Suki's Hair Salon - My First Balayage

Do blondes have more fun? I’m not sure but I’m getting closer there with the lightest hair color I’ve ever had! I recently got my first balayage at Suki’s Hair salon and I love the dimension that it gives my hair!

The Result

Okay I’m going to get right to it and show you the before and after! When I first saw my after photo, my reaction was that it wasn’t a lot of color. It wasn’t until when I compared to my before photo that I realized how much lighter and more dimension my new color gives my hair!

Here’s my black hair. I’ve had it colored once in a salon before about 5 years ago in Hong Kong, but honestly I barely had any color. I’ve also used box dye twice and never had any luck with color showing in my hair. To say that it’s stubborn would be an understatement.

My inspiration is an ashy brown hair color but through research, your hair needs to be quite light to be toned to that shade. So I trusted my colorist, Ashley, to see where she can get me in one session. In this after photo, the color looks a lot warmer than how I see it in person. However, I definitely see some of the ashy tone and medium brown especially the hairs framing my face. I love that when I braid or curl my hair now, there’s much more interest and dimension and I’m excited to go even lighter in the future!

About Suki’s

Suki’s Hair Salon is one of the most well regarded hair salons in Vancouver. There are five locations (Downtown, Kitsilano, South Granville, Richmond and South Surrey) across the lower mainland. What sets them apart is that all of the stylists and colourists are trained inhouse through Suki’s Academy.

I visited the Downtown location and was blown away by how upscale the facility is. The reception area is bright, spacious, and filled with salon products. The salon area is broken up into a few sections. The cut/style area are the typical chair and mirror set up. Then the middle section is for coloring. Clients have a selection of magazines to choose from and the seats are around a table or by the mirror.

Here is the pricing of the services they offer. The prices are usually noted with a + as the price listed would be for a junior stylist.

Suki Academy

As I mentioned above, all the colorists and stylist working at Suki’s must have graduated from the prestigeous Suki’s Academy. From talking to the staff, they all take it seriously as a career and not just as a job. The pass the final exam, the stylist has to prepare 12 different looks in 3 weeks to show the judges!

Rule of the 3 Levels

I did a bit of research on hair color before going in. Before you start fantasizing about your platinum blonde hair, you should learn about the 3 levels. Your hair color is on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being the darkest. To keep your hair healthy, the recommendation from hair stylist is that you should stay within 3 levels. Since I started with black hair, the lightest I can go is a medium brown.

However, you can usually go back to the salon in about 3 months time to move up another 3 levels!

The Process

I was pleasantly surprised that my coloring session only took about 2 and a half hours. I know some people spend 5-6 hours at the salon for a full hair color.

The technique that my colorist used is called foilage. It’s similar to painting on color like balayage, but then it is wrapped in tin foil. Since my hair is so dark, this is the best method. The foil helps to amplify the effect of the bleach by trapping the heat and allowing it to reach all sides of the hair surface! The product being used was the Blond Studio lightener by L’Oreal Professional. This process took just under 1 hour for my whole head.

Next, I sat around and waited for about 50 minutes while the lightener worked itself in my hair. There are magazines around the salon. You also have a space with a table surface so you can easily bring a laptop if you needed to get work done.

Once the time is up, I was taken to the Spa room which is where all the wash stations are. The room was large, spacious and very clean! I’ve never seen so many wash stations in one salon before! I had an assistant to the colorist undo the foils and apply the toner. In order to counteract any unwanted colors, a toner is essential especially if you want a cool tone look. This process took about 30 minutes.

How to Care for Your Colored Hair

I’ve never really had my hair colored before so I had no idea what I can or can’t do. From what I read online, it is best to wait 72 hours before you wash your hair. But I don’t think that’s actually necessary so check with your stylist. Also, I thought I should avoid hot tools right after I got my hair colored. But I received a hair cut and style right after which included blow drys and curling irons. So I think it’s safe to use hot tools right after getting your hair colored!

I am so so happy with how everything turned out! If you want a stress free hair color experience from people who know the craft, I’d highly recommend checking out Sukis. I’ve heard of so many horror stories that I didn’t want to take any chances. I have a beautiful lighter brown color in my hair now and it still feels healthy and soft.

I received a complimentary service from Suki’s Salon.