Ace the Illinois Cosmetology Exam 2025 – Glam Up and Shine Bright!

Balayage is a highlighting technique that creates soft, natural-looking highlights by hand-painting color onto the hair. The stylist applies the color in a sweeping motion, blending it gradually for a sun-kissed effect that mimics the way hair lightens naturally in the sun. This method allows for a more customized and blended appearance, as the highlights are not restricted to uniform sections or patterns. The outcome is a softer transition between the highlights and the base hair color, resulting in a more organic look. This technique is particularly popular for those seeking low-maintenance hair color, as the regrowth is less noticeable compared to traditional highlighting methods.

Other methods, such as ombre and foiling, create more distinct or patterned highlights, which may lack the soft, natural effect achieved with balayage. Lowlighting involves darkening strands of hair to add depth but does not achieve the highlighting effect associated with balayage.