Balayage, Babylights, Ombre, Colormelting, & Foil Highlights: Have you heard these hair color terms? Are you unsure of what the the difference is and confused about which service you should get done?
Balayage, Babylights, Ombre, & Colormelting 101
I am sure you have heard of some of the many trendy hair coloring terms. There are so many different terms that it can be very confusing to know what each one means and difficult to make a hair appointment not knowing what to ask for. Follow along with me to learn the difference and see some examples of the different techniques for hair coloring that are trending such as balayage, babylights, ombre, sombre, colormelting, foil highlights, and more.
Balayage Explained
First up is our most popular request and most misunderstood service: Balayage! Balayage is a free-form hair painting technique for a more soft, natural look.
This technique is truly customized to each client and allows the stylist to be more creative while free-hand painting random sections of hair. Completely custom free-hand painting makes the highlights almost seamless allowing for less maintenance and more natural looking regrowth.
You might think that balayage is a new technique, but it has been used in France since the 1970’s.
Babylights Explained
Babylights is another technique where your stylist creates very fine, delicate highlights to create subtle dimension. A good way to envision this is to think of the natural varying tones in a young child’s head of hair. That is the goal for babylights! Babylights can be a time consuming service because very small sections of hair are used. When done correctly, babylights grows out very softly and naturally.
If you are ready to change your hair up from ombre or balayage, babylights might be perfect for your next service! Call your stylist at All Cut Up Salon and ask which technique they recommend today.
Ombre & Sombre Explained
Now this is where it can be confusing.
Ombre is a desired look it is not a technique.
Ombre is the gradual blending of one color into another. Now just because ombre and sombre are not a technique doesn’t mean it’s easy to do. When giving someone this look, each stylists goal at All Cut Up Salon is to make the blend as seamless as possible from each color to the next.
Ombre traditionally has darker roots which seamlessly fade into lighter ends.
Sombre is a more subtle version of ombre which uses less contrasting shades from the root to tip transition.
An ombre style trend we have been seeing uses vibrant colors such as Pulp Riot Hair color.
Color Melting Explained
Next up in hair color techniques 101 is the hair color term Color melting. Color melting is very similar to ombre but usually involves melting three or more colors together. There are many different variations of this including a look similar to ombre but with multiple colors or melting multiple colors on one strand of hair. This can really get your stylists creative juices flowing! Many of the vibrant or pastel colors are done this way but it definitely looks great with natural colors as well.
Foil Highlighting Explained
Last but certainly not least is our trusty friend Foil Highlighting! Foils are a great option if you want to have many contrasting colors, to create a pop of color in your hair, for a more drastic, defined look between each color, or can be done with a base color. Foils keep all of the colors separate while the color processes allowing more definition between each color.
With foils the possibilities are endless!
Many of these techniques we perform all at once to get the desired look our guest is wanting. While doing balayage, we may add in a few foils or babylights and then we may color melt afterwards to ensure an even, beautiful result.
We always love pictures for inspiration and if you are still unsure of what you would like you can call us today at 262-878-6455 to make an appointment for a free consultation. We can’t wait to see you soon!