how to do a REVERSE BALAYAGE
hi everyone! this week we’re here with amy and we’re going to use her faded color to create a brand new look. we want the balayage look, and usually that entails lightening the ends. however, amy already has the light ends and she wants a darker base, so we will be doing a REVERSE BALAYAGE.
her hair has faded from a copper color to a nice strawberry blonde, so we want to keep some of this color and incorporate it into her new look. we are going to take her base color a few shades darker and blend that with her current color to create a beautiful balayage look.
preliminary CUT
we are going to start by doing a preliminary cut to remove some of the excess weight and bulk from the hair. we don’t want to waste product and time on hair that is going to be cut, and a rough cut will help us accomplish that.
we’re also going to be adding some layers to her hair during this rough cut process. after we have processed her hair we will add the final tweaks to the cut to perfect her look.
after the pre cut. beautifully LAYERED. we’re ready to color!
step #1: the ROOTS
we are going to start by putting in her root color. the color we are going for is a rich, warm brown - 4.8.
the heat from her scalp will boost the color and cause it pull warmer at the roots. so to account for that, we are going to use ⅔ 4.8 + ⅓ 4.0. this will match the midshaft color of straight 4.8.
with her root color applied we are ready to move on to STEP 2 of the process.
step #2: the MIDSHAFTS
for the second step of our process we want to pull the brown down further onto each strand and stagger the amount of dark by a couple inches in each layer. we started at the bottom and worked our way up, staggering the amount of dark in each layer to create a natural fade from dark to light.
again, the color we will be using will be straight 4.8.
we also want to FEATHER the color in with our brush turned sideways to give an even more diffused look and break up any harsh lines.
then, we’ll comb the color through and down the strand just slightly. be very careful to only comb in to the section where the color is applied and to not comb the color downwards in to the ends. that will cause bleeding of the color in to the ends.
for the next segment we want to bring the brown down a couple inches further than the last section.
again, we want to make sure we are feathering the color into the strands with our brush turned sideways for that nice diffused color transition.
for the dark in the next segment of hair, we want to use the amount of dark she already has in her root from step #1. all we need to do is BLEND her dark down slightly onto the section using the same feathering method so that it is not a harsh line from dark to light.
PROTIP: it is important to make sure we are also applying color to the underside of each section to make sure that the hair is being well SATURATED with color so we get our desired result.
with 1 section done, we’re ready to move on to the next. we want to REPEAT this process until the color has been applied to all the sections, making sure to maintain our staggering pattern to eliminate any harsh lines.
with step 2 done we can really see the darkness pulling through. we maintained our staggered pattern throughout, so this is gonna look really nice when we wash it out.
step #3: the ENDS
for this step we are going to be weaving in some dark to pull through onto the ends to make this into a BALAYAGE instead of an ombre.
we want to weave out a section and color it dark. pull the remaining hair to the side to stay organized. this will remain the strawberry blonde color.
as before, we want to comb the color into the strands make sure the hair is well saturated with color.
with this process we want the result to be a very natural BALAYAGE, so we are going to weave in different sized sections of dark, some smaller and some larger.
PROTIP: make sure you keep a towel handy to clean your hands in between each section. this will prevent any of the color from getting anywhere you don’t want it.
the FRONT section
around the front we want to make this a very visual process and imagine where we want to see the dark and light pieces. pick out those strands accordingly.
we want to color the hair in such a way as to give a light-dark-light variation and to give a natural highlighted appearance.
with her color all applied we are finished with step 3 of our process.
the FINAL result
the FINAL result is a rich, multifaceted color with so much richness. what’s great about incorporating the previous hair color into the new look is that it adds so much depth and dimension to the color. there you have it: THE REVERSE BALAYAGE.
if you want a cheat sheet with the full step by step process and all the formulas for this look, click here and submit your email information.
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