Hair trends come and go so often that it can be hard to keep up. As soon as you get around to getting those bold highlights everyone loves, they’re out of style and you suddenly look like you’re behind the times. And if you’re part of the 50% of American households living paycheck-to-paycheck, hopping on the next trendy train may not always be in the budget. Luckily, there is one coloring technique that never goes out of style and works for any lifestyle: balayage.
Even if you may not know what balayage is, you’ve certainly seen it before. Everyday women as well as those on screens and magazines sport balayage hair color all the time. Let’s take a look at what exactly this technique is and how you can bring it into your life.
What is balayage?
Although balayage may be a more recent beauty buzzword, it is a highlighting technique that French colorists created in the 1970s. Amidst the era’s propensity for flower power, thigh-high boots, and anything with fringe, colorists started adding highlights with a freehand technique rather than with foiling or caps. The word balayage even means “to sweep” in French, giving you an idea of the motion colorists adopt for this method.
In general, the goal of balayage is to give you sun-kissed, natural-looking locks. Balayage highlights have similarities to ombre highlights, but they are not as dramatic. While ombre typically shows a sharp gradient from a dark shade at the roots to a light one at the ends, balayage is typically a more subtle transition between tones. As the colorist at the hair salon has more freedom when applying color with balayage, highlights look more natural and can even brighten or frame your features. Highlights from foils, in contrast, will often create a very uniform finish that doesn’t look as natural.
Who can get balayage highlights?
One of the best parts of balayage is that it works for pretty much anyone. Although you may often see balayage highlights on blonde hair, it works for any hair color. Balayage simply takes lighter tones of whatever color you want and adds it in complimentary sections throughout your hair. Reverse balayage is even growing more popular, in which light hair is closer to the roots and darker hair is woven throughout your locks from the middle to the ends.
Hair length and texture also aren’t restricting factors for balayage highlights. Colorists can apply these natural highlights to short lobs or long locks and they’ll look good on either style. Curly hair even takes well to balayage, as colorists can pick out the right curls to highlight. Balayage also works with any type of personal style. It doesn’t matter if you’re a simple t-shirt lover like the 62% of Americans who own more than 10 shirts or you prefer to only wear designer dresses and jumpsuits out of the house. Balayage will compliment your unique aesthetic with an easy and polished ‘do.
If you’ve never dyed or highlighted your hair before, balayage might be perfect for you. As a subtle highlighting technique, it doesn’t completely change your hair color. Balayage highlights are perhaps the most low-maintenance highlights you can get. Although hair grows half an inch per month, you won’t have to make appointments at the salon every few weeks for touch-ups. Balayage highlights look natural and intentional as they grow out, allowing you to get it re-done whenever you please.
What should you know before getting balayage highlights?
Balayage may be a more hands-off style for you, but there are a few things you should know before you plop into a colorist’s chair. The first is that you will need to have your hair bleached. Balayage is a lightening technique and it needs that initial bleached blonde to work. To help keep your hair healthy after this bleaching, you should be a part of the 51% of U.S. consumers who report using hair care products. This will help keep your hair from breaking and make it feel soft and natural.
If your starting color is dark, it will probably take more work to achieve the result you want. This is especially true the lighter you want to go. You may need to schedule multiple highlighting sessions, depending on what you start with and what you want your hair to look like. While the average woman already spends about $144 a year on beauty products, these multiple sessions can add up. If you decide to dedicate this much money to getting balayage highlights, be sure that you go to a colorist you trust and that you bring plenty of reference photos so that they know exactly what you want.
Now that you’re armed with information, you’re ready to change up your look with some balayage highlights. Do a little research to find an example of the balayage coloring that you want for your locks and then call up your hair salon. You’re sure to love the natural highlight balayage gives you and you’ll love its ease even more.
