Hair painting is a very organic, visual technique in which the stylist customizes the colour placement to enhance the client’s facial features and natural hair colour and texture. The three most popular hair painting techniques today are free-hand, balayage, and ombré. These terms are sometimes used interchangeably by clients and stylists, but each has its own unique application process, and each can be done alone or combined with other techniques for a truly unique result.

So, what are the distinguishing factors of each technique?

Hair Painting Techniques

	Free-Hand Painting	Balayage	Ombré
Images
Sectioning	Panels Triangles	Thin Panels/ Subsections	Horizontal or diagonal slices/ Subsections
Application	Selected strands are well saturated Vertical brush strokes	Product is lightly swept over the surface of the hair Vertical brush strokes	Hair is fully saturated at the mid-lengths to ends
Separation Tools	Open-air processing Foils, meches, thermal papers	Open-air processing Cotton	Open-air processing Foils, meches, thermal papers
Final Result	Ribbons of blonde or colour against deeper dimension High contrast	Natural Subtle blend Sun-kissed	Progressive blend of dark root to lighter ends Medium – high contrast

All of these hair painting techniques will give you a lived-in look that requires minimal maintenance, yet, each one requires a specific skill set and a deeper understanding of the intended outcomes. Before you can select the correct procedure for your client, let’s go into each technique a little further.

Free-Hand Hair Painting

Free-hand hair painting vs Balayage: Are they the same?

Free-hand hair painting is often referred to as Balayage, or vice versa. Balayage is in fact a method of free-hand hair painting, but the distinction between the two is in the application.

With classic free-hand painting, strategic pieces of hair are saturated through with colour or lightener for a pop of contrast. It is a more organic alternative to foils, since the product is placed while the hair is at its natural fall.

As seen in the images below, the colour or lightener can applied as:

Balayage

With balayage, the colour or lightener is swept lightly over the surface of the section, with the saturation through the section focused more towards the ends (if desired), as seen below:

Balayage is literally translated as “to sweep,” so light brush pressure and surface-only saturation are key. Generally, this technique is processed in open-air for subtle lift and a more natural “sun-kissed” result.

The photo below illustrates how much depth is left underneath your lightly painted sections. This is what results in a natural, subtle result.

Ombré

 Alternately, Ombré is a look of gradation of colour used in everything from home décor, to fashion, to nails.

When it comes to hair, ombré is not a technique of hair painting, as balayage is, but rather a look or result.

To achieve an ombré effect on hair, the colour or lightener is applied in more of a horizontal placement, with full saturation. Generally the regrowth area is darker and the ends are lighter, with a transition in the mid-strands.

This look can be achieved on virgin hair by blending progressing levels of different colour formulas down the hair strand, or on virgin or coloured hair using lightener to lift, and toners to achieve the blended transition.

All three techniques can be used to achieve beautiful, low maintenance results. Next we will explore how to create a seamless blend in whichever method of hair painting you choose to use.

Media Attributions

• “Woman with long hair” by Rachel is used with permission under the Adobe Stock Extended Licence. It may not be reproduced.

• “Blonde Painted Hair on Dark Hair” by Kylie is used with permission under the Adobe Stock Extended Licence. It may not be reproduced.
• “Beautiful ombré hair coloring on a girl with long hair, view from the back” by Oksy001 is used with permission under the Adobe Stock Extended Licence. It may not be reproduced.
• “Other Examples of Ombre” by A. Magtiza is under a CC BY 2.0 Licence. It includes the following images:
  • Fabric image (Ombré) by Rosmarie Voegtli is under a CC BY 2.0 Licence.
  • Ombré Portriat image on Piqsels is in the public domain.
  • Ombré nails image (Degradê) by Lelê Breveglieri is under a CC BY 2.0 Licence.
• Ombré hair image (Green Hair) by xiclography is under the Pixabay licence.
• All of mannequins in this chapter are by A. Magtiza and are under a CC BY 4.0 Licence.