Sweeping in from France -The History of Balayage December 10, 2022

If you live in America, by now you have heard of the growing trend of Balayage. Hair Salons everywhere have been working towards perfecting and personalizing this French technique. Many people are unaware of how long this technique has been around so we are going to dive into the history of this popular salon trend.

The art of hair painting was coined Balayage (ba-lie-azhe) based off the French word meaning “sweep away”. Balayage was born in a salon named “Carita” in the early 1970s. Soon people caught wind of this gorgeous, effortless, and sun-kissed looked women were achieving from their colorist. By 1974 the New York Times wrote an article about a young man named Yvan performing “balayage au cotton”.
Since the 1970s stylist have taken their own spin on balayage, creating more dimensional pieces of art specific to the clients desires. Traditionally, Balayage has always been intended to give an effortless, low-maintenance color for clients. By studying the way the sun naturally lightens virgin hair, color specialists take tips on where to hand paint the brightness onto the hair. The replication of this natural look will leave people wondering if your hair is natural or colored.

Some people think that balayage is only for blondes, but this is simply a myth. Balayage is a great way to add brightness and pops to your hair without fulling changing your natural color. For blondes you find a variety of brightness, for redheads you find lovely tones of copper and for brunettes you create a dimensional honey and caramel colors. Balayage is a great option for so many people and so many different hair colors.