Bayliage - Hair Color Definitions

What is Bayliage Hair Color?

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Bayliage is also referred to as Baliage (pronounced Ba-lee-auge). Basically it is a form of free-form hair painting performed one strand at a time.

The freehand technique originated in France where it was a perfect complement to the wildly freehanded French haircuts. The French name for this unique hair coloring process is Le Balayage which loosely translates to individual strands or strand by strand.

The Bayliage technique ultimately made its way through the United States in the late 80s where it became very popular. The unique hair coloring process eventually took the United States by storm.

After an initial burst of popularity the technique faded somewhat although it never completely disappeared. Some salons continued to offer the option which in the mid 2000s started to regain popularity and become more mainstream.

The reason for the adoption of the Bayliage style by Americans is because it offered a much softer highlighting result. Since individual strands are painted one at a time, hair colorists can create a personalized look which can range from subtle to bold.

Note: To read more about Bayliage, Baliage or hair color visit The Hair Color Encyclopedia.

It offers that natural sunkissed look without the damaging sun's rays. Not only do no two Bayliage results look the same, it is difficult, if not impossible for the haircolorist to easily recreate the same look and pattern on an ongoing basis.

This means that the Bayliage application will be unique to the client and will be a once-in-a-lifetime look. Yes, the haircolorist can create a very similar look on a regular basis but probably not the exact same pattern.

Bayliage became popular because hair color clients desired a hair color look that was unique to them. They didn't want to look like everyone else. Also, Bayliage can be very subtle and thus very natural looking. Much like the client spent a long weekend at the beach rather than she spent hours getting her hair highlighted.

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When expertly created, Bayliage highlights or lowlights add shimmer, dimension and the appearance of movement to the hair. Bayliage looks best when designed to flow with the hair's natural texture. Which makes them ideal for naturally curly or wavy tresses.

A haircolorist who loves the technique probably has a wide range of different tools they like to use to create the unique patterns.

The key to this hair painting technique is to pick up individual section of hair, analyze its pattern, how it lays against the rest of the hair and then paint those strands that will stand out the best.

It is important to make sure you have a hair color expert skilled in hair painting or else you may risk having your hair look like a water painting from a pre-school child. It may sound it, it may look easy but it involves practice and lots of skill.

Make sure you have hair that is freshly trimmed, washed and dry when you go for the hair painting session. This will net you the best results.

Note: To read more about Baliage or bayliage check out How Do You Morph Hair Color For A T-X Terminatrix.

Many celebrities are huge fans of the Bayliage technique. David Horinek of the David Dru salon in Beverly Hills, California has created stunning Bayliage hair color looks for actress Kristinna Loken and Claire Danes, to name a few of his celebrity clients.

The key with Bayliage is to carefully avoid overlapping the color. Bayliage can also be used to create multi-dimensional colors by blending colors in complementary hues.

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