What Is Balayage? Everything You Should Know About This Highlighting Technique

Balayage has remained a popular hair coloring trend in recent years, thanks in large part to social media. The freehand highlighting technique gives your strands gorgeous depth and dimension but without the upkeep of traditional foil highlights. It’s customizable, to boot. You can brighten your hair with a blonde balayage, add subtle depth with a warm caramel balayage, or opt for a reverse balayage to subtly darken lighter hair.

In short, if you’re looking to spice up your hair color without completely altering your base, balayage may be just what you’re looking for. Read on for the details on this hair coloring technique and learn how to balayage your hair at home for a fraction of the price of a salon visit.

What Is Balayage?

Balayage refers to a hair highlighting technique that involves brushing hair dye or lightener onto individual sections of hair to create a natural-looking sun-kissed effect. The balayage technique was developed by French hair colorists (balayage literally means “to sweep”) and is loved worldwide for its versatility. No cap or guide of any sort is necessary—instead, colorists place the highlights where they think they’ll look best. Balayage hair highlights are also typically well-blended with the rest of your strands, so there’s less contrast between your roots, base color, and the lightened hue. The result is a soft, natural-looking color with tons of dimension, a more gradual root, and none of the harsh lines that can occur with traditional highlights.

What Is the Difference Between Balayage and Highlights?

The difference between balayage and traditional highlights is that the former involves freehand painting sections of hair—often slightly down from the root—while the latter involves painting lightener onto the hair at uniform intervals. Additionally, balayage highlights are left to process in open hair, while traditional foil highlights (as the name suggests) are wrapped in foil as they process. In terms of what they look like, balayage tends to have a more natural, effortless look, whereas highlights are higher contrast and more intentional-looking.

If you're trying to choose between balayage vs. highlights, consider your ideal end result as well as how much maintenance you’re willing to commit to your color. Balayage is typically the lower-maintenance option of the two, as the highlights start a bit further down from the roots. In addition to creating that effortless, lived-in effect, this allows you to go longer between touch-ups. Traditional highlights, meanwhile, should be touched up every month or so, depending on how quickly your roots grow in.

Editor’s tip: If you’re familiar with foils and balayage, you might have also heard of foilayage. As the name suggests, foilayage combines elements of both foil highlights and balayage for a bright yet natural-looking color. For more details on foilyage, check out our article What’s The Difference Between Foils, Balayage, and Foilyage?

What Is the Difference Between Balayage and Ombré?

Whereas balayage is a highlighting technique, ombré is an all-over color that starts darker at the roots and gradually lightens toward the ends for a gradient effect. It’s similar in many ways to dip-dye, but the transition from one shade to the other is gradual. Additionally, balayage is meant to give your hair dimension and mimic a sun-kissed effect, while that’s not necessarily true of ombré. While you can achieve a sun-kissed look with an ombré hair color, it’s also a popular technique for those looking to embrace a fantasy hue, like purple or pink, without touching their roots.

Can You Balayage Your Hair at Home?

With the right at-home hair color kit, it’s absolutely possible to balayage your hair at home. To DIY this highlighting technique, reach for the L’Oréal Paris Superior Preference Balayage At-Home Highlighting Kit. The kit has everything you need to create beautifully blended balayage at home, including an expert applicator brush and toning mask to soften color at the roots and give your highlights a natural, sun-kissed effect. It is best for blonde and brunette hair and delivers multidimensional results without the high price tag of a salon visit. There are three shades to choose from: one for light to dark blonde hair, one for dark blonde to light brown hair, and one for creating a light brown balayage on medium to dark brown strands. Choose whichever shade best aligns with your natural base color.

12 Balayage Ideas We Love

We've gathered some of our favorite balayage hair ideas so you can get a picture of how this technique looks and determine which colors might suit you best. Keep scrolling for 12 on-trend ways to rock balayage hair.

Ash blonde balayage

If your natural hair color is on the cooler side—think mushroom blonde or ash brown—consider opting for a bright ash blonde balayage. It’ll help give your hair depth and dimension without adding any unwanted warmth to your cool base color.

Golden blonde balayage

If a summery, sun-kissed look is what you’re after, golden blonde balayage is hard to beat. Ask your colorist to use a combination of wheat, honey, and bronze tones for a multidimensional effect.

Vanilla blonde balayage

For a softer, less-stark take on platinum hair, consider a vanilla blonde balayage. This chic color features a soft and creamy blend of pale blonde, light gold, and shimmering champagne tones for an end result that’s neither overly cool nor obviously warm.

Caramel balayage

If you have darker hair, skip the bright blonde balayage and instead opt for a warmer caramel balayage. This indulgent hue brings both brightness and warmth to your base color for a tonal shade that flatters both fair and deep complexions beautifully.

