10 Tips For The Perfect Balayage Hair Color

Balayage is a free-hand painting technique where a stylist leaves roots exposed and highlights are painted into the hair without the use of foils. The traditional balayage is not a foilyage (using foils to lift), the process takes time, hair artists will capture the color you desire.  There are some secrets that are important to understand before opting for a balayage.  

With the balayage technique, hair highlights can vary from subtle to extreme, every inch of the hair is addressed with intent.  Focal points such as money pieces are extremely popular. As a color expert, I love to use this technique to enhance my client's best features and put less focus on areas of the face that may not need as much attention.

When it comes to a base color, black hair with shades of red, blond highlights, or any combinations of dark blond, light blond, ash brown to working with shadow roots, your hair color ideas can vary across the spectrum.

10 Balayage Tips

1)  Balayaging too often defeats the purpose, although the technique is time-consuming and the ticket price is higher, expect to visit the salon less often.

2)  Realistic results; understand that dark hair can not transform to light hair in one visit, especially when hair contains dye.  Most likely there will be an extra step of color removal prior to balayage.

3)  First-timers; this technique is not mechanical in nature, a hair artist needs to take time to create a seamless blend from natural hair to highlighted hair.  

4)  Sometimes a balayage can look messy, this is because the process is open-air or placed in mesh paper.  The mesh paper can feel cumbersome while processing.

5)  Realize pictures on social media are often filtered, some colors are unrealistic and may not be able to achieve.

6)  You may need to have your root "melted" into the balayage highlights, this allows for the perfect blending especially on dark hair.

7)  Balayage highlights are not just for blonde hair; different hues such as caramel, bronze, ash blonde, and bright blonde are quite common.

8)  Red hair can be balayage too!  We often use fewer highlights to keep the red color dominant and effervescent.

9)  Make sure to communicate with your colorist, we need to know what you want to achieve, a consultation should take as long as needed so that we are both on the same page.

10)  Invest in products suggested to keep your balayage in top condition.  Hair color oxides, therefore, some changes may occur.  High-quality products will help to keep your color as perfect as it was when you stepped out of the salon.

Diane addressed every area of her client's hair placing highlights in perfect places.

The balayage color technique is not going anywhere, overtime techniques and new shades evolve, but if you are looking for an eye-catching color - balayage is for you! 

Note: While there is a lot of fun to be had with a hair color chart and hair dye, if you have an existing hair color on your hair, you might need to be careful on the hair color remover and its process to achieve your baseline hair color to start from. While hair color trends for 2021 might get you ready for a fun season, taking the right precautions will get you there stress-free.