Time needed: 40 minutes.
This is the easiest DIY balayage highlights video tutorial you will ever find. This balayage tutorial below is very helpful to have your hair looking healthy and beautiful while maintaining that fun, summer vibe! This is a great look for summer as it gives your hair more dimension and a lighter feel.
And if you’re not sure how to do balayage, this video has different tips and techniques to help you achieve this look. But why go only halfway when coloring my own hair? The key to a good home balayage is baby steps…get comfortable.
We all want to look fabulous in the summer, and it is certainly possible even if your hair is quite dark. In this article, I’m going to show you the easiest DIY balayage highlights tutorial.
Blonde balayage is so trendy right now that you’ll see a lot of people trying to achieve it on their own. Yet balayage paint jobs take years to master. The professionals will use many colors to blend the beautiful variations and contrasts in blonde hair. Most of them use foils, and some use a razor trimmer when creating balayage look. Today, I’m going to show you how to create the easiest possible DIY balayage highlights at home, in 6 steps.
If you love to experiment with hair colour, but don’t have much time and are on a tight budget, slap balayage highlights from your to-do list. Watch our Balayage 101 video tutorial for the easiest and budget friendly way of achieving balayage highlights at home.
If you’re looking for a foolproof balayage DIY video, you’ve found it. The best thing about this tutorial is its laid back approach, making the transition between steps easy to follow. Be sure to check the step-by-step guide below before trying this technique yourself though.
Have you seen the recent trend in balayage hair color, but don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars for a service? Don’t worry, I have a solution for you! Although balayage can be expensive, it doesn’t have to break the bank. You can DIY, it’s just as simple as 1-2-3…
- Mix powder bleach and creme developer
The first step to achieving the perfect balayage is mixing your powder bleach and creme developer.
Mix powder bleach and creme developer. I like to set up a bowl in between my client’s ears and have the creme developer and powder bleach there so that we don’t cross contaminate. We use the powder bleach, which I find is actually easier to mix in bowl rather than in a vial. It looks like a big Game of Thrones purple turd, but don’t let it fool you—it’s an essential step before applying to your head.
The best thing about this method is that it’s quick. Most DIY balayage methods take between 4 to 6 hours of processing time. This method only takes 2 to 3 hours, depending on how light you want the color to be. The mixture I use is 1 tablespoon of powder bleach and 10 cc of creme developer per half an inch or your client’s desired lightness (mine did not have a clip-in hair extensions before the application).
That’s literally it. Adding the rinse mixture is where people go wrong! The bleach powder is activated with creme developer, meaning that it becomes a chemical hair dye. This then needs to be rinsed off with water once you have applied it to the hair and covered your client with a plastic cap for protection.
- Section off more visible parts
In the second step, I use tape to section off additional more visible parts of the hair that I want to dye a lighter shade. The reason why I added these parts is because the darker parts I dyed previously are too dark and create a line. However, adding lighter sections in between creates space which creates a much more seamless transition.
Once you’ve pulled out the front sections and swept them back, separate the rest of your hair into several chunks. Secure those chunks with clips in any manner that is comfortable and easy for you to part with the tail comb. I usually work 2-3 chunk sections at a time and just do only some of my hair for each “round”. When working around the back of your head if/when your sectioning gets too thick, switch out to smaller sections (i.e. don’t keep taking more and more hair and widening your section… take one smaller section instead.)
It’s best to begin balayaging a few sections of hair rather than attacking your entire head. This way you can see how the color works and how long your client’s hair will realistically last. Take all of the more noticeable pieces—down to the eyes, cheeks, and ears. Section off these smaller parts, since they’re easier to blend seamlessly, which will help with the initial balayage look.
One of the first things you need to do is section off the top and bottom of your hair. I made mine kind of large and kind of uneven (thus creating natural dimension), but that’s entirely up to you. The only thing that matters is that you section off more BLONDE parts, as these will be our focal point. If you have a total makeover on your hands, I would suggest starting your balayage highlights from the bottom, not the top.
If you’re going for an ever-popular balayage look, one of the first things you need to think about is how you want to section out your hair. This is because of how balayage works. The technique involves painting very precise sections of your hair with bleach. Sections are then painted with a toner, which will deposit a color that fades out at the ends. This is what gives you that classic sun-kissed look.
- Foil and paint
The next step in doing your balayage is to paint your foil. This is the most important part of the balayage because this is going to be the blonde you see after the color develops. Make sure you get a good mixture of foils!
