Now that it’s officially fall, what better way to start the new season than with a fresh new color & expert colorist, Joanna Delgado, shared with HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY, how balayage is the hottest hair trend & what you can do to achieve it.
Move over highlights, balayage is the hottest hair trend taking over salons right now and luckily, Joanna Delgado, a top colorist at Pierre Michel Salon in New York City, spoke to HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY, about how you can get the look. Balayage is different from highlights, as they are painted on to look gradual and more natural, and Joanna shared exactly what they are and how she gave Leilah her gorgeous new look. “Balayage is a French word meaning to sweep or paint. It is another technique used to highlight where the lightener is painted or swept directly into the hair to create a more natural look,” Joanna shared. It’s different from traditional foiled highlights because it is more natural-looking, making the regrowth phase softer and less noticeable. This gives the client more time to go in between touch-ups. Neither technique is better, it all depends on what the client is looking for and the overall goal. There are certain looks that require one technique over the other.”
As for how Joanna achieved Leilah’s new hair, she said, “Leilah was ready for her ‘fall look’ and wanted something that required less maintenance and was richer and shinier. She definitely wanted to keep some lightness without darkening the whole thing. Therefore, I decided to go in first and give her a single process with demi-permanent hair color. We needed a color line that would darken and richen up her hair without lifting her natural hair, so demi-permanent was the way to go since it has no ammonia. It’ll gradually fade out with shampoos in a few weeks, not giving her any harsh lines. While that was on, since she was light already, I balayaged a few panels of highlights in the hair mainly concentrating in the midshaft. I also balayaged some lowlights throughout, which would allow me to create a graduated multi-tonal look down the shaft. I then used a technique called color melting, where different shades of toner used to create a uniform blend throughout her hair, giving her a smooth transition from dark to light from roots to ends.”
If you’re looking to get balayage but don’t know if it’s right for you, Joanna suggests, “Anyone being introduced to highlights who wants a natural look, like the sun did it, is a candidate, as well as anyone who doesn’t want to be a slave to hair color and rush back to the salon for touch-ups, and anyone like Leilah looking to richen up and reintroduce darker warmer shades.”
Once Leilah’s hair was colored, Jerome Lordet, Style Director at Pierre Michel Salon, shared with HollywoodLife how he gave her a fresh new haircut. Leilah’s look was achieved by cutting the length into a blunt lob haircut below the collar bone with a slight face frame, adding a few long layers at the bottom to create a little more texture, body, and movement.” After cutting, he admits, “I added a few volumizing products and blew out the hair with a round brush.” To maintain your new fall hair cut, Jerome suggests, “You should come for a haircut every 5 to 7 weeks especially after the summer when the hair is damaged.”
As for what he thinks the biggest hair trends are for fall, “I think the hottest hair trends are still lobs from the chin to collarbone length with a possibility of bangs!” he revealed.