How to Build Profitability with The Layback Foil Technique

As Shelly Malizola was building out her Allure Designs Salon + Boutique in Libertyville, Illinois, in 1996, she found herself shopping the community for beauty services. “There was a hipster salon in town, and I went there for highlights and they did a version of the service with me reclining in the chair,” she recalls. “Not only was it really comfortable, but what really sold me was the results because that position really allows the colorist to get the foils as close to the scalp as possible without getting bleeders.”

Intrigued, Malizola learned how to do the technique herself, and over the past 30 years, she’s continued to refine The Layback Foil as she’s taught it to generations of Allure team members. Now, Malizola is reaching out through her coaching company, The Beauty Cloud, and teaching the technique at other salons.

The Layback Foil is performed with the client seated in an all-purpose chair, which has hydraulics for raising and lowering it, but the chair also reclines. To help the client achieve ultimate comfort, Malizola rolls a towel and places it under the client’s neck and has a cute poof where they can rest their feet. “If a client has a bad back, I’ll also offer to put a bolster or pillow under their legs,” she says.

During the consultation, Malizola explains the benefits of the service and invites the client to close their eyes if they want. “They can bring headphones and listen to music or a podcast or they can continue chatting to their stylist, but we find most people simply decompress,” she says.

While it was the results that initially hooked Malizola, once she started performing the service herself, she realized additional benefits to both the service provider and the salon.

While the client is reclined, the colorist sits on a stool with their client’s head essentially cradled in their lap. “The client is reclined anywhere from 45 to 90 degrees based on the height of the stylist. Once I started performing the service, the first thing I realized is how much better it is to not to stand for hours and hours in the same position with my arms elevated,” Malizola says. “But in that position, you can more easily feel the client’s head shape, so I also teach how to place foils according to a client’s head shape.” Eventually, the client is returned to a seated position so the stylist can foil the back of the head.

Malizola doesn’t charge a different price for the layback highlighting service, but she says it has improved productivity and ultimately profitability.

“While a typical partial highlight takes around 45 to place the foils, in the reclined version it takes between 25-35 minutes, depending on the density of the hair and the look the client is going for,” she says. “In addition, a root-touchup color can be applied at the same time, saving time for both the client and the stylist. That’s where it is profitable, because a colorist because can more easily double book.”

While the client could process in the all-purpose chair, at Allure Designs, clients are escorted to a processing area, allowing the colorist to foil another client. “Or sometimes it’s nice to have that little bit of time built in to run to the bathroom, grab a drink or simply have a few minutes to breathe,” she adds. “It’s our go-to highlighting service and a great thing to market around.”

To see the potential benefit, Malizola quotes the numbers:

• The average highlighting service takes 45 minutes, and at an average price of $100, that’s an hourly rate of $125.
• The Layback Foil can be done in 30 minutes, and with the average highlight with root touchup service priced at $175, this can generate an average hourly rate of $350.
• The Layback Foil can result in a 20% increase in highlighting revenue within the first year.

When Malizola travels to another salon to teach the technique, she first demos it, but then works one-on-one with each colorist until they’ve mastered it. “I will be there for a few days and often take another educator with me, and each stylist will have a few models booked so we can sit with them while they do it for the first time,” she explains.

A salon does have to invest in all-purpose chairs to be able to offer the layback highlight service, but if they don’t have them while training, Malizola invites them into her salon and she teaches them there.

“One-on-one training works best, but sometimes I educate the lead colorist and she teaches the team members,” Malizola says.

A two-day workshop with Malizola and an additional educator runs $4,000, and Malizola is working to get her classes accredited, so stylists can earn CEU hours while training.

To learn more about The Layback Foil, visit thebeautycloud.com/layback.