OMBRE
Ombre refers to the gradual lightening of the hair from the roots.
The word “ombre” stems from the French word for “shadow”.
Ombre often requires the hair to be bleached, depending on the color you want to achieve. Dramatic shades are more noticeable and usually require more maintenance.
Typically, ombre is applied in two steps, the first being the base color and the second being the highlights.
Ombre often results in a visible contrast between the top and bottom halves of your hair, but intensity varies by preference. A sombre refers to a subtle, more natural lightening ombre style.
BALAYAGE
Balayage is a freehand coloring technique to create natural highlights without the use of traditional foils.
Balayage comes from a French method of “sweeping” color onto the hair.
As opposed to ombre, balayage is softly painted on by hand for a natural, healthy-looking finish.
The application process involves sweeping color through small triangle sections of the hair onto a board or foil, allowing the hair to transition into a lighter color. This results in dark pieces left on the bottom of the hair that create dimension and a more natural look.
Typically, balayage requires less maintenance than an ombre because of its natural transition of color.
Key words in the latest colour trends!
Balayage
Roots are stretched using a deeper base shade and the ends lifted to a lighter shade, hand painted to create a marble effect.
Babylights
Threadlike highlights which are ultra fine and soft in tone to look sunkissed.
Contouring
Adding areas of depth or light to increase tone and shine to a specific area of the hair. This can be handpainted or foiled.
Highlights
Sections of hair are woven and coloured from darker to lighter using foil or méche for a subtle or bolder lift.
Lowlights
The opposite of highlights with hair taken from lighter to darker using foil or méche woven sections.
Ombré
Darker at the roots and through the mid-lengths with a gradual to intense lightening from the mid-lengths to ends.
Root Stretch
Roots are coloured slightly lower than the regrowth to give the illusion of a heavier root area.
Smudging/Colour melt
Two or three colours of a similar tone are applied and smudged together to create softer versions of the original shade. The colour can vary from darker to up to three shades lighter when smudging. generally this would be from root to mid-band and achieves very subtle results.
Stretched Roots
Colour is applied to give a deliberate grown out feel.