First things first, let's jog your memory on what exactly is balayage hair color (seen here). It's one of the best techniques for lightening your hair color without having to worry about a ton of maintenance. "Balayage is a French technique, which literally means 'to sweep or paint' and gives a very natural, sun-kissed look," says celebrity hairstylist Felix Fischer. Balayage highlights start close, yet softly, at the roots and lead to thicker highlights towards the ends of your hair. "It's never fully saturated, streaky, or chunky," says Fischer. Balayage is nothing like those super-thick highlights you added to your hair in high school (we'd rather soon forget that phase, too).
Now that you know what traditional balayage is (darker color fading into lighter color), you can probably guess what the reverse would look like (lighter color transitioning into darker color). Reverse balayage was first brought to our attention via a Reddit post in January 2018. User DEH0001 (aka hairstylist Deryn Daniels) posted the pic seen here of a woman's blonde hair transitioning into brown ends with the caption, "In a world full of blonde balayage, be a reverse."
"Reverse balayage still utilizes the same technique as regular balayage, but instead of adding in lighter 'sweeps,' we add darker shades," says Fischer. "It still avoids the chunky, block colors — it's just balayage upside down!" In other words, with reverse balayage, you'll have lighter hair on the top transitioning into darker hair on the bottom, but the highlights will still be seamless and look as if they're painted on.
The awesome thing about balayage, in general, is that anyone can look great rocking it. The same goes for reverse balayage. "I think everyone can pull this look off, but especially those whose hair has become too blonde or could use some more depth," says Fischer. If you're interested in trying reverse balayage, check out some pics on Instagram first so you can show your colorist exactly what you want.
What's the maintenance like for reverse balayage highlights?
One of the reasons why we (and so many women around the world) love balayage so much is that it's low maintenance. Because the highlights are placed so softly around your roots and are focused more towards the end of your hair, you don't have to worry about near-constant touch-ups. The good news is, reverse balayage is almost as easy to maintain. "It will actually be about the same amount of work and upkeep as regular balayage," says Fischer. "It might even be easier, depending on your base color." (You're looking at touch-ups every 6-8 weeks or so.)
