What is Balayage?
The name balayage originates from the French word for “sweeping“. It is a very specific type of hair coloring, and it’s created by a hand painting technique that gives a very natural, blended look. The hair is painted in an upward and downward motion, the way you would stroke a paint brush on canvas. Because of this method, a balayage coloring will have no harsh or obvious regrowth lines showing through. As your hair grows, the color blends with it, making it a very low maintanence style.
The balayage has been around for decades, but it has made a massive come back into the hair industry in the last couple of years, not to be confused with highlights.
When balayaging, the hair is painted freehand, creating a beautiful and dimensional sun-kissed color, where as with highlights, foils are almost always used for coloring. That being said, sometimes a client’s desired balayage cannot be achieved without using these foils. That’s why in some cases, I like to use a foilage technique to give my clients the best results possible.
So, what is foilage? Foilage is tecnhique that involves painting the hair inside pressed foils.
When I’m creating highlights, one of my favorite techniques is to back tease each section of a client’s hair before applying a lightener. This insures the best transition between dark and light colors. I also like to take extra time around the face to create baby lights, also called ‘money pieces’. Baby lights are achieved by taking very small sections of the hair around the forehead into foils, and brightening them up to frame the face.
After all the foils are processed, and the hair is washed, I follow up with a toner or a glaze, usually a cool or warm tone to create the perfect color and shine combination.
These are just a few techniques that are offered at Alya Salon and Spa. I like to customize and combine these different techniques on each client to give them a one-of-a-kind signature look. Although these coloring services might take a couple of hours, they are well worth the wait!
Everybody has their own unique hair color, type, and style. I am looking forward to adding my magic to create your customized look.
By
SHANA MOUHSSINE
Creative Stylists Balayage specialist at AlyA Salon and Spa
