When I was younger I had so many experimental phases with my hair. Caramel, dark brown, really dark brown, highlights, bleach, even pink and purple at one stage. None of them really suited me, at least not in a way that was sustainable. It’s taken me about 10 years of messing around with my poor locks to finally find my look. It’s natural, girly and I only need to top it up once or twice a year, which is a huge relief on my bank account!

I’m sharing these hilarious pictures of me over 10 years ago as they’re pretty indicative of what I was going through hair-wise since I was 13. Look and laugh, please.

Since people are often asking me how I get my hair done and what I ask for, I thought I’d write a short post on it to explain.

Nb/ This treatment was given to me free of charge by Salon 64 however as always all opinions are my own. I absolutely love this salon and would recommend it to anyone looking for something a little special! Amazing service, coffee and conversation.

What is balayage?

The word balayage comes from the French ‘to paint’ or ‘to sweep’. It is a method of highlighting the hair that leaves it looking naturally lighter, without being stripy or growing out into horrible roots. Balayage has softer, less noticeable regrowth lines (if at all noticeable) than traditional highlights, and highlights the parts of your hair that would naturally lighten in the sun, meaning it looks natural. You can get it done on any hair type and colour, and since it doesn’t grow out leaving roots, you can get it done infrequently, meaning that it ends up much cheaper than other highlighting techniques!

The steps: bleach, leave and blend, rinse and olaplex and then dry.

How it was done:

• Section the hair into 4 equal sized sections
• Starting at the back of the hair with smaller sections, each quarter is roughly 1.5 inches thick and is free hand painted with bleach. An extremely visual technique is what makes each balayage slightly different and bespoke to each individual head of hair. This technique is repeated starting at the back of the head working the way up to the crown. The hand painting also allows for a natural look to suit the individual, or a stronger look if desired.
• This is then repeated on the 2 side areas.
• Leave the colour to develop for 15 mins – this is much shorter than traditional foils, so balayage is often done and dusted much quicker than streak highlights.
• Once the colour has developed, hair is rinsed at the backwash and the colour is blended together with a sponge to blend the newly placed blonde into the virgin hair. This technique is known as mash technique. This creates the gradation from darker to lighter hair that you don’t see in dip-dyed hair.
• Lastly shampoo condition and style all using MR.SMITH – Hydrating shampoo, conditioner and styled with volume mousse. Olaplaex was used on my hair to repair broken strands and improve hair condition (this stuff is amazing).

Before and after: I didn’t want a huge change, just a subtle lightening at the back and around my face. The salon did a perfect job – a combination of the weak bleach used and olaplaex treatment left my hair in great condition after the treatment!

Visit Salon 64’s website to learn more and book.

Once you visit this place you’ll be coming back all the time!