You want to elevate your hair game and have heard of balayage and full highlights. But which one should you choose, and what is the difference between them?

When comparing balayage vs highlights, both methods bring life and light into your hair. Balayage uses hand-painted highlights to achieve a sun-kissed effect, whereas highlights provide a more uniform lighting effect.

The debate about which one to choose is more than a trend; it’s about finding the right fit for your lifestyle and personality.

Key Takeaways

• Discover the subtle methods of your hair color using either method.
• Discover the application techniques that distinguish balayage from highlights.
• Understand how balayage provides a natural look compared to full highlights.
• Grasp the advantages of highlights to make styling a breeze.
• Recognize how to choose the proper hair color technique that suits your needs.

Did you know that balayage looks excellent with a layered haircut? Choose a layered cut, followed by balayage, to make your style truly stand out.

What is Balayage?

Balayage comes from  French, meaning “to paint” or “to sweep.” The balayage technique creates soft, sun-kissed highlights.

Instead of using a traditional cap or foil technique, our stylists at Hāste Urban Hair Spa employ freehand painting. This less structured technique gives a natural look.

At the same time, it enhances the natural hair dimension, and the results are uniquely recognized for a beautiful meld of colors that adds depth and is customized to make you look refreshed.

Another great technique is for those with shorter hair who want to lengthen it. We can also help you with custom color blending on extensions.

What Is The Balayage Technique?

Yes, you may think that balayage is a simple painting process. WRONG! The technique needs a steady hand and a discerning eye.

Unlike long hair highlights, our hair stylists use foils to paint the color onto your hair with a freehand style.

Hence, our talented stylists can apply color to specific sections of your hair where the light naturally shines.

We can provide you with a partial to full balayage or even apply mini-highlights to offer different levels of contrast and lightness.

Advantages of Balayage Highlights

• Balayage highlights offer low maintenance as the colors are strategically applied.
• The hair grows out naturally and has no hard demarcation lines.
• It would be best to have fewer touch-ups, a boon for your hair care routine and wallet.
• You can customize Balayage to work with any haircut or face shape.

Disadvantages of Balayage Highlights

• While it is easy to maintain, full balayage caramel dark brown hair highlights are more costly.
• To maintain the desired effect, you need to find a stylist who can achieve the same effect.

Does Balayage Work on All Hair Types?

Now, the big question is, is balayage right for you? You are an ideal candidate for balayage if you have uncolored hair but want to make a subtle color shift.

This technique is definitely for you if you want a straightforward approach without a strict salon schedule. Balayage will give you a natural yet relaxed look with soft or bold colors.

So, if you prefer a refined hairstyle that needs infrequent touch-ups, then balayage can become your best friend.

Let Hāste Urban Hair help you get a deeper, natural color today than a dramatic contrast created by highlights.

5 Different Balayage Techniques

With balayage, you can achieve a variety of looks with your hairstyle. It even presents you with excellent gray coverage, and some of the popular techniques are as follows:

1. Partial Balayage

With this technique, our hairstylist applies small highlights to specific areas of your hair, creating a spotlight effect. We use a combination of balayage and traditional highlight foiling. The stylist will part your hair to apply the highlights and cover them with foil to help intensify the color.

2. Full Balayage

The technique involves lighting your overall hair by applying the color throughout. This method completely changes the hair color and is an ideal technique for achieving a desired color.

3. Flamboyage

With this technique, for example, when doing balayage on brown hair, the stylist uses adhesive strips to create a mix of highlights and lowlights, achieving a multidimensional look.

4. Reverse Balayage

The technique is the opposite of your classical balayage, where the hair color becomes lighter to darker. The method is excellent if you want to return to your darker tone from a lighter one.

5. Babylights

With baby lights, our stylists apply fine yet delicate highlights to a small section of your hair to give it a natural effect.

How Long Does a Balayage Hair Process Take?

The balayage hair process can take different times depending on the steps applied. When having a balayage, consider these factors:

• The length of your hair
• The thickness of your hair
• Your hair texture
• The desired outcome and your stylist’s experience

If you want an experienced hair coloring salon with a proven pedigree, check out our services now.

After consulting with our hairstylists about your desired look, a freehand painting session can take 30 to 60 minutes, depending on your hair’s length and density.

Once the colors are applied, you must wait another hour before the stylist applies a toner and other haircare products to protect your hair.

A balayage can take anywhere from 90 minutes to 3 hours.

What Are Highlights?

Balayage has taken the spotlight recently compared to highlights. Traditional highlights remain popular if you want a timeless yet versatile hair color.

Having blonde highlights or even highlights for dark brown hair will add a dramatic dimension and will brighten up your new hairstyle.

Our stylists will use bleach or a lightening agent to create lighter hair strands, but you can also go bold with darker hair strands.

The Highlight Hair Color Technique

The technique used with highlights will depend on your hair and can involve a cap or foils. Still, after applying the lightening agent, your hair can be wrapped in individual foil strands.

With the foil technique, you get a precise placement, ensuring the lightener does not spread to surrounding areas.

We place highlights uniformly throughout your hair to give a uniform lift and different looks. Even using a standard highlight procedure can give you beautiful results.

Your hair will look as if depth is added to give you a refreshing look.

Advantages of Highlights

• Highlights, such as black and blonde, show your different levels of control and customization.
• You can adjust the thickness to the degree of lightening.
• It allows a notable change and can cover the greys well.

