Have We Seen The Back of Balayage?

While clients love the easy, free and non-committal nature of balayage, is it time for a refresh?

And how can you persuade clients in love with the service to upgrade and try something new? 

“Balayage has been a client favourite and it’s not hard to see why. It’s a soft, beautiful seamless merge from dark into light with the darker colour usually being quite close to the client’s natural shade,” explains Clayde Baumann from D&J Ambrose, Pinner, Middlesex.
“This means that the technique 
is fairly low maintenance, so
is gentler on the pocket. The 
downside for the hairdresser
 is you’re losing up to half your
 potential appointments annually
 with these clients.”

So are services such as colour contouring the next big thing? It’s easy to wear, easy to apply and bespoke to each client. “I think the time has come to
 move clients towards more 
bespoke techniques. I also 
believe we should re-introduce techniques that have waned in popularity and look at revamping them. I would
 love to see more graphic, block
 colour placement make a return, perhaps with an element of
 organic and fluid placement and
 clever colour choice to keep it beautiful.”

While colourists may be wanting a change, persuading your client to take the plunge may take more convincing. One way is to move all balayage services from the trend-led colour menu onto the classic colour menu. “It’s good to prime your client with the knowledge that you want to change her look at the next appointment, then give her some suggestions to take home and think about. Balayage has now been in the colour bar for the last five years. This is no longer a trend but a staple colour technique. If we want to keep our clients, it’s imperative that we start bringing some new, innovative techniques out.”