BALAYAGE, FOILYAGE, AIRTOUCH
- Balayage: Colorist hand-paints highlights onto the hair, creating a natural, sun-kissed look.
- Foilyage: Colorist combines freehand application of balayage with the precision of foiling.
- AirTouch: Colorist uses a blow dryer on cool setting to separate and highlight fine strands of hair to create an even more natural blend of colors with a seamless transition between shades.
Balayage is a French word meaning “to paint” or “to sweep.” It’s a freehand hair coloring technique which gives your hair that subtly blended multi-dimensional multi-layered multi-tonal sun-kissed natural-look preferred by sophisticated celebrities – with fewer harsh, obvious re-growth lines between salon appointments.
The hair colorist hand-paints soft pieces of color from your hair roots to hair tips. Technically, it’s a
highlighting technique. However, don’t confuse it with the traditional foil highlights of yesteryear. No more sitting in the salon under heat, with numerous foils, in your quest to become blonder. Today, balayage has overtaken traditional foil highlights as a more modern way to brighten and lighten your hair.
- Classic (half head or full head): Involves hand-painting highlights onto the hair for a sun-kissed look. The hair colorist carefully selects parts of hair to highlight, creating a natural, blended effect to mimic the way hair naturally lightens in the sun.
- Ombré (half head): Blends two or more colors, transitioning from darker hair roots to lighter ends for a dramatic effect. This technique adds depth and dimension to the hair, creating a bold, dramatic statement-making look.
- Sombre (full head or half head): A softer version of ombre, sombre offers a subtle transition between colors for a natural, lived-in look. This technique is for those who want to experiment with color without committing to a dramatic change.
Balayage is a good choice when you want a natural-looking, low-maintenance hair color that adds dimension and subtle highlights, particularly if you have dark hair and want to transition to a lighter shade without a harsh line, or if you have damaged hair and want a gentler coloring technique that blends seamlessly with your natural color. It’s also ideal for people who don’t want to visit the salon frequently for touch-ups as the regrowth is less noticeable compared to traditional highlights.
- Half head: Specific sections of the hair are wrapped in foil by the hair colorist, allowing for a more natural blend with the rest of the hair. This method offers flexibility and customization, making it suitable for a wide range of hair types and styles.
- Full head: All colored sections are wrapped in foil, creating a more intense and defined look. This technique is for those who want a high-contrast, dramatic result.
Foilyage is a good choice when you want to achieve a more dramatic, high-contrast look with highlights that are significantly lighter than your natural hair color, while still maintaining a soft, lived-in appearance, making it ideal for people who want brighter, more noticeable highlights compared to the softer, natural look of balayage. It’s particularly suitable for dark hair where you want to achieve a significant lightening effect with controlled placement of highlights.
- Full head only: This technique is applied to the full head of hair.
AirTouch is a good choice when you want a more natural, soft, and seamless look with subtle highlights – especially if you have fine or medium hair. AirTouch minimizes damage by only highlighting the thicker strands and creates a gentle transition between colors, resulting in a low-maintenance option that appears “sun-kissed” with less frequent touch-ups needed compared to traditional highlighting techniques.
- Flamboyage: Similar to balayage but adds even lighter hair tips. Essentially a blend of balayage and ombré. It’s a new alternative to traditional highlights if you want a subtler look.
- Babylights: A very fine subtle highlights technique. Terrific for fine texture hair. Uses foils, like traditional highlights do, but the results are not as streaky and harsh.
- Half head: 60–100 minutes. Full head: 80–175 minutes.
- Hair Length and Thickness: Longer and thicker hair takes longer to color.
- Number of Highlights: Impacts the length of time. A very complex, layered, and lot of highlights can take up to 7 hours.
- Process involves:
- Consultation
- Preparation and sectioning of hair
- Apply lightener to paint selected strands
- Blend color, starting from the mid-lengths and moving towards the ends
- Processing: The main difference between the two techniques is that highlighted sections in balayage are processed in clear film vs. in foilyage they are wrapped in foil for a more uniform and controlled placement of color
- Rinse and shampoo out the lightener
- Blowout style damp hair
- Optional cutting and additional styling (extra)
- Full head: 180-360 minutes, depending on the length of your hair (short/above-shoulder, medium/shoulder-length, long/below-shoulder)
- Hair Length and Thickness: Longer and thicker hair takes longer to color.
- Process involves:
- Consultation
- Preparation and section hair in thirds from top to bottom, starting at the nape of the neck
- Separation: A hair blow-dryer on a cool setting to meticulously push out and separate shorter baby hairs as a lower layer
- Apply lightener to paint the top layer of longer hairs
- Blend color by repeating the process throughout the section
- Highlight in clear film or foils
- Remove the clear foils or foils after set processing time
- Shampoo and condition hair
- Blowout style damp hair
- Optional cutting and styling (extra)
Regular Price: $220-$340. Depends on the length of your hair (short/above-shoulder, medium/shoulder-length, long/below-shoulder), type of hair (curly, wavy, straight), hair texture (fine, medium, thick), half head or full head application, and desired results.
Regular Price: $300-$600. Depends on the length of your hair (short/above-shoulder, medium/shoulder-length, long/below-shoulder), type of hair (curly, wavy, straight), hair texture (fine, medium, thick), and desired results.
Please call us at (212) 288-4413.
