Fresh, chic, and au-naturale sum up the balayage hair color trend. The word balayage stems from the French term balayer or ‘to sweep.’ The coloring technique involves an expert adding freehand, graduated color to your lengths. While it started off as another hair color trend, balayage has taken over as the last word of coloring techniques. Thus far at least! Here’s everything you need to know about it.
What is Balayage?
Simply put, balayage is a freehand hair coloring technique. Here, your hair professionals add color directly onto your lengths, giving them a natural, graduated effect. Unlike traditional highlights, which often make use of foils, balayage is strategically placed beneath your crown to mimic sunlight. The color is created to show how the sun's rays would naturally lighten your hair, resulting in soft, seamless transitions between shades.
Versatility is another reason why balayage hair color picked up. It can be adapted to suit any base color, length, and texture. Whether you have jet-black Indian hair or lighter lengths, balayage can be customized to work with your undertones. This helps you create flattering and dimensional results for every skin and hair tone.
Interestingly, there are different types of balayage you can explore and experiment with to create subtle enhancements or bold contrasts. With its natural finish, low maintenance upkeep, and ability to grow out without the need for constant touch-ups, the balayage hair color lives up to its hype.
Types of Balayage
If all its pros have put you on the lookout for the right type of balayage, here are a few options:
1. Partial Balayage
If you’re hoping to start slow, a subtle balayage is one of the best places to begin. The partial balayage hair color technique lays focus on only selective sections of the head, as opposed to the entire head. Partial balayage hair color typically begins at the topmost and frontal sections of your crown, to deliver a natural, sun-kissed hair color. If you’re looking to add a tinge of brightness to your look and skin tone, it can be the right choice for an all-over lightening effect.
Who’s it for?
If you’re looking for a chic, low-maintenance color that naturally blends into your hair in a few weeks, partial balayage is the best way to go. It’s ideal for those who want to integrate lighter shades and lifts into your lengths and don’t know where to begin. Considering your skin tone, undertones, and the color of your eyes, you can tailor your balayage to add caramel warmth, electric reds, or even chestnut gradients into your color palette. Ask your in-salon professional stylist to weigh in and adhere to ammonia-free hair color for minimised impact on your lengths.
2. Foilyage
If you’re conflicted between foiling and traditional balayage, foilyage is just the answer. The stylist begins by using the sweeping approach, similar to balayage, and then goes on to wrap the color in foil sheets to add to its intensity and clean precision. This allows your balayage to appear more pronounced with a smoother gradient. Foliage also helps you have more control over the tone, especially if you want brighter and more electric results.
Who’s it for?
This hair coloring technique offers a comfortable middle ground for dark hair. It is just right if you want to create a more vivid transition between roots and ends. If you have dense, medium to long lengths, foilyage helps you with the right intensity of balayage that looks subtle without getting lost.
3. Reverse Balayage
Opposing traditional balayage, where lengths are lifted for brightness, reverse balayage focuses on adding depth to selective portions of your hair. The hair experts go on to apply darker shades to your mid-lengths and ends, blending them with the natural root color. Reverse balayage can give your hair a rich, multi-dimensional effect by adding deeper tones, such as red brown, and mahogany.
Who's it for?
Reverse balayage is the right technique for those with lighter hair or those who wish to add richness to their already darker hair. With minimal bleeding and maintenance, this hair color helps you achieve a more dramatic, shadowed look that blends in with the winter and autumn palettes. It can also create the appearance of volume, fullness, and texture, helping you with a ‘dark - but not dark’ look.
Our picks for trying Balayage Hair Color
- - L'Oréal Professionnel Dia
When you’re starting the hair color journey, a demi-permanent Dia color is the right match. With no ammonia, optimal grey coverage, and a true-to-tone color, Dia helps you with six weeks of gloss color* in your personalised partial balayage.
*Instrumental & consumer tests. - - L'Oréal Professionnel iNOA
iNOA offers a lasting, rich hair color with unmatched grey coverage. With an ammonia-free formula, the professional cover offers optimal coverage for the reverse balayage.
- - L'Oréal Professionnel Majirel
Majirel delivers true-to-tone, lasting color results for your foilyage. It also helps with up to 100% grey coverage and a mistake-proof formula, making it the right fit for precise coloring techniques like this. With highly concentrated caring agents, Majirel opens up limitless color possibilities.
Caring for your Balayage
While balayage requires minimal upkeep, post-color care is still in order. Invest in a professional Serie Expert Metal Dx range to prevent breakage and preserve balayage hair color results.
Step into the endless possibilities of hair color with the in-salon professionals and expert-led hair color ranges by L'Oréal Professionnel. Find your nearest L'Oréal Professionnel salon to get a color consultation with My Hair iD and your color experts.