Chapter 5 – Foiling Placement and Technique
5.1 Weaves Versus Slices
Hair Texture vs. Hair Density
Hair texture and density will determine many aspects of our foil application, including how we weave or slice the hair. Some stylists and clients may confuse and interchange the terms texture and density, so let’s take a moment to differentiate the two.
- Hair texture, as we know, can be assessed as fine, medium, or coarse, and refers to the diameter of the hair strand.
- Hair density, on the other hand, can be assessed as thin, average, or thick, and refers to the actual amount of hair on the head.
It is possible for a client to have:
- Fine hair, thick density — meaning, small diameter hair strands with a lot of density.
- Coarse hair, thin density — meaning, large diameter hair strands with low density.
See the difference?
It is important to know the distinction and to assess your clients accordingly before you choose a technique.
Foiling Application Techniques
Before we get into how texture and density can affect your technique, let’s recap what the different foiling application techniques look like.
Comparing Foiling Techniques
Each of these techniques will give a different result on their own but will also look very different according to hair texture and density.
A fine weave that looks subtle and blended on a client with low density or fine hair texture will likely disappear on a client with thick density or coarse hair texture.
As well, a heavy weave that adds definition to the hair on a client with thick density or coarse hair texture will likely overwhelm and look stripy on a client with thin or fine textured hair.
Therefore, it is critical to understand that the definition of what each weave looks like will change when working with different textures and densities
To get a visual comparison, let’s look at the 3 weave techniques, and how they differ on two clients with different hair textures:
| Weave Technique | Fine Hair | Coarse Hair |
|---|---|---|
| Fine Weave | ||
| Medium Weave | ||
| Heavy Weave |
If you choose to use a slice application, rather than weaves, remember that no matter the texture or density, a slice needs to remain thin enough to achieve optimal saturation. However, you may choose to put back to back slices into hair with a coarser texture or thicker density to achieve the same level of impact.
Next up, how to use angles to your advantage!
Media Attributions
- All images in this chapter are by A. Magtiza and are under a CC BY 4.0 Licence.
The diameter of the hair strand. Texture can be described as fine, medium, or coarse.
The amount of hair on the head.