Disadvantages of Highlights

• Maintaining your highlights requires a significant commitment.
• Root growth is more visible with highlights versus balayage, resulting in more frequent touch-ups.
• It would be beneficial to have a solid hair care routine.

Do Traditional Highlights Work on All Hair Types?

Highlights are the way to go if you prefer a structured color pattern or want a pronounced color variation.

Highlights are fantastic because you can customize them to suit your hair goals. Foil highlights are an excellent option for addressing grey hair throughout your body.

It is a versatile technique that suits different hair textures and lengths for styling. Furthermore, you can find 13 different types of highlight techniques. Explore each one here.

4 Different Highlight Techniques

As with balayage, a customary highlight offers different techniques:

1. Foil Highlights

Using the foil highlight, we apply highlights with a lightning solution to paint or weave hair sections before wrapping them in foil to help intensify the color.

2. Chunky Highlights

The technique provides a visible yet intense highlight, enabling you to change your hair color with bold confidence.

3. Peekaboo Highlights

As the name implies, we create some hidden lighter strands under the top layer of your hair.

4. Babylights

With baby lights, we apply superfine mini highlights to delicate highlights in the hair. It gives a subtle yet natural look and seamlessly transitions from your natural look to color-treated hair.

Furthermore, there are two types of highlights: a complete and a partial highlight process. The full highlight involves coloring every hair strand from the root to the tips for a dramatic, bold statement.

Partial highlights are the opposite and color certain parts of your hair. So, we will lighten the top layer or selected sections, leaving the rest looking natural.

How Long Do Highlights Take

Whether you have highlights for men or women, the time it takes depends on the highlights you plan to have and the condition of your hair.

• Full highlights can take 2 to 4 hours, depending on the hair thickness, type, and length.
• Partial highlights can take 30 to 40 minutes and do not include cutting, processing, or styling.
• Half-head highlights can take up to 1.5 hours (consultation, color, application, and setting)

So, you can expect your highlights to take 30 minutes to 4 hours. After having highlights done, you will need touch-ups every eight to ten weeks to maintain your lighter color.

For more natural highlights, it is best to have touch-ups every 12 to 16 weeks. Touch-ups can vary depending on hair growth and the presence of highlights.

Balayage vs Highlights: Key Differences

The primary difference between the two techniques lies in their application. Balayage is an artful technique that involves hand-painting dye onto the hair.

Highlights using the foil method add a consistent patterned effect suitable for dark hair, or if you want a bold change.

Check out some of the comparisons to make an easy choice between the two here:

Feature	Balayage	Highlights
Application Method	Painting Freehand	Cap or Foil Method
Cost	$70 – $450	$20 – $350
Typical Look	Natural Soft Look	Uniform Structure Look
After Care	Lower With Fewer Touch-Ups	Higher With Noticeable Growth
Hair Types	Lighter Hair/Adaptable Textures	Dark Hair
Customization	Very Customizable	Less Customizable

Balayage vs Highlights: Pros and Cons

Feature	Balayage	Highlights

Application Method

Hand-painted, freehand technique

Foil or cap-based sectioning

Look

Soft, natural, sun-kissed effect

More uniform, dramatic brightness

Maintenance

Low-maintenance (can go 3–4 months between touch-ups)

Higher maintenance (every 6–8 weeks)

Hair Growth

Regrowth is more blended and subtle

Regrowth lines are more noticeable

Styling Flexibility

Great for natural, lived-in styles

Suitable for bold contrast and dimensional styles

Damage Level

Gentler on hair due to less saturation and spacing

More potential damage from frequent lightening and heat exposure

Cost (Initial Visit)

Higher upfront cost due to technique and time (avg. $150–$300+)

Often more affordable initially (avg. $75–$200)

Touch-Up Cost

Less frequent, but each session may cost more

More frequent and may add up over time

Best For

Those seeking low-commitment, natural, blended color

Those wanting high contrast, full transformation, or lighter all-over color

Which One is Right For You

So, which one should you choose, balayage or highlights? Yes, we often hear this question when people want to change their looks.

To make the right choice, Hāste Urban Hair Spa recommends you consider this:

• Your hair type
• The current color of your hair
• Your hair hue
• Hair care routine
• Personal preferences

If you have longer hair, balayage is a good option, as it makes the color sweeping easier. For shorter hair, highlights bring the color closer to the scalp, creating a more natural appearance. Alternatively, we use a combination of both.

The first technique starts with foils, and the balayage highlights are added between the new highlights to blend and soften the color. Alternatively, we can use the foilage approach, which involves starting with a painted color and completing it with foil accents.

Still, you can choose between balayage and highlights, and it’s best to pick the technique that fits your lifestyle and the look you want to achieve.

Also, learn about the differences between a single and double process for hair coloring.

Wrap-Up: Balayage Vs Highlights

As you decide whether to do balayage or highlight, consider which will add more dimension to your hair.

At Hāste Urban Hair Spa, these services come with benefits tailored to your hair type and style. Balayage is a good choice for a more blended look, one that is lighter than your natural hair color. Conversely, highlights will transform you with accentuated strands, but you will need more touch-ups.

Still, before you choose an option, let our professional stylists provide you with a consultation to protect your hair and make the right choice. Schedule an appointment with one of our stylists today and follow up with a hydration treatment to keep your hair looking great.

As important as choosing the proper technique is, ensuring you get the correct aftercare is just as important. Our stylists can provide you with expert advice on how to wash and maintain your hair for a vibrant appearance.

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