Learn the easy 8-step guide to DIY balayage and get that style du jour on a budget from the comfort of your home. It’s been a while since the talk of the town has been anything else than the amazing balayage hair coloring technique.
And for good reason, we may add.
This free-hand technique which implies highlighting hair yields a different result than ombre or conventional tinfoil highlights.
The internet is buzzing with balayage ideas and balayage looks donned by celebrities, on the catwalks or on the streets of the world’s fashion capitals.
Nevertheless, achieving the subtle, sun-kissed finish costs big bucks in professional hair salons. As such, we’ve made it our mission to bring you the easy 8-step guide to DIY balayage.
Our motto: lighter hair on a tight budget.
But first, here is a short overview of what balayage (implicitly DIY balayage) is.
Image source: Flickr.com
What is Balayage and How to Do Balayage Hair?
Balayage is an innovative, free-hand hair coloring technique used to create a natural, sun-kissed look. Traditional highlights can be more dramatic or slightly more subtle. Nonetheless, they involve saturating your tresses in hair dye and wrapping them in tinfoil.
Depending on your hair type and previous hair treatments, highlights can leave the hair brassy and lifeless. The use of bleach can equally add to the damage.
Balayage has nothing to do with tinfoil, the use of bleach, or prolonged exposure to a heat source. This is why DIY balayage has loads of advantages and can easily be done at home.
This hair coloring technique implies gently coloring the hair strands by hand. As such, your hair looks natural and the highlights are easily kept under control.
Compared to ombre, the balayage method for coloring your hair is far more subtle. Ombre is used to gradually lighten the hair, typically obtaining a duo-toned hair color. The darker color spreads from the roots to mid-length, while the lighter shade is applied on the ends of the hairs.
With DIY balayage you can get a more subtle, elegant, and natural hair color transition as each strand is dyed individually.
Without further ado, here are the 8 steps to achieving the perfect DIY balayage.
8 Steps to DIY Balayage
The steps for DIY balayage highlights are fairly easy to follow and you will learn how to do balayage hair yourself. Don’t despair if you don’t get it right the first time. At worst, your hair will be just a tad lighter than initially planned.
If you have dyed your hair at home before, some of the steps will be a piece of cake.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- A balayage board and brush – although optional, the board will ease the whole process.
- A dye that’s a few tones lighter like this sulfate-free and ammonia-free hair dye for dark brown hair or this extra bleach blonde dye for lighter hair or a more nuanced and visible balayage effect.
- Optional: Nourishing and repairing shampoo that works against frizzy hair.
- Optional: Damage control hair treatment to repair damaged hair – especially recommended when using hair dye with extra bleach.
Now, here’s how to do balayage highlights at home:
1. Follow the Instructions on the Box
We guessed that you already chose the hair color you will be using for DIY balayage hair. Note that for a natural look, you need a hair color that’s at most three shades lighter than your natural one.
Now, don’t ignore the instructions on the box.
Also even if you have used the same hair dye or hair dye brand before, it’s recommended that you go through with the allergy test. You never know when allergies develop. That’s why it is best doing a strand test before going all-in with your balayage.
In some cases, the hair is too damaged or uneven for a satisfactory final results. In other cases, you may have an allergy to one of the dye’s ingredients and not even know it. A strand test we’ll help you spot any issues from the get go.
Here’ a short tutorial on how to do a strand test.
Note: If you are looking for a fun look, we also recommend reading our DIY ombre hair tutorials which include colorful transitions from blue to purple, fire red to yellow, or midnight blue to Atlantic blue!
2. Get Your Hair Up
Depending on the DIY balayage effect you’re after, you can create more and more layers. For starters, pull one section of your hair up and secure it in a knot.
Leave a thin hair layer down. Another technique that could help you get your hair ready for do it yourself balayage at home is called the hot cross bun method.
Basically, you divide your hair into four sections by creating a mid-part at first. Then, run a comb from the middle point of the mid part to one year and then the other.
You will have four sections of hair, each making it simpler to work with one section at a time.
3. Twist and Tease
Section by section, twist from mid-length to the end. Tease at the start point of the twist with a comb. This will act as a barrier against the hair dye going to close to the hair roots.
The whole point of DIY balayage is to weave your natural hair color with a lighter shade. Having natural hair roots is more convenient as far as maintaining your hair color goes.
4. Apply the Hair Dye
The first part of each section that gets colored should be the ends. Quickly go through the ends and then start applying from mid-length downwards.
Don’t be scared to use your fingers. While a brush may offer more precision, using your fingers to spread the dye on the tresses which would typically be colored by the sun offers a more natural look.
Apply the hair dye on the rest of the hair without touching the roots.
Naturally, the roots are the most resistant to sunlight exposure discoloration.
5. Secure the First Section
Congratulations! You are now on your way to becoming a DIY balayage expert. The only thing you need to know is that you will need to secure the hair section you have already worked on.
Once again, try to pull the hair up without letting the color bleed on the roots. Bobby pins may help. Pin down the technique and working on the rest of the hair sections will be a breeze.
6. Release Another Hair Section
Whether you’ve used the hot bun cross technique or others, you still have some hair sections to work on. Don’t worry about your DIY balayage highlights not being symmetrical.
One of the greatest advantages of this free-hand coloring technique is the effortlessly natural, unstudied look.
7. Apply the Finishing Touches
You know your hair better than anyone. Of course, hairstylists have a trained eye to spot the specificities. Nevertheless, one extra point for trying DIY balayage is that you can control the exact amount of coloring and the specific area that you want to be more highlighted.
For instance, if during summer your hair tends to have a lighter color around the face, try face framing highlights. They also help the lighter color become more obvious throughout.
