14.4 Chemical Service Simulations: Foiling, Haircolour Retouch and Relaxer

Chemical Service Simulations: Foiling, Haircolour Retouch and Relaxer

Exam Focus: Simulated products must be handled as if they were the actual product — that instruction is explicit and it is graded. The most commonly failed details here are back-to-back foils, forgetting the protective base on both relaxer areas, and combing the relaxer through when the specification says application only.

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1. Sectioning the Head

DOS opens the chemical services block with a single instruction that governs all three procedures:

You will simulate these procedures (foiling, haircoloring, and straightening/relaxing) in three separate operations. You will begin by dividing the head into four equal sections. You must perform each procedure on the designated section of the head. The virgin and retouch relaxer will be performed in the same operation.

Remember also that the chemical draping applied before the permanent waving panel remains in place for the rest of the examination.

2. Foiling Simulation (Virgin) — Right Front (15 minutes)

Specification: demonstrate three weaves and three slices.

Steps: set up supplies; when instructed, subsection the hair; complete three weaves; complete three slices; ensure one of each is demonstrated in the examiner's presence; remove implements no longer needed and set out supplies for the haircolouring retouch.

3. Haircolouring Simulation (Retouch) — Right Back (10 minutes)

Specification: a ½ inch colour retouch using ¼ inch subsections, with hair styling gel or cholesterol applied by the bowl and brush method.

Steps: set up supplies if not already done and wait to be instructed; apply the simulated product on subsections; remove implements no longer needed and set out supplies for relaxing.

The half-inch measurement is the point of the exercise. A colour retouch applies product to new growth only, and overlapping onto previously coloured hair causes banding and breakage — the principle taught in section 11.6. The examination is testing whether you can control the application to a defined band.

4. Chemical Restructuring — Relaxing Without Rods (25 minutes)

Virgin on the left front, retouch on the left back, performed in the same operation.

Steps: set up supplies if not already done and wait to be instructed; apply protective gel; perform the virgin relaxer using simulated product; perform the 1½ inch relaxer retouch using simulated product; remove implements no longer needed from the work surface.

The three most common failures here

1. Omitting or partially applying the protective base. The specification requires base on both the virgin and the retouch areas, applied in the same operation. In a real service this is what stands between a hydroxide relaxer at pH 11.5–14 and the client's scalp.
2. Combing the product through. The specification says application only. Combing through is a real-service step, not an examination step.
3. Applying the virgin relaxer at the scalp first. Section 10.5 covers the reason: body heat accelerates processing at the scalp, so virgin application begins away from the scalp and the scalp area is done last.

5. Clean Up of Work Area

When instructed, pack up your supplies and clean your work area, then wait for an examiner to dismiss you.

1. Properly store used implements for transport. Recall 19 NYCRR § 160.17(e): supplies and implements travel in covered containers, with clean items kept separate from used items and the containers marked according to their status.
2. Clean the workstation work surface. Sweep the floor area if necessary.
3. Pack up all supplies and implements. Unless otherwise instructed, you must take your disposables bag with you.
4. Quietly exit the examination upon dismissal.

6. Preparing for This Block

• Practise with the exact simulated products — gel or cholesterol — not with real lightener or relaxer. The consistency differs and so does the brush handling.
• Time the sectioning. Dividing the head into four equal sections is not allotted its own time; it comes out of the foiling clock.
• Rehearse the no-back-to-back foil spacing until it is automatic. It is the single most-cited foiling error.
• Practise the ½-inch and 1½-inch measurements by eye, since you will not be measuring during the examination.
• Handle every simulated product as if it were the real chemical, including gloves, base and drape discipline. DOS states this expectation directly, and sanitation and safety are assessed throughout the whole examination.