Hand-Pressed Hair Color Will Give You the 3-D Dye Job of Your Dreams

Is this the beginning of the end for foils?

By
published
in News
Finger, Yellow, Orange, Nail, Paint, Rectangle, Toe, Foot, Art paint, Visual arts,
(Image credit: Design by Katja Cho)

If fluid hair painting piqued your interest, chances are you'll be just as intrigued by hand-pressed color AKA screen printing for hair.

Quite literally dreamt up by Redken colorist Chiala Marvici back in September—her trippy, slumber-induced vision consisted of layers of color living together on the same surface with a multi-tonal effect—the application continues to mesmerize us on Instagram. 

Reimagining not just how color is applied, but how it's mixed, Marvici uses a sheet of plexiglass as a canvas for swirling geometric hair designs, then transfers them to the strands by pressing in the color with a putty knife as opposed to just painting it on. This method not only leaves strands more saturated with color, but adds dimension and has a quicker process time as less blending is required. 

From holographic platinum to subtle sunset stripes, there's no limit to what hand-pressed color can bring to the table. And while the technique is still in its early stages and has yet to be widely-embraced, we've got to wonder—are traditional foils on the brink of extinction?  More and more they're seeming like the dial-up internet, to the newer, more painterly techniques' wifi.

Follow Marie Claire on Instagram for the latest celeb news, pretty pics, funny stuff, and an insider POV.

Lauren Valenti
Beauty Editor

Lauren Valenti is Vogue’s former senior beauty editor. Her work has also appeared on ELLE.com, MarieClaire.com, and in In Style. She graduated with a liberal arts degree from Eugene Lang College, The New School for Liberal Arts, with a concentration on Culture and Media Studies and a minor in Journalism.