Do you want to know if it is possible to do a balayage without bleaching?
Absolutely yes.
Although, I should confess that I discovered it by accident.
It was after my vacations.
I love summer.
Because it’s a time of sun, beach, and craziness.
Although I’m not an expert, I assure you that I can ride the waves in a perfect drop.
A drop is the maneuver that allows us to descend a wave once we have stood up on the surfboard.
You may be asking what surfing has to do with balayage.
Well, in my case, everything.
I’m going to be clearer.
This year, I was at the beach in the South of Brazil for twenty days. Twenty days of pure emotion in Praia do Rosa, where surfing is lived from dawn to dusk.
I came back from that vacation with incredible highlights in my dark brown hair. Of course, the sun rays had kissed my hair for unending hours and to that, I added the ocean water.
Every time I looked in the mirror, I prayed that those highlights would stay for longer in my hair.
But unfortunately, the magic disappeared, and that was it for my hair.
So, I started to check how I could get the same effect in my hair, now that I wasn’t on vacations at the beach.
After a lot of checking, I came to the conclusion that my solution had a name: balayage.
Do you want to know why?
Because it is a technique applied to the hair, creating natural lighting, almost as if you had spent your vacations at the beach.
But the problem is that I didn’t want to bleach my hair.
A few of my friends had suffered from the toxic effects of bleaching, from breakage of hair fibers to burnt hair and damages to my scalp.
Meaning, the decision had been made.
I would do balayage but without bleaching.
Do you think it’s possible?
Absolutely yes, but…
And yes, there is always a but.
You can get a balayage without bleaching, as long as you lighten a few chunks of hair up to three tones.
Obviously, if you have black hair and you want platinum blonde pieces of hair, you will have to bleach.
That’s another story.
And it is possible to get a balayage without bleaching, thanks to a product that is called Super-Lightening, something similar to a dye that works to lighten your hair.
Now, it’s important that I warn you that this product should only be used on hair that hasn’t been previously dyed.
That’s why, if you want to imitate that sun-kissed look in your hair, today I will tell you:
- How to prepare your hair to do balayage
- Step by step how to get the perfect balayage
- After care so that your balayage looks radiant for longer
Whether or not you are a surfer, I promise you that your balayage will be the envy of all lovers of big waves.
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How to prepare your hair to do balayage
For any type of process that you want to apply to your hair, the best is to have healthy hair.
Because even though we aren’t talking about a process that is as chemical as bleaching, we are going to apply a product, the super-lightening, that although it isn’t strong, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have chemicals.
A week before doing the balayage, apply a deep treatment, meaning all night, with some natural and organic oil.
Do you have coconut oil?
Use it!
If you don’t have coconut oil or argan or almond, then go into your kitchen and use extra virgin olive oil.
Use warm oil and massage the scalp to help stimulate the scalp, condition the hair, and prepare it for the balayage.
The same day that you apply the lightener on your hair, use a soft, sulfate-free shampoo, to eliminate any residue or other type of hair products, but without erasing the natural oils of the hair that work to protect.
The porosity of your hair can also affect the final result and how your hair is lightened.
Porous hair allows the molecules of the lightening product to penetrate easily, accelerating the processing time and giving a different result than what you want.
An easy way to test the porosity of your hair is to run your fingers from the ends of your hair to your scalp.
If you feel that your fingers get stuck, your hair is pretty porous, meaning, that you will have to carefully control the time that you let the lightening cream sit.
The last piece of advice is to trim your ends since this will make your balayage look better.
How to do balayage step by step
Before diving into the process, it’s important that you decide what tone you want for your balayage.
Do you want my advice?
Always choose up to three tones lighter than your hair, because if you go one tone lighter, you won’t get that natural light look that a balayage has.
Now, tastes aren’t written in stone.
But remember that this has to do with trying to recreate a natural look, not an eccentric look similar to Cruella de Vil.
Now, let’s get to the preparation of the elements that we will need.
Materials:
- Gloves
- Super-lightener according to the tone you choose
- 40-volume hydrogen peroxide
- An old t-shirt
- A dye brush
- A Plastic bowl
- Various clips to hold your hair back
- A Comb
Process:
- Put on the old t-shirt to avoid ruining your clothes and the gloves.
- Mix two parts 40-volume peroxide with one part super-lightener in the plastic bowl.
If you have a lot of hair, I recommend that you use half of the primary mixture, and when you finish that half, prepare the super-lightener with the peroxide again.
Because if you prepare the whole mixture at the start, it will start to develop before applying it to your hair which can cause unevenness in the color of your highlights.
- Divide your hair into four sections, two in the front, at the crown and ears, at each side, and two in the back.
- Work each section, dividing it into small chunks from underneath to the top.
- Take one of the small divisions and leaving about ten centimeters from the roots, paint the length of the chunk towards the ends with the help of the brush.
- Continue painting the pieces from the middle to the ends, being very generous with the mixture at the ends.
- Continue applying the lightening mixture in each section of your hair.
- Once you have covered all the pieces, let the mixture sit for between fifty and fifty-five minutes.
- Once that time has passed, rinse your whole head very well with warm water and proceed to wash your hair with a soft, sulfate-free shampoo.
You can dry your hair with the help of a hairdryer, at medium temperature.
Have you looked in the mirror?
I’m sure that you will adore those sun-kissed highlights, and you got them all by yourself.
Do you want to know how to care for your balayage highlights?
Aftercare so that your balayage look radiant
Blonde highlights, reflections or balayage have a small defect.
From the moment that you do them, agents like the sun, wind, even tap water, tend to oxidize them, which can turn them a horrible orange.
- To avoid this and extend the effect of your impeccable balayage, I recommend that once a week you use purple shampoo.
This shampoo adds purple pigment to your hair which cancels out the yellow and orange tones because yellow and purple are opposites on the color wheel.
- I also recommend that you use some type of deep conditioning treatment to prevent breakage and split ends.
Now, you can prolong summer in your hair without putting its health at risk.
I’m already dreaming of riding the perfect wave, while my balayage hair contends with the sun rays.
Have you ever done balayage in your hair?