Balayage comes from a French word “Balayer” which means to sweep or paint. It is a ‘technique' where hair color is painted onto the hair to create a graduated or blended, softer, less stripy or streaky, more natural-looking highlight effect. These hand-painted highlights provide brightness and contrast throughout the hair while keeping a natural, “lived-in” look that is super easy to maintain.
It requires less maintenance than most hair color. Since the process is designed to give the grown-out roots a more attractive and natural look, it takes less work to maintain. Maintenance can be between 3-6 months between visits, depending on each person. However, we do recommend coming in at least every 8 weeks to get a toner as brassy tones can begin to peak through.
It is more personalized. Every balayage is different: Placement, gradation, and color is based on your hair color, texture, and length. It can be personalized to each client's preferences and to highlight or soften facial features. Our stylists always take into consideration clients skin tone and natural base color to determine which tones will work best for them. Please keep in mind when browsing through our that no two balayages should look the same.
It's trendy! Look at Kardashians and Chrissy Teigen, those are some gorgeous balayages!
The terms "balayage," "ombre," and highlights" are all various styles and techniques that refer to the same goal: lightening the hair. They can all be combined for your desired look.
In short, Ombre and highlights are a bit more of a style while Balayage is a technique. Ombre means shaded from dark to light. Balayage can be used to create ombre.
Highlights, on the other hand, are usually placed close to the scalp and they are will delivery more bright, noticeable lines of color woven throughout the hair.