Balayage Vs Ombre- Are They the Same Thing?

Admin April 15 2022

Balayage and ombre have been two of the hottest hair color trends for some time now. Both are beautiful ways to add highlights and interest to your hair, but there tends to be some confusion about them. Aren’t they the same thing? The answer is no. One is a highlighting technique and the other is a highlight style. Balayage is a technique for applying highlights whereas ombre is a style of highlighting with gradient color.

We get the word balayage from the French language where it literally means sweeping. The balayage highlighting technique involves the colorist sweeping the hair dye onto your strands. It’s a freestyle hand painting method that gives you natural-looking highlights that resemble the sun-kissed look your hair can have at the end of summer. 

With balayage, the difference in the shade of your base color and highlights is usually subtle. This is what gives it a more natural look and also what makes it work with both light and dark hair. This technique also lasts longer than other highlighting techniques because roots are less noticeable as your hair grows.

We also get the word ombre from French. In French, it means shaded or shading. The ombre highlight style starts with dark roots and fades to a much lighter shade at the ends. How much of a contrast between light and dark is up to you, though most prefer a stark contrast. Ombre can even incorporate more than one color and is often used with fantasy colors. If the dark color you choose for your roots is close to your natural color, new growth will be much less noticeable with ombre highlights as well.

Both balayage and ombre are fairly low maintenance. Only a couple of touch-ups are required throughout the year for both to keep them looking great. To get the longest life out of your new highlights always start with a fresh haircut so that your hair is in tip-top shape.

If you’d like to try balayage or ombre for yourself, come see the professional colorists at D’Ametri’s Hair Color and Design Studio for a custom color designed just for you. Give us a call at 303-274-7838, use our online booking tool, or download our free mobile app from iTunes or Google Play to book your hair color appointment today. You’ll find our salon at 5760 Olde Wadsworth Blvd, Arvada, CO.