5 Balayage & Toning Tips For Brighter Blends

Balayage: 5 Hair Paint + Toning Tips For Blended Brightness
Do you go hard in the (hair) paint or struggle with balayage? Start hair painting like a pro with these these five balayage and toning tips from TIGI® Professional USA Technical Education Director Renée Valerie (@renee.valerie) and Wesley Palmer, aka @wesdoeshair to his 191k Instagram followers. From color techniques that will help you perfect the painting process to toning tricks for dealing with warmth, brunettes and money pieces—learn everything you need to know to slay the blend below!

Products Used

Hair Color

Copyright©olour True White Lightener

TIGI® Professional

Hair Color

Copyright©olour True Light Freestyle Blonder

TIGI® Professional

1. Prevent Splotchy Balayage & Uneven Lift
Are you seeing splotchiness in your balayage? Wes uses this surface painting technique to prevent uneven lift and inconsistent saturation.Try this:

• Start by weaving a section.
• Move the hair that drops out of the sliced section away and paint the top section.
• Then (and here’s the KEY) pull the bottom section back, hold all of the hair together with strong tension and connect the lines by feathering upward.

See the difference below!

Pro Tip: For the colorists who like to watch paint dry (😉), Wes uses TIGI Copyright©olour True Light Freestyle Blonder Clay Lightener because it doesn’t require separation with foils so you can watch it process to ensure even, all-over lift.

2. Balayage Clients Wanting More Brightness?
If your balayage regulars want to be lighter, Renée recommends combining balayage with highlights around the face-frame. After balayaging throughout the sides with curved sections and True Light Freestyle Blonder Clay Lightener, she uses this hairline highlight pattern and technique to contour the face with brightness using TIGI’s more traditional Copyright©olour True White Lightener. Here’s how:

True White Lightener

True White Lightene

• How To Section: Take a triangular section and subdivide into a rectangle and a smaller triangle. Section from the center of one of the lines in the diagonal to the middle of the forehead for the rectangle, then separate the smaller triangle left out.

• Where To Apply: On the smaller triangle, weave and highlight back-to-back slices from the hairline back. On the rectangular section, repeat for the first few sections and then space them out a bit more.

3. Balayage Trick: Color Between The Lines
If you’re having difficulty painting traditional balayage slants, Wes recommends mapping it out with this trick—place a painted guideline into the section and color between the lines. Using a brush, paint the guideline into the hair first. Then, starting at the furthermost point, follow the line feathering upward and diffusing the slant.

4. Toning & Glossing: Adding Brightness To Brunette Balayage
If your brunette client has preexisting warmth, try adding to it instead of simply neutralizing it. For example: For adding beautiful bronze tones to brunette balayage, Renée will mix her toner with mostly gold and a kick of copper to enhance and enrich the color instead of correcting it.

Pro Tip: Get creative with the consultation by always analyzing their skin tone and complexion. Then, communicate more effectively like using the word bright instead of warm to show (not tell!) them their most flattering tones.

5. Avoid Toning Down The Face-Frame
You’ve created a beautiful lift and face-framing brightness, now what? If you want a shadow effect that doesn’t tone down the money piece, be strategic about toner placement. Wes will apply the root gloss first and leave the face frame out. He lets it process for a bit, then applies a lighter formula to the hairline and from the mids to ends. This achieves dimension while maintaining the bright face contour.

Want more color content?! Learn how to convert foils to a shadow root with one simple trick!