Balayage vs Highlights: Which Hair Trend Suits You Best?

Introduction

If you’re thinking about switching up your hair color, you’ve likely come across the terms balayage vs highlights. Both are popular hair-lightening techniques, but they create different looks. Choosing the right one for you depends on your style, hair type, and maintenance preferences. Let’s explore the differences between balayage and highlights, their benefits, and which option might be the best fit for you.

What is Balayage?

A French hair coloring method called balayage translates as to sweep or to paint. Instead of using foils, the colorist hand-paints the lightener onto sections of the hair, creating a natural, sun-kissed effect. This technique allows for a gradual transition of color from the roots to the ends, resulting in a seamless and low-maintenance look.

Key Features of Balayage

• Balayage is a freehand technique that is hand-painted.
• This looks natural and feels soft.
• Balayage works on various types of hair and lengths.
• Compared to normal highlights, this is very low maintenance.

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What are Highlights?

Highlights are all about using foils to brighten certain strands of hair, giving you a more polished and organized appearance. The foils help the lighter work its magic, leading to a striking difference between the highlighted and non-highlighted parts. This method is perfect for anyone looking to make a bold color transformation.

Key Features of Highlights

• Highlights use foils for precision.
• Highlights contrast is more noticeable than balayage.
• This is suitable for all hair types.
• This requires regular touch-ups to avoid visible regrowth.

The Main Differences Between Balayage vs Highlights

Features	Balayage	Highlights
Application	Hand painted	Foil technique
Maintenance	Low	High
Suitable For	Natural, blended looks	Stronger contrast, Structured styles
Effect	Soft, Natural	Defined, Bold

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Balayage vs Highlights: Which One is Better for Your Hair Type?

Balayage is perfect for medium to long hair. Short hair highlights often benefit more as they provide structure and definition. Balayage is also suitable for curly hair, as hand-drawn technology follows a natural curly hair pattern. On the other hand, highlights also work with curly hair, but you need to carefully select the placement to avoid hard lines.

Balayage vs Highlights: Which One is More Versatile?

Balayage vs highlights is difficult. It’s all about which one is most suitable for your hair goals. Balayage and highlights both add proportion and brightness to your hair; their adaptability depends on your hair type, lifestyle, and which type of look you want. Balayage offers more effortless adaptability and texture to your hair, and highlights elevate your hair’s precision and bold transformations. Balayage and face-framing highlights are the best of both.

Can You Combine Balayage and Highlights Together?

Yes, of course, Many people combine both balayage and highlights to get the best result. Adding a few highlights on a balayage base can create more proportion, and rooted balayage with highlights can give a natural, bright look. If you were not sure about choosing just one, ask your hairstylist to create a blend of both that suits your hair goals.

Which One is Healthy for Your Hair?

Between balayage vs highlights, both techniques require lightening your hair. However, the difference is in the process. Balayage is less harmful to your hair because it does not require aluminum foil and uses less bleach. On the other hand, highlights may be more harmful due to the sheet and frequent touch-ups. Balayage vs highlights, whatever your choice, appropriate hair care is important for maintaining healthy and shiny hair.

Balayage vs Highlights

Balayage or Highlights: Which One is More Expensive?

The price of balayage vs highlights techniques varies based on salon location, stylist expertise, and hair length. But balayage is more expensive due to the time and skill required, but highlights cost less compared to balayage. Highlights require more frequent touch-ups, which makes highlights more expensive over time.  If you don’t want to go to the salon frequently, then balayage is a better option in the long run.

Maintaining Balayage or Highlights

Balayage vs highlights, whichever you choose, keeping the color is your main goal for a good look. For maintaining balayage or highlights, use a sulfate-free shampoo (Kristin Ess Hair Signature Salon Sulfate Free Shampoo, Moroccan Argan Oil Shampoo and Conditioner Set, Pureology Hydrate Moisturizing Shampoo) to prevent color fading of your balayage or highlights, and apply a purple shampoo (Olaplex No. 4P Blonde Enhancer Purple Toning Shampoo, Matrix So Silver Purple Shampoo, Redken Blondage Color Depositing Purple Shampoo, milk_shake Silver Shine Purple Shampoo) if you have blonde balayage or highlights to avoid brassiness. Regularly trims your balayage or highlights to keep your hair looking fresh. Use heat protectant sprays (Olaplex No. 9 Bond Protector, COLOR WOW Speed Dry Heat Protectant, amika blockade heat defenser) to prevent damage. Lastly, give a thought about gloss treatment to refresh the color and add shine.

Conclusion

The decision between balayage and highlights is your personal preference, hair goals, and requirements. If you want a natural yet low-maintenance look, balayage is best for you, and if you love a bold and structured contrast, highlights will be better for you. But first, make sure to consult with a professional hairstylist who can tailor the look to your unique hair type and color. After all, good-looking hair boosts your confidence and versatility.

Balayage vs Highlight

• Between balayage and highlight which one looks more natural?
  Balayage looks more natural because of the seamless blend with your natural hair color.
• Can I get balayage on dark hair?
  Yes, balayage works good on dark hair.
• How long balayage and highlights last?
  Balayage can last 3-6 months, while highlights typically need touch-ups about every 6-8 weeks.
• Between balayage vs highlights which one is better for covering gray hair?
  Highlights are better for covering gray hair because they offer more proportion to your hair. However, balayage can also help cover gray hairs naturally.