effect. Micro highlights are also versatile, allowing for customization and personalization to suit your unique style.
There are many different ways to achieve a stunning set of micro highlights, including foiling, balayage and babylights. Foiling involves wrapping individual sections of the hair in foil and applying a lightener, creating precise and controlled highlights. Balayage and babylights, on the other hand, use a freehand painting technique to create softer, more natural-looking effects. Both techniques can be used to add dimension and depth to your blonde locks, with balayage being the more popular choice amongst beauty enthusiasts.
Whether you’re looking to enhance your brow bones, soften your face frame, or add some shine to your crown, micro highlights can be used to illuminate any style. They are particularly great for highlighting curly or textured hair, adding volume and enhancing movement and definition. They are also a fantastic option for those with fine or limp locks, giving the illusion of fuller and thicker locks while still providing a sun-kissed finish.
Often, it’s the subtle pops of colour that make your hair stand out from the crowd. Micro highlights can be customized to fit any color palette and can even be used to create a fuller, fuller ombre effect. They can also be placed in specific areas to accentuate features or help balance out an uneven cut, such as a symmetrical bob. Because of their delicate, blended nature, micro highlights grow out a little more gracefully than traditional highlights, meaning they require less frequent touch-ups.
Micro Balayage
For a while now balayage, the specialised painting technique that creates a natural sun-kissed effect, has been at the forefront of hair trends. From 3D balayage (creating the illusion of length), to negative space balayage (allowing thinner hair more depth and movement) it has truly dominated. Now, however, a fresh new take on balayage has emerged, delivering a stunning and subtle alternative. Called microlights or baby lights, this hair colour technique is similar to a traditional foil highlight but with a more finely tuned finish. Essentially your hair is woven or sliced into sections then a lightener is applied to the individual strands, allowing colour to be deposited in a freehand style resulting in a more melted root effect. It’s less harsh than foiling and looks just as fabulous when your hair is up tied or down.
Regular maintenance with a full balayage requires touch-up appointments every 8-12 weeks to uphold the color and ensure a soft blend of the natural and colored hair. During these touch-up sessions the balayage colour is usually reapplied to the roots and mid-lengths, followed by a tone or glossing treatment. A high-quality shampoo and conditioner is also crucial for preserving the vibrancy of your balayage, as well as avoiding dryness and damage.
Partial balayage requires less maintenance than full balayage, with only certain areas of the hair being highlighted, such as the face or top layer. This technique delivers a natural sun-kissed look that is perfect for those who want to add dimension without committing to a full color change. It also helps to minimize noticeable regrowth lines by blending dye into the natural hair.
Foiling is a coloring technique that utilizes small sections of hair, and then using heat to wrap them up in foil. The colour is then applied to the hair, resulting in a gradual, ombre effect from the top down. Foil highlights require reapplications more often than balayage, as they have a tendency to fade quickly. However, with the right product and routine, your hair will be able to maintain a richer, deeper color for longer, especially when used in conjunction with a high-quality shampoo and conditioning products.
Micro Foiling
The foiling method of hair coloring allows for precise control and the ability to isolate areas of hair for different color applications. The technique is a perfect combination with balayage, where stylists use freehand painting techniques to achieve soft and natural-looking highlights. Foils also help the lightener penetrate the hair more deeply, allowing for more intense color development and higher lift.
Aside from the technical advantages of this technique, foiling is highly creative. Stylists can create an infinite number of multi-tonal effects, such as highlight lowlights or a full head of dimensional color. Foiling is also a great way to add contrast by adding strips of standout color. Foils can be used to introduce color in various widths, from delicate baby lights to larger chunks of strand–and the results are stunning!
When working with foil, be sure to work on a smooth surface. Foil can pick up scratches, glue blobs and dirt easily. Using a piece of glass or Plexiglass will allow for a clean and easy application. Also, a lint-free cloth can be used to wipe down the surface and reduce any dust. It is important to only prepare enough foil for one session. Foil will dry out and stick to the surface if exposed to heat too long.
When preparing artwork for foil stamping, it is important to make sure that it is created in vector, not bitmap or raster art. This is because bitmap/raster artwork will have jagged edges when cut on a die, which can result in uneven foiling. Vector art, on the other hand, has mathematical lines that will not have any problems when cut on a die.
Finally, if you’re going to be working with large blocks of foil mixed with fine detail, be sure that you use different releases on the same die. This will prevent having to reposition the release for each individual area, which can take hours and can lead to waste or even making the die unusable.
Micro Balancing
Microbalances have the ability to take a very precise measurement of the weight of an object or substance, down to a millionth of a gram. This type of precision is important for lab applications like pipette calibration, pesticide analysis, filter weighing and chemically sensitive samples.
Because of their extreme sensitivity, micro balances require a stable environment free from dust, air currents and temperature/humidity fluctuations for peak performance. A dedicated workbench away from vents, windows and doors is ideal. A microbalance should also be set up on a solid surface to prevent vibration.
Once the weighing system is calibrated by a qualified calibration service provider, it is important to regularly test your microbalance to detect any changes in performance during the calibration interval. Routine testing provides an early warning of a problem with your microbalance, and may help ensure accurate and reliable results for the duration of its working life.
Adam micro balances offer a variety of features to enhance performance, including an innovative adjustment system for linearity and repeatability errors, ambient conditions monitoring, and a specialized chamber for weighing filters. Additionally, most models have an auto-leveling feature to help ensure the weighing platform is properly aligned and the calibration isn’t out of spec.