8. Rinse, Apply Treatment, and Dry Naturally
Follow the instructions that came with your hair dye and don’t let the color sit for longer than it’s necessary.
Rinse with lukewarm water, tone if you need to and apply hair treatment.
Rinse again, this time leaving your hair to dry out naturally.
You can also try following this video tutorial from YouTube user somegirljess:
Conclusion
This is the easy step by step guide to DIY balayage. Lighter hair while on a budget has never been easier! Try it out and let us know how it went or add your own tips for do it yourself balayage in the comments section below!
How do I know what color to pick to ensure its sin kissed not orange ? I have a medium brown hair virgin hair.
Thank you
Hi, Eva!
Thanks for stopping by. The easiest way to find the right shade for your medium brown hair is to carefully review the ideal hair colors presented on each hair dye box. Always choose the one that is closest to your current, natural color!
Good luck!
Use a cool toned color, anything with Ash in the name, Ash blond for example, will steeraway from that brassy look. Stay away from anything golden, that will bring out the red. I got this great product from my local beauty supply store, “one ‘n only” Argan Oil color conditioner in ash-violet. I love it! Tones my hair and lightens it a little too! It deposits color and conditions hair, keeps me from having an orange pony!
Thanks for the valuable information.
My hair is exactly the same color as your friends! I already have balayage in my hair but it’s dark caramel color, How Can I get it lighter. What colors and hair product name brands did you use for her hair?
Hello, Ankita! We’re glad you liked our article. You may also like reading our tips on Ombre hair.
Have a nice day!
Is DIY balayage hard to achieve on naturally midnight black hair? If not, what do you suggest I use? Is there store bought products strong enough to lighten dark hair colours?
Hello! Yes, you can balayage your dark hair at home using bleach (because you can’t make it lighter using only hair dye). Make sure to make it just a few shades lighter than your natural hair color to keep it natural looking. Good luck!
hi….You said bleach is not used. My hair is very dark brown, almost black and it is dyed to cover some gtays on top….So I have not found hair dye that lightens my very dark hair. That is why I thought I would have to use bleach mixed with developer. Do you have any other suggestions?
Thanks so much
Karen
That is a great question which has a very complicated answer!
I think based on what you have said about your hair, I would recommend hitting a Sally Beauty and getting a whitening bleach powder and a 20 or 30 level developer. This will cost under $10 and last forever! 20 will lift more slowly which gives you more time to work with the strands however your might need to leave it in longer and that can be more damaging in the end.
They’re so affordable, at merely $3 to $5 a big bottle, you might want to get both and see what you think of each. The 30 is almost never found in box dye ( you can even get a 40!!) which is why the lift often ends up turning orange if your hair is too dark.
(Box brands are often only contain 20 developers and will only lift up to two shades. This means you might never be able to attain the color pictured in the box. ?)
You said virgin hair which means you can’t really know what color the inner follicle will be. I would maybe keep an ash blonde toner on hand for if you discover that your hair has very golden or red undertones and you hate your results.
I would also suggest practicing on tiny strands and then going back in little by little and adding more as you like. You could repeat the previously lightened strands to get a variety of blonde highlights which always looks great and costs a pretty penny to have done at a salon.
I can think the biggest mistake we all tend to make when we decide we want something done on our hair is that we want it to happen immediately. If you cannot pay the high price to get it done professionally and want to just DIY at a fraction of the cost, then you might need to have a little more patience unfortunately.
If you are willing to go little by little using the right products, which will actually be much more affordable and can be mixed in small batches to use as needed, then you can get really a beautiful look, even if you just do it every other day for a week or two.
I use coconut oil in between lightening sessions. I have even bleached right on top of coconut oil for minimal damage. There are a lot of blogs and videos out there about how to prevent damage while lightening hair. I find coconut oil to be a super affordable, natural and effective way to keep hair healthy.
Doing balayage is probably the best way to do your hair at home and without much experience because of the fact that you aren’t going to be messing around with your roots, at least it’s not necessary and will save you from a whole lot of problems that can arise when lightening hair close to the scalp, and also because of the aforementioned ability to do a little bit at a time and play around with timing and placement of highlights.
If you had very dark hair or red hair my answer would be a bit more complex, however it’s mostly the same. A stronger developer might be needed and longer timing. Damage is something that almost always occurs when lightening but especially if you are trying to take very dark hair very light blonde. A lot of stylists won’t take your shade down so quickly because of the potential for serious damage to occur.
Anyhow, this is what I have discovered over the years. I have had to go through many many horrible screwups with box dye and with bleaching my whole head and then trying to stay on top of the roots. I’m not a stylist but I have been playing with lightening my hair, which is a medium golden brown naturally, for a good 20 years now. I finally started doing balayage at home a few years ago and I couldn’t be happier with what I’m able to do using the method I described. The damage is so minimal that I’m finally able to grow my hair long and the cost and upkeep are so affordable and easy. Love this article Thank You for all the great tips, in particular the teasing of the select strands!! I’m certainly going to try that and never would have thought of it on my own!! ?
Good luck to all ye DIYing it and I hope my answer helps! ?
What if your hair is already very blonde(colored) but you would like to put some light caramel brown st the roots. Basically backwards of what you just shared. Is it possible without having a mess
This is hilarious. I’ve been doing this for years and when people asked me I’d say, “Oh I just kind of fingerpaint my hair” and they’d look at me like I had antlers. The problem I’m having now with my (now grown out) grayish hair is that I’d like to lighten the sections and then apply silver highlights so my hair doesn’t look so mousy.
I’m letting my gray go. my original hair color is/was brown but now im silver. what color do I pick?