Hair Services
People often see balayage as expensive.I understand why…..It challenges the traditional way we’ve thought about hair colour for years. For a long time, colour maintenance was built around regular appointments, returning every few weeks to refresh roots and highlights. Balayage changed that approach by creating a ‘lived in’colour that is designed to grow out beautifully, while lasting longer…and looking fierce as hell while doing it.
“Style is a way to say who you are without having to speak.“
~ Rachel Zoe
Why I’ve loved balayage for so long
I’ve followed balayage stylists for years and years because it creates something I think many clients are looking for: colour that feels natural, premium, feels expense but looks effortless. It really does bring a lot to the table….
It can:
- Soften the overall look of the hair
- Brighten around the face making it a focal point
- Create beautiful dimension
- Avoid harsh regrowth lines
- Give flexibility with future appointments
- Offer variation between zones that adds interest.
- Replicates how sunlight naturally lightens hair.
The beauty is that it doesn’t just look good on the day it continues to look good months later.
Why the price can feel surprising
Depending on where you live, salon pricing can vary hugely. In some areas, bespoke colour has become a normal part of salon culture, while in others it can feel like a bigger investment. The best specialists I follow online take 6 to 10 hours to complete these looks and prices vary between £250 – £1000. Changing the hairdressing model in some salons from bashing out highlights on a conveyer belt to working on one client per day, and creating one masterpiece at the end of it. A lot of work is covered in this time.
Social media has also changed expectations. We see incredible balayage transformations online, but often don’t see the hours of skill, consultation and technical work behind them. You get a 20 seconds reel on Instagram or TikTok and it focuses entirely on the result showcasing the work in the best studio lights and often with a quick (cough cough) 60 – 90 min face makeup session so they are camera ready.
So how can balayage save money?
Let’s look at the math working on standard prices for both services based on the same region of the UK for accuracy. Rather than looking only at the price of one appointment, it helps to zoom out look at the yearly picture…
Example 1 :
Traditional highlights:
- £120 every 8 weeks to get those pesky roots sorted!
- Around 6 visits a year
- Approximately costing £720 to the client.
Example 2 :
Balayage colour service:
- £250 paid every 6 months
- Around 2 visits per year
- Approximately costing £500 to the client.
So balayage is more about front loading your time and money and playing the long game to offer you better value in the long run. For a more premium look, while saving you time amidst juggling work, kids, life commitments by freeing up your number of hair appointments.
Balayage:
- Larger initial investment for both time and price
- Fewer maintenance appointments
- Longer-lasting blend
- Premium expensive more flattering look
Less:
- Frequent appointments
- Obvious regrowth
- Time spent sitting in the salon
- Feeling like your hair needs doing again
So...What happens during a balayage appointment?
A balayage appointment isn’t just applying colour. A lot of work is done in the time it takes to pull this look together. Lets take a look at what happens for full transparency…
It involves:
- A detailed consultation
- Planning the placement around your features
- Planned areas of depth and lightness to create 3-dimensional results
- A multitude of lighting formulas offering varying lifts.
- Creating blended highlights using a variety of advanced techniques
- Interior dimension foils/melt variations to add depth
- Managing different lifting times
- Intermittent foil removal preserving hair integrity
- Refining the colour and furthering that seamless blend with a colour melt service
- Multiple hair treatment services throughout to preserve hair integrity
- A bespoke, personalised cut, style and finish to bring the colour to life.
In my opinion for a full transformation and taking guidance from industry standard specialists for years….this is too much to pack into a three hour appointment in a salon. It’s just not viable. I prefer one to one services with clients where we ar both more relaxed in a calm one to one environment. I have clients that literally come once a year for there annual ‘the works’ package because it lasts them so long. Other come for ‘roots and blast’ appointments which provides a low-cost grey coverage service leaving the previous balayage work completely intact.
What does the day look like?.....Does it drag?
Not really…The foiling takes about 2 hours. Here the clients often just want to engage and chat about life and what’s been going on. Others watch morning tv which is always on in the background for those who are more introverted or just want to chill. Some like the flick through a magazine. Foils take about an hour to lift. Clients are left to their own devices to read a book, eat the lunch they brought or engage on their phone.
Once we have lift we rinse and get you seated for the next colour service. This varies in length but application and development time is usually 60-90 minutes. After a final rinse and olaplex treatment we are ready to bring the colour to life with a individualised cut, style and finish usually taking 60 mins.
The day offers time for lunch, some tv, some chatting, some time alone, some time listening to a little music while I cut. The segments breaks up the day so it does go by faster than you would think. With endless cups of tea on hand, a cosy environment and front loading the work for lasting results… most of my clients think it’s well worth it!
So is it worth it?
Ultimately, I see balayage as condensing two things into one: creating beautiful colour now while also planning how it will look months later. Yes, the first appointment takes longer, but it often saves time and money afterwards. The value of balayage isn’t just the colour you leave with….it’s how good it continues to look afterwards.
