Balayage vs Highlights, Which One to Choose for Your Hair Goals in 2024

Table Of Content

• Limit Heat Styling
• What Is Balayage? Stylists Explain The Benefits, Cost, and More
• What Are the Different Types of Highlights?
• Customer Care
• Balayage Vs. Highlights: Which Style is Right For You
• Balayage vs Highlights: The Hair Color Pros Break 'Em Down
• Balayage vs Highlights: Here’s the Difference, Pros & Cons of Each Technique (Lightening Process Guide & Tips)
• #8: Bright Golden Blonde Highlights with Balayage

The main difference between balayage and highlights is that balayage is a visual hand-painted technique, whereas highlights will almost always use foil. Additionally, balayage will give more subtle results than traditional highlights. Where you can get traditional highlights of any color, highlights done using the balayage technique tend to be a couple of levels lighter than the base color of your hair. This makes it seem more natural because the blend should be seamless. Foilayage, as you may have been able to guess by now, is a combination of foils and balayage. The process involves your colorist hand painting highlights throughout your mane before wrapping each in a sheet of foil.

Limit Heat Styling

Partial highlights can also be placed strategically around specific areas of the face. Doing this accentuates your best features and adds volume to thin hair. As you can see in the examples above, the full balayage boasts a splashy gradient while the partial highlights create a more laid-back look. Regardless of the technique you use, lightening your hair can cause severe structural damage. So in the weeks leading up to your appointment, use plenty of strengthening and hydrating hair treatments. While the technique might not look very complicated, it’s surprisingly tricky to get it just right.

What Is Balayage? Stylists Explain The Benefits, Cost, and More

In the realm of hair coloring techniques, the choice between Balayage and Highlights can be pivotal for your desired look. Balayage offers a natural, sun-kissed effect with less maintenance, while Highlights provide a vibrant and defined appearance. Understanding the process, upkeep, and personal preferences is crucial in making the right decision. Consulting with your hairstylist for expert advice tailored to your hair type and lifestyle is key. Remember to follow care tips to maintain the longevity and vibrancy of your color-treated hair. While it’s better to choose balayage or highlights upon discussing your hair goals with a pro, you may figure out the right direction depending on how dramatic your color change should be.

What Are the Different Types of Highlights?

While highlights typically cost between $75 to $150, balayage prices range from $75 to $500. The application process for lowlights is nearly identical to the one your stylist uses to give you highlights. When you get cap highlights, the stylist will place a plastic cap with dozens of holes over your hair. Then, they’ll pull out thin slivers of hair through the holes and lighten them. There’s nothing quite like that beachy, sun-kissed glow you get from highlights.

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Babylights vs. Highlights — What's the Difference? - Hair.

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You need to refresh your balayage once in 3-6 months, and the retouch period for highlights usually ranges from one to three months. The most common type of this technique is the full balayage, when all hair is highlighted. In the 90’s balayage became trendy in the USA, but only now this technique reaches its maximum popularity. At some salons almost 90% of dye jobs are different types of balayage!

If you want natural-looking dimension and low-maintenance color, balayage is your highlighting technique match. The process will add some subtle dimension to your strands without changing your root color or lightening your strands too much. Additionally, if you have dark hair that you want to upgrade without tons of maintenance, this will be the best method for you because it will avoid a harsh line of regrowth.

Balayage vs Highlights: The Hair Color Pros Break 'Em Down

However, it’s also vital to consider which technique goes best with your natural hair color or base color and your hair type. In a partial balayage, color is applied to select areas of the hair instead of the entire mane. Because stylists focus on coloring certain sections, the result may resemble full highlights.

Balayage vs Highlights: Here’s the Difference, Pros & Cons of Each Technique (Lightening Process Guide & Tips)

That’s because this technique is best for delivering a natural look as the process involves your colorist hand painting your hair for a seamless, sun-kissed-inspired head of highlights. Balayage highlights also typically feature a lived-in root, making the look low-maintenance. For lighter natural hair colors, balayage is the best route for natural lighter sections.

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Balayage Gets a Modern Update: Introducing the Foilayage Hair-Color Technique.

Posted: Fri, 05 Aug 2022 07:00:00 GMT [source]

#8: Bright Golden Blonde Highlights with Balayage

Touching up your roots will also cause the color and already dyed hair to overlap, and bleach over bleached hair is damaging. However, with balayage, you can lighten already lightened hair over and over again, which will also be damaging. Balayage is very low-maintenance and doesn’t need a lot to keep up with.

"How dramatic you want the look to be, the hair texture, and the length of the hair are some things to consider," says Rivera. This balayage beautifully infuses the medium brown base with bright streaks of blonde getting denser toward the bottom and front. The sharp shape and pin-straight texture of this bob create a perfect canvas to showcase a nice range of purple-tinted shades. The best way to find out which is the right approach for your hair and your color goals is to chat with a pro. We highly recommend that you book a consultation before your visit, and we offer consultations virtually so you can get all your questions answered before coming into the salon.

To soften the angles stylists often highlight hair at the jawline and temple areas. Long face shape like deeper darker roots, lighter streaks above the ears and at the ends. Heart faces look more balanced with dark roots, and balayage highlights under the jawline.

There's no bad option, only two excellent-in-their-own-way choices. One's a little bit more polished and traditional, the other a touch looser, more freewheeling and—yes ok—probably a bit cooler (sorry Macca). Jessica (she/her) is a deputy editor at the Good Housekeeping Institute and a longtime product tester, reviewer, writer and editor of beauty and lifestyle content. You can usually find her sorting through piles of beauty products — and testing the best ones on camera. To book your next balayage or highlighting appointment, visit StyleSeat to find a stylist near you.

Highlights require touch-ups every 6 to 8 weeks, although you can make them last longer with proper hair care. These two techniques create the illusion of thick, lush hair by using color contrasts. But because straight hair is all lines and no bends, highlights may look quite harsh on it. As such, most stylists recommend highlights for folks with gray hair, whether the goal is to conceal or accent. Foil highlights can also bring life and body to thinning grays, providing more depth and dimension. Keep in mind that while highlights complement red hair in general, they can make your overall hair color err on the brassy or overly loud side.

Instead of harshly patterned sections, lighter strands are subtly and expertly woven in with your natural, darker color for a truly natural and eye-catching result. Whether you want to add in platinum, strawberry blonde, or a deep caramel color, either of these lightening techniques could be the way to get the results you want. Find out if it’s really balayage or highlights you want by learning all about each in our guide. That’s why it’s essential to know what makes balayage and highlights different, what the finished results look like with each, the cost differences, and what each look is best for.

This is a ‘two-in-one’ mix of the ombre-ed style and a balayage technique. Generally speaking, it is a dark-to-light shading with balayage highlights on the mid-shaft and ends. A trendy reverse balayage (inverted balayage) is created for blondes and brondes, and uses darker colors (browns, grays) at the ends. Contrasting colors are used, so it is quite high-maintenance. Since balayage requires more extensive coverage of the hair as well as a customized hand-painting technique, it typically costs more than highlights.

"We look at the hair as a whole and find the pieces that would accentuate certain features or a specific haircut. My clients love it because it’s more tailored to them." Maintaining the beautiful results of balayage requires the right hair care routine and products. Use shampoos and conditioners specifically formulated for color-treated hair to help preserve the vibrancy and integrity of the color. Deep conditioning treatments and hair masks can also help nourish and hydrate the hair, keeping it healthy and vibrant.