A lot of people ask me, Ombre, Sombre or Balayage? What the hell is the difference? They are both fairly new techniques to hairdressing over the last couple of years. And most people think it is the same thing with different names. Well they are half right.
Balayage seemed to have come about first when hairdressers tried to mimic the ‘sun kissed’ look of natural hair. It is the effect that is mostly seen on children where the hair is naturally darker at the roots and lightens out towards the end as it is bleached by the sun. The term Balayage means to paint and is a freestyle technique of painting highlights into the hair, rather than the more structured and ordered way of putting in highlights. It is a more natural look and a ‘sun kissed’ version of your own hair.
Timing: 30-90 minutes
Great for: Those looking for a natural-looking contrast
Ombre means ‘two toned’ and is usually a more dramatic look that can be done with colours such as black to red or just a more contrasting blonde. It is where the ends are lighter than the roots as in the Balayage effect but instead of natural highlights it is a more of a block of lighter colour on the ends. Both these looks have their advantages and disadvantages.
Timing: Up to 3-4 hours
Great for: Someone looking for contrast, but bleaching hair ends may cause damage
Sombre, known also as "soft" or "subtle ombre," incorporates lighter shades in a more natural way. Instead of dramatic colors paired together, your base color casually transitions into lighter shades by strategically placed highlights around the face, which cascade into heavy highlights at the ends.
Timing: Up to 3-4 hours
Great for: The lazy set (though it's a celeb fave!)
Flamboyage Hair Color Technique
Flamboyage is a new hot trend and a low maintenance hair color technique. It is a combination of ombre and balayage, where transparent adhesive strip is used to color the hair or there is also different technique to achieve soft peek-a-boo highlights. Flamboyage adhesive transparent strips come from Davines – Italian product line.
Timing: 30-90 minutes
Great for: Those looking for super-subtle highlights
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Advantage: The greatest advantage is that it’s cheaper! Instead of 4-6 weekly trips to the hairdresser to get your roots done as with highlights, with a Balayage where you roots are left natural, they can be left for quite a lot longer, as you already have that grown out effect and have no regrowth. This is a little different to Ombre as with Ombre the roots are generally coloured as well to create a more dramatic two- toned effect. The other advantage is that ANYONE can have it. If your skin tone isn’t ideal for certain kinds of blondes but you still want them then this is a great look as it can be done in a way where the blonde isn’t next to your skin, therefore you don’t have the problem of looking washed out or clashing with your skin colour. The other thing of course is that we all know bleach damages hair to a certain extent. This look makes it easier to trim the dry ends off and definitely easier to grow out completely. It is also possible to do on people who have box dyed their hair dark for many years and want a change, unlike highlights where the result is often uneven or can look quite yellow or orange. It can even be done in reverse where the roots are lighter and the ends darker, this is also known as dip-dye.
Disadvantages: There aren’t too many but one is that with the Ombre with the brighter colors on the ends, the bright colors do wash out quicker than blonde or more natural colors so you need to be prepared to get it re-colored on the ends a little more often. This could also be an advantage as it allows you to change the ends more easily to a different color. The second disadvantage is that it does dry out your ends a little more than a regular color. This can be combated with regular trims and a good treatment. If you were blonde and have gone to Ombre, it is a bit more difficult to go back to blonde if the root color is a lot darker.
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