The Process
There are several methods your colourist can use to get your hair to smoky blonde, like foil highlights, balayage, or some combination of techniques. Ramirez prefers to do a combo of foil techniques, starting with more traditional foils around the base of the head to break up the natural colour, which helps the overall effect look more natural. He then goes back through and back-combs certain sections. "I back-comb the pieces I don't want to lighten, and then lighten the piece that's left out," Ramirez said. "When the hair comes back down it's stronger and makes the colour blend nicely."
With that in mind, Ramirez emphasised that there shouldn't be a stark difference between the base colour and the blonde — the top priority for your colourist should be blending the colour to make the final look seem as natural as possible. Ramirez also does several rounds of toning and glossing to make sure the colour is just right from the base of the head all the way to the ends.
No matter what technique your colourist uses, prepare to be in their chair for several hours — when getting highlights of any kind I usually allocate four to five hours to being at the salon.