What Is Balayage?
Contrary to a popular belief, balayage is not a look in itself. It’s a technique. Unlike traditional highlighting techniques, balayage is achieved by using colour or lightener applied freehand to the hair. With balayage, the colour is not concentrated in one area alone. Instead, hair dye is applied to specific sections hand-picked by the stylist. The result is subtle contrasts in tone, that seamlessly transition from darker roots to lighter tips.
The balayage technique creates a very naturally blended and lightened look. Its aim is to enhance your natural hair at the root by concentrating the colour application further down. Although typically associated with enhancing blonde tones, balayage can be used to form caramel, espresso, or even pastel contrasts.
What Are Highlights?
Traditional highlights are seen as the more conventional way to lighten and add depth to your do. To achieve highlights, aluminium foil is used to saturate particular strands of hair from the root to the tip. Because of this, a more intense and precise effect is created. With this technique, individual strands of hair are precisely sectioned out through a weaving process or sliced.
The result? A more pronounced contrast between the lightened strands and your natural base colour. As highlights start from the root and work their way down, they follow a more structured pattern to frame your face and provide a beautiful dimension to your mane.
What Are The Similarities?
The obvious similarity between balayage and highlights is that they are both lightening processes. Although each technique uses a slightly different method of colour application, they both can create a natural and sun-kissed effect. Or for more of a dramatic look
Additionally, both balayage and highlights if you choose lightner or we use a significant amount of. Lightner. Despite its ability to lift colour and lighten, lightner can cause a great deal of damage to your hair. Regular use of bleach can cause your hair to become dry, brittle and break. With either treatment, we’d recommend protecting your hair by accompanying any lightning with a conditioning treatment like Olaplex.
What Are The Differences?
Though both techniques are similar, the main advantage of balayage is that it requires less maintenance. In turn, this means fewer trips to the salon to touch up your hair. As the tonal shift from balayage begins lower down from the root, natural growth won’t leave you with harsh indication lines between appointments. Therefore, you can go as long as you’d like between appointments!
In contrast, highlights require much more maintenance. After your first highlight appointment, your stylist will likely suggest that you come back every six weeks or so to touch up your roots.
The beauty of balayage is its organic application. An experienced colourist will hand-select which sections or strands of hair to apply the lightener to. They will consider factors like skin tone, hair texture and any existing natural or artificial colours in the hair. Because of this, balayage can be slightly more time consuming, varying from different hair thicknesses, lengths and textures.
With highlights, your stylist should also consider your hair’s existing colour and condition. Due to its sectioning technique, highlights involve less thought for colour placement, meaning appointments are generally less time-consuming.
Which Option Is Right For My Hair?
Choosing between balayage and highlights can be a difficult decision. Although they are both similar, it all boils down to what you envision for your hair. Balayage is the way to go if you are looking for a more subtle and long-lasting change. For a slightly more intense lightening effect from root to tip, highlights can help to create more dimension from root to tip.
Whichever option you are leaning towards, our experienced stylists at Belle Amour can help you decide. We offer balayage and highlights at our Bagshot salon to help you transform your look with ease and confidence.
To find out more about our full list of treatments, please get in touch. Our team would be glad to answer any questions you have and assess the health and condition of your hair.
