Balayage Hair – The Ultimate Guide
Balayage. Just the word sounds so sophisticated, probably because it is French. In French, it means “sweeping,” and essentially, that is what you get when you ask for balayage, a gentle sweeping of color that creates a natural, almost “lived-in” look. Yet, that description still doesn’t quite capture the beauty of this coloring technique. Think of tresses that have turned just oh-so sun-kissed as you’ve laid out on a golden sandy beach all summer long. Or the ever-elusive ideal where your roots are just perfectly grown out and your ends are gorgeously glowing with a subtly lighter shade. (Yeah, like that ever happens in real life!)
What is balayage? The team at Therapy Hair Studio demystifies the term and helps you decide if the technique is right for you.
What Is Balayage?
Balayage isn’t just a hair-industry buzzword to get you to spend more at the salon. It is a technique where a colorist will free-hand paint soft and flowing highlights onto the hair. By painting the hair with a lighter shade, a colorist can achieve a subtler and more graduated highlighting effect. Think soft ribbons as opposed to stripy highlights.
What’s the Difference?
Balayage is sometimes hijacked as an umbrella term for color. It isn’t. Asking for a balayage will give you very different results than highlights or even ombre. Ombre is a similar technique, but the results are much starker and more dramatic between the colors instead of the natural transition created by balayage. Highlights and lowlights also employ a different technique where stripes of color are placed closer to the scalp. Most colorists will use foils to create highlights and lowlights.
The Benefits of Balayage
Since the technique creates a more natural, softer, highlighting effect, it is much easier to maintain. The technique is meant to give the appearance of “grown out” roots but in the most beautiful and flattering way possible. Opting for a balayage can mean fewer trips to the salon. It can also mean much less work to maintain than other types of coloring processes. This technique also tends to be less damaging.
Another benefit of balayage is that because it can be more of a sweeping, free-hand technique, your results can be different than anyone else’s. You will have a unique and gorgeous look all to yourself.
Who Can Get Balayage?
Balayage isn’t just for blondes. The technique can create beautiful results on a variety of different hair colors. Balayage can brighten blondes but also add dimension to brunettes. Talk to a colorist about your hair color goal and the amount of maintenance you want to put into your color. From there, an experienced colorist can determine which shades will give you the optimum color result. Caramel, golden, ash, and chocolate colors can all create beautiful results depending on your base color.
Balayage is a beautiful color technique that can add a subtle and natural brilliance to your hair color.
Ready to take the plunge? Contact the experienced coloring team at Therapy Hair Salon in Houston today for an appointment by calling (713) 355-HAIR. We want to help give you the hair color of your dreams. Bring us your dreams today.