Traditional highlighting techniques, which we all were crazy about a few months ago, have suffered their defeat from a new hot method that will make your hair look naturally sun kissed. Balayage hair highlights represent a far more artistic way of getting that sun-kissed Victoria’s Secret Angel look.
In comparison with the regular cap trick, balayage does really border art and, unfortunately, not every salon expert is an artist. It includes literally painting highlights into the hair, an entirely freehanded technique that allows more flexibility and customization. Interested? Here are 51 beautiful balayage hair color ideas you will want to share with your hair stylist.
What Is Balayage?
Balayage is a special hair dyeing technique that leads to the perfectly natural, sun-kissed look, one most of us are born with as children. Balayage stands for sweeping/ painting in French and it implies using the hair dye across the hair surface without totally saturating the section until the hair tips.
1. Balayage from Roots
One of the best things about balayage highlights is that this technique allows you to create your own look. You don’t have to go blonde from mid-section, if highlighting from the roots feels more like you, go for it! We bet you wouldn’t need another color correction session in the next 3 months.
2. Smoked & Gray
Yes, you can see that balayage works pretty well with all hair lengths. So, if you have short hair and want a smoky look with grayish undertones, here’s the result you need! The only catch is that balayage will work best if you already have a light hair color for the gray tones to come out perfectly, without any unpleasant orange trapped in between. Otherwise, we hope your stylist is a beauty god!
@thekliniksalon
3. The Ultimate BB – Blonde Balayage
If you ever wanted to make your blonde hair look naturally highlighted, the foil or cap would still leave hard lines. Instead, you can opt for balayage blonde hair with blonde highlights! In fact, the highlights don’t have to be systematic and patterned, ask your hairstylist to add a lighter color around your face area, because that’s where the sun would naturally hit first. Wink wink!
@beauty_hair_2013
4. The Balayage Curly Bob
The best way of assessing subtle balayage highlights is by trying out a curly hairstyle. If they still look natural, it means your stylist did a good job. But if your curls start at the exact point where your highlights start, it’s a big no-no. With balayage, color blends softer as it falls down towards the ends, where it turns into the lightest shade on the composition.
@merytresjolies
5. Optical Illusions or More Highlights?
As we mentioned before, with balayage, you have more possibilities of adding unique features to your hair color. If you decided to get the purple highlights, go ahead and add some magenta or pink in between. It will play fantastically with lights and shadows, giving more depth and texture to your hair.
6. Chocolate and Caramel Balayage
What does a delicious spread of Nutella look like on a fresh morning toast? It surely doesn’t look monotone. Not at all! It’s spiked with curvy waves asking for your attention. If you were a chocolate surfer, that would be the top 1 wave to catch. But you’re not a chocolate surfer, so this beautifully done caramel and chocolate balayage will do the job. Note the many layers and intensity of shades.
7. Purple-Based Honey
This is yet another icy gray shade of blonde that was achieved thanks to balayage. The highlights don’t have to vary vertically; it’s a great idea to achieve a horizontal ombre look using balayage methods. Remember to use purple tones and a purple shampoo to preserve the original shade.
@leequinnhair
8. All for Browns!
A natural light chestnut color topped with different brown shades is another great idea. This is a more classic look that would never go out of style, even if the balayage era came to an end. One more super-helpful advantage is that you will do a lot less maintenance with brown highlights than any other color.
@daribhair
9. Low Maintenance Ombre
There’s one thing you have to understand. Badass balayage hairstyles require true commitment, a much stronger commitment than the one you promise to your boyfriend. If you feel you can’t afford the hours a certain style requires, go with this low maintenance, soft and blended brown ombre look. The transition is very smooth and goes well with updos and curly styles. Even if it’s a messy bun day, this hair color will add a stylish charm, and all that in less than 2 minutes.
10. The Dark Side
If you’ve set your mind on ombre, you will have to go light at the ends of your hair. So, a great way of keeping it dark overall is picking a darker second color. Try this combo of black and gold. Mix ashy and cold shades to get this flexible look.
@salonlindsay
