Balayage highlights are the perfect way to spotlight your gorgeous curly texture.
Balayage highlights are no doubt one of the most gorgeous and trendy ways to upgrade your hair color. They add the appearance of sun-kissed ribbons without taxing upkeep in a bundle of golden, multi-dimensional hair color. Balayage highlights flatter all hair types including straight, wavy and curly hair. When you have the latter, balayage highlights serve not only as a great way to dial up your color but also as a way to enhance your natural ringlets and waves.
This begs the question — how do you balayage curly hair? The answer is simple, it’s not that different than the way you would balayage straight hair, but there are a few things to keep in mind that can elevate the end result.
Is Balayage Good for Curly Hair?
Balayage does a fantastic job of highlighting your hair’s natural waves and coils — literally. Since balayage is a free-hand technique, this gives you the freedom to adjust your hand-painted strokes based on your curl type and their placement on your head. If your goal is low-maintenance color to brighten up your curls, balayage is a great option.
Traditional Balayage
Traditional balayage hand paints highlights onto your strands to create lived-in color. By lived-in, we mean the color doesn’t begin at your roots like other highlights. Instead, they start a few inches past the roots so that as they grow out, the highlights look natural, which also means you don’t have to worry about constant maintenance.
Chunky Balayage
Chunky balayage refers to the size of the pieces of hair on which you apply the color. Typically, balayage highlights focus on small sections of hair but when you use larger sections, it helps to make your loose curls or waves look denser and more voluminous. It’s a great way to bulk up your strands if you have fine or thin hair and looser curls or waves.
How to Balayage Curly Hair
Follow these simple steps to balayage your curly strands at home.
Step 1. Straighten Your Curly Hair With a Flat Iron
While straightening your curly hair before coloring may feel counterintuitive, it can really help when it comes to deciding on the placement of your balayage highlights. Along with that, one of the most important things about coloring curly hair at home is making sure you evenly saturate the dye onto your strands. Straightening your hair can make it easier to evenly distribute the dye onto your strands, leading to more even hair color and a better end result.
Step 2. Divide Your Hair Into Four Even Sections
Part your hair horizontally, from ear to ear at the back of your head to create an upper and lower section. Then, separate the top and bottom sections into two even sections so you have four even sections — two on the top and two on the bottom. Secure each section with a hair tie or a claw clip, only unclipping the hair in the section that you’re working on.
Step 3. Carefully Mix Your Dye
Put on the gloves and mix the packet of bleaching powder with the developer cream. Shake the bottle so the powder can evenly mix. This is important because you don’t want any lumps in your hair dye. Then, add the entire tube of the lightening cream to the developer cream.
Again, shake the bottle until all three textures have blended together, creating one thick cream. Twist the cap off the developer cream and pour the product into a color-safe bowl.
Step 4. Use the Applicator to Apply the Color, Section by Section
Wearing the gloves included in the box, slide the expert touch applicator onto your middle and ring fingers. Using your other hand, section off a quarter-inch piece of hair at the back of your head. If you’re going with the chunky balayage technique, pick a half-inch section.
Dip the applicator into the bowl of color to evenly saturate the bristles. Use the applicator to apply the color to the section of hair, just a few inches past the roots, all the way to the ends. If you want face-framing balayage, apply the dye a bit higher in the areas surrounding your face.
Use your fingers to lightly massage the color into the hair so it’s evenly distributed from top to bottom. Repeat this process, moving from the bottom sections to the top section of your hair, focusing on one area at a time.
Step 5. Allow the Color to Process
Once you’ve applied the color all over your curls, allow time for it to process. Typically, the color should develop for 25–45 minutes depending on your desired balayage results and how light you want the color to get. We suggest setting a timer on your phone so you don’t forget.
Step 6. Rinse your hair
After your processing time has passed, rinse and shampoo your curls in lukewarm water until the water is clear and you’ve washed all the color out. Gently plop your curls with an old t-shirt and apply the pro-toning mask to your roots to soften the color and blur your root line.
Massage the mask onto your scalp for 30 seconds to lather the product, then evenly distribute it through the rest of your damp curls. Leave the mask on for ten minutes and then rinse it out with lukewarm water.
Step 7. Style As Usual
Brush and style your hair as usual.
Source: L'Oréal
