The Hair Secret… What is Balayage?

Ok so you probably heard this term bounced around a lot these days and thought ‘that sounds interesting, I will ask for that next time i’m in the salon’ but do you actually understand what a Balayage is?

As a hairdresser when this new technique arrived on the scene, one I found out it had really been around for a long time and two it wasn’t as easy as it seems.

Balayage is a free hand hi lighting technique where your hairdresser will paint directly onto your hair. This leads to you looking like you have a lot of fine lines over your hair which once they have been washed off will blend together. It is a softer look which typically looks like you have darker roots blending into a lighter look at the ends. I would say it typically looks like your hair has been sunkissed.

This is  a skilled technique and you have to be careful not to get the whole of the hair covered in colour and it needs to blend in with the natural hair so you will have a toner or a root shadow over the top which blends it in or adds more tone to the look. A lot of hairdressers will use a lightener or a bleach to lift it up and your hairdresser may use boards to apply it or even add some packets in to help get that flawless blend.

Here are some examples of the Balayage technique from our  hair Colorists at The Hair Secret Berkhamsted.

As you can see you get different looks depending on how soft or how bold you want to go, you can also go different colours as well.

I would recommend when going in to the salon to take pictures in with you to make sure you and your hairdresser are on then right track. Photos of what you don’t like as well are great then you both can decide what would work well for you and your hair and what is realistic.

With balayage as well if you want to go blonder it may not happen straight away, you have to consider a lot of factors, condition of the hair, is there any old colour in there? the natural base shade if it is naturally dark then it may take a few goes to get it up to a blonde look and finally what type of tone you want. All of these factors need to be discussed with your hairdresser before you start.

Last but not least make sure you use the right aftercare going forward, this will mean your hair will look its best and last. Ask your hairdresser what you should be using, we offer to analyse your hair and because we use products such as Oway we can physically change the structure of your hair and repair from the inside out.

Enjoy exploring Balayage and let me know how it goes.

Natalie xxx