In this step you add your color to each section. I add a little more paint than needed so I can have some to blend with and cover up any spots I missed.
As you might have noticed from the previous pictures, we now have two sections on each side. We are going to paint them now! This doesn’t take long since there is no cutting involved. I also recommend doing the bottom layers first since these will be hidden once we add the top layers and darker color!
In this step you will be pouring your paint into each palette, and don’t worry if the palettes are small. Make sure that you do not add too much of each paint color into your palettes because it will affect how much of each color you can use later in the dyeing process. Also, make sure the colors do not mix together before this point.
Use your paintbrush to apply the lightener, or paste, to the section of hair. Dip the tip of the paintbrush only a quarter inch (6mm) in the lightener and apply it to the hair in back-and-forth rows to make sure you cover all of your hair. Remember that you want to deposit a lot of pigment on the hair, so “painting” it on is best because it will give you a more even application.
- Wait
As you know, the 40 minutes resting time is the most crucial part of this process. It’s time to sit back and watch a movie or catch up on your favorite TV series. This step is crucial for balayage color because it allows the color to penetrate into the hair shaft so that when you style it later on, you won’t have trouble with the color washing out.
I usually like to pick a movie since it helps the time pass by quickly. Also – while you wait for 40 minutes – brush your freshly bleached hair to avoid any harsh lines from forming at the base of the hair.
To get a perfect balayage, you have to wait for 40 minutes, right? Well technically, if you want your hair to look naturally sun-kissed after your hair colour, yes.
This is the longest you need to wait, and this will be up to you. Your hair might need a little longer than 40 minutes. I usually let it sit for about an hour. It is really important not to wash your hair until 24 hours after bleaching. This will ensure that your colour won’t fade in 3 days! That would be completely pointless if you just spent almost 5 hours on doing this 🙂 Also, DON’T USE A SHOWER CAP!
The 40 minute time period is where the balayage process can differ from person to person. If you are going for a lighter blonde, you will need to allow more time and possibly even need some type of oxidizers in your product to achieve this effect. Your stylist should be able to give you advice based on what you want. You will know when it’s the right time to wash out your hair color by the lack of dye deposits in your bowl/cup.
- Shampoo
The use of purple shampoo can make such a difference when you’re trying to achieve beautiful balayage results.
Now you’ve got rid of any unwanted brassiness by using purple shampoo then we’re going to balance our hair color so that it’s a uniform brown shade. This will also help to obscure your regrowth and make the streaks less noticeable, meaning you won’t have to wait as long before you can get in for your next retouch.
With an Ombre hair look, you can use a lot of different colors and tones to create your own unique look. I personally love to add purple contact lenses to match my purple shampoo. Speaking of shampoo, you should switch from your normal colored shampoo to brighten the tone of your hair.
Purple shampoo can be used safely every other time you wash your hair, to control brassiness. If possible, try to use the purple shampoo every other time you shampoo your hair.
- Comb out tease
The final step is to simply brush out your hair. The goal of teasing is to increase volume, create more texture, and add some separation. Once you have created this desired effect, it’s better to brush it out and weaken the hold of your teasing comb.”
Now that you have worked on getting your hair a bit darker, you can finish up by lightly brushing out the teased sections to blend into the rest of your hair to make it look more natural. You can go ahead and do whatever you like with the front pieces, flat twist, cornrows, or simply letting it hang for a more beachy wave look.
To even out this hairstyle, you can start to carefully comb out the strands of hair. The key here is to avoid any harsh pulling on the strands, as this can lead to hair breakage. In other words, use combing motions rather than tugging on the strands. If you’ve done it right so far, your hair should evenly cover your entire head and any growing out bangs should be smoothed down.
This is important to prevent tangling and ripping. The idea is to comb out the hair that is still sat in the foils. Hold sections of hair between your fingers and gently ‘run’ the brush through the strands. This can be a little tricky so just take it slow at first.
Now, you want to take the scissors and comb out your teased sections. This is going to look very messy. Don’t let this scare you! I would say that in 90% of balayage jobs, you may have a couple hairs come out. Unfortunately, this happens with most lightener situations but it’s usually minimal/rare unless you have severe damage or pre-lightened hair.
So you’ve made it painstakingly through steps 1-3 and the hard part is now over. Yay! Your hair will now need to come back down to room temperature in a sink of cool water. When I told you at the beginning not to worry if a few little bits of hair fall out, well, this is why. It is completely normal and just shows that you haven’t damaged your hair by dyeing it with bleach.