Reverse balayage

Reverse balayage follows a similar application as traditional balayage—but instead of painting lighter streaks onto a dark base color, your colorist will hand-paint darker streaks onto a lighter base. This option is great for blondes looking to transition to a darker brunette shade.

Subtle brown balayage

If you have dark hair and want a subtle, but impactful way to add some dimension and interest to your locks, try a brown balayage in a slightly lighter shade than your base, with face-framing and gentle blending throughout.

Ash brown balayage

Like ash blonde, ash brown falls squarely in the “cool-toned” category. A lighter ash brown balayage is a great way to add brightness to a darker espresso base color sans any reddish or golden tones.

Golden brown balayage

Golden brown balayage can beautifully accentuate the golden undertones present in warmer skin tones. Opt for a lighter golden bronde hue if you have light or medium brown hair, or a deeper bronze balayage if you have a darker base color.

Silver balayage

Silver balayage is one of the coolest (pun intended) hair color trends of the year—and it’s a great way to blend grays without having to cover them up. If you’re blonde, lighter silver shades can help add brightness and dimension to your strands, while brunettes fare best with smokier silvers, gunmetals, and charcoal tones.

Copper balayage

Copper is another color trend we can’t get enough of. To achieve this beachy, summery look, ask your colorist for a blended combination of strawberry blonde, warm copper, and light auburn highlights.

Strawberry blonde balayage

Balayage isn’t solely reserved for blondes and brunettes. We love the way a deep strawberry blonde balayage brightens up red hair without detracting from it. If you’re wary of bleaching your enviable auburn strands, consider opting for a reverse balayage instead—warm-toned browns like chestnut and mahogany pair beautifully with red hair.

Pastel balayage

Last but definitely not least is pastel balayage. This playful look allows you to experiment with fantasy color without committing to an all-over bleach and dye job. If you’re not sure whether the colorful look is right for you, test the waters with a temporary color spray, like the L’Oréal Paris Colorista Hair Makeup Temporary 1-Day Hair Color Spray.

How Long Does Balayage Last?

One of the best things about balayage highlights is that they tend to grow out very naturally and can be fairly low-maintenance. Typically, there will be no harsh regrowth line, so you don’t have to worry about visiting the salon regularly for touch-ups.

But just because balayage tends to require less upkeep than traditional highlights doesn’t mean it lasts forever. How long your hair color will stay fresh depends on a few factors, including your lifestyle, the color you choose, and your haircare routine.

How To Maintain Your Balayage Hair Color

As with any dye job, there are certain things you can do to help maintain your color and keep your hair in good shape. We’re breaking down three musts below.

1. Use a strengthening shampoo and conditioner

As with all highlighting techniques, balayage requires lightening, which means you’ll need to bleach your hair. Bleaching your hair can cause damage, so it’s crucial to ensure you take proper care of your strands pre- and post-balayage to help ensure your hair looks and feels its best.

We suggest switching out your go-to shampoo and conditioner for a hair care system specifically for damaged color-treated hair, like the L’Oréal Paris EverPure Bond Repair system. The three-piece lineup features a pre-shampoo treatment, shampoo, and conditioner which work together to help strengthen weaked hair bonds from the inside out.

When washing your hair, be mindful of the water temperature, as hot water dry out your hair and contribute to premature color fading. Instead, wash hair in lukewarm water (or even cold water if you can withstand the chill).

2. Avoid excessive heat styling

Along with avoiding hot water, it’s a good idea to keep heat styling to a minimum to help prevent unnecessary damage. On the occasions you do use heat, always remember to prime your strands with a heat protectant. We love the L’Oréal Paris EverPure Sulfate-Free Weightless Blow Dry Primer, Heat Protectant, which protects against temperatures up to 450 degrees Farenheit and provides up to 48 hours of frizz control without weighing down your hair.

3. Try an at-home hair gloss

Glossing treatments can help deep condition your hair and add shine—and while you can go to the salon for a glossing treatment, it’s not necessary. Next time you’re restocking your haircare lineup, pick up the L’Oréal Paris Le Color Gloss One Step In-Shower Toning Gloss. The at-home hair gloss enhances hair color and tone, adds shine, and deeply conditions in as little as five minutes.

If you opted for a cooler-toned balayage, we suggest using the Cool Blonde shade. The violet-tinted formula helps neutralize unwanted brassy tones to help keep your ashy highlights looking their best. For warmer-toned balayage, we love the Honey Blonde shade, which adds a fresh tint of color that lasts up to 10 days. And if you simply want the deep conditioning benefits sans any added tint, snag the Clear version.

Next Up: 20 Best Blonde Hair Colors for Every Skin Tone

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