Balayage is a technique used to paint hair color or bleach directly onto the hair without using any foils or heat applications. The art of hair painting (Balayage) is a process that gives more dimensional natural looking color. Balayage is not a replacement for foils. The technique gives an overall sun-kissed effect while foils will look more piecy – even if it’s a blended foil. Balayage can provide larger piecy sections of color on the hair, but for the most part, it’s still going to look very blended compared to a chunky foil. Balayage is gentler on the hair than other traditional highlighting techniques, as it doesn’t use heat like foils do. Aluminum foil conducts heat and can cause more damage to the hair than with Balayage.Balayage is perfect for a brunette who wants to go lighter all over or have a sun-kissed look rather than just all dark. It’s also great for natural blondes who want a brighter blonde look all over, but don’t want any pieces or stripes of blonde or for a blonde who is very light and wants an overall low-light effect.Depending on how your stylist applies the balayage and how large or small the sections are will affect how bold or subtle your balayage will turn out. One thing that is fabulous about Balayage is that is completely customized to your coloring needs and each client will get a unique look that is unlike anyone else’s. 
Foils are a great service for someone who wants color or bleach to come up right to their roots and doesn’t want to see any “grow-out.” Balayage does not go all the way up to the root so that is something you need to be prepared for! The way Balayage is typically applied starts with thick saturation in the bottom and middle areas of the hair strand and is swept up and feathered into the top of the section near the roots. By doing this, it creates more visible amounts of color or bleach on the bottom two-thirds of the hair, and leaves the top section with more of your natural or base color. If you like the idea of Balayage for an all-over effect but still prefer to have foils at the roots, you can always combine foils and Balayage, or color and Balayage, or a combination of all three. Ask me for ideas for your specific needs and together, we can figure out what is going to be the best option to achieve your ideal look. At Salon Bellissima we offer several balayage and foil services so please check our our site for more information or call us anytime!
