How to Create Brown to Blonde Balayage
What happens when you combine brunette balayage with blonde balayage in one masterpiece? A lust-have brown to blonde creation that looks fresh from one season to the next. Versatile, eye-catching and glossy; this freehand style takes bronde locks to a whole new level, whether your client craves cool, frosted tones or glittering, golden hues.
Here, we reveal three need-to-know tips for creating a brown to blonde balayage. Plus, discover eight ideas and formulas to inspire your own salon creations...
3 Must-Know Tips for a Brown to Blonde Balayage
1. Use a Freehand Lightener
While traditional hair lighteners Opens in a new tab can be used for a brown to blonde balayage, a freehand lightener is best suited to a painterly technique. Try Blondor Freelights Opens in a new tab, which features an adhesive mass to ensure it stays in place. This prevents the lightener from transferring to other strands, so you get more precise highlights Opens in a new tab.
2. Consider a High-Lift Shade
High-lift shades can also be used to lift the mid-lengths through brunette hair Opens in a new tab. Consider Koleston Perfect’s Opens in a new tab Special Blondes palette; a collection of colours that lift and tone in one. Make sure you mix your client’s chosen hue with Welloxon Perfect Opens in a new tab 12% for four to five levels of lift or 9% for three levels.
3. Aim for the Same Tone
When segueing from brown to blonde Opens in a new tab, make sure you use shades in the same tonal direction. For example, if the roots are ash brown, go for ash blonde colour on the mid-lengths and ends. Essentially, you’re ensuring that the colour is either cool-toned or warm-toned from root to tip, so your blend of balayage Opens in a new tab hues doesn’t clash when you reach the final look.
8 Brown to Blonde Balayage Ideas
1. Ash Brown to Blonde Balayage
Image Credit: @hairbyparisleanne Opens in a new tab
This mushroom balayage features ash brown Opens in a new tab roots and ash blonde Opens in a new tab mid-lengths; two of our favourite hair colours melted into one cool-toned mane. To create the look, a foilyage Opens in a new tab (balayage with foils) technique was carried out, using Blondor + 6% for lighter, brighter ribbons. Then, Color Touch Opens in a new tab 9/97 + 1.9% was applied over the top, giving Leanne’s Opens in a new tab client a bold contrast between dark roots and light blonde ends.
2. True Bronde Balayage
Image Credit: @fredyhair Opens in a new tab
When the term ‘bronde hair Opens in a new tab’ was coined, at last it gave us a definitive way to describe that dreamy balance between brown and blonde tones – a shade that ranks high on clients’ lust-have lists. This balayage takes the hue to new heights, lending mid-lengths and ends a luminous bronde glow, as if hair has been kissed by the sun on a far-flung getaway. To create the look, highlights were simply toned with a blend of Illumina Color Opens in a new tab 5/35 + 9/03. Recommend clients maintain the shade at home with the Color Fresh Mask Opens in a new tab in Caramel Glaze.
3. Brown to Golden Blonde Balayage
Image Credit: @xobeautybynicole Opens in a new tab
Shades of golden blonde Opens in a new tab glisten on a chocolate brown base. Just look at this gilded ‘do for proof, which was created using a reverse balayage technique. Instead of lightening the ends, Nicole Opens in a new tab stroked Color Touch 6/71 + 5/71 through the roots to help already-blonde mid-lengths pop. Then, she applied Fusion Intense Repair Mask Opens in a new tab under a dryer for 15 minutes to “[bring] this hair back to life”. Look at that shine.
4. Light Brown to Blonde Balayage
Image Credit: @portfolio_hair Opens in a new tab
Pair light brown roots with honey blonde Opens in a new tab lengths for a summer-ready style that radiates health. Smooth and bright, this look was mixed up using Blondor Freelights + 6% for the freehand highlights. Then, roots were shaded using Koleston Perfect 7/0 + 7/43 + 8/38 + 1.9%, while mid-lengths were toned with 9/0 + 9/73 + 1.9%. Hello, glow.
5. Dark Brown to Blonde Balayage
Image Credit: @chloebradburyhair Opens in a new tab
If you’re wondering ‘what is the best balayage colour for dark brown hair?’ Chloe’s Opens in a new tab contrasting creation has you covered. Aim for cool or golden blondes, applied as freehand babylights Opens in a new tab. For this look, she added a root shadow Opens in a new tab using Color Touch 5/0 + 1.9%, then wrapped Blondor + 1.9% ‘lights up in foils to increase the lift. Finally, mid-lengths and ends were toned with Color Touch 5/97 + 1.9%, before the blonde pieces were treated to a dose of 7/97.
6. Red Brown to Blonde Balayage
Image Credit: @hairbyangelaalberici Opens in a new tab
Lend a subtle shot of red to a brown blonde balayage by giving the crown area an auburn Opens in a new tab edge. Combined with warm, almost-strawberry blonde ends, red brown roots are ultra-covetable. As for how to maintain this two-tone ‘do, it’s all about the Color Fresh Mask Opens in a new tab in Golden Gloss; a hydrating treatment with a hint of a tint that keeps the brown and the blonde looking salon-fresh.
7. Brown to Dirty Blonde Balayage
Image Credit: @oz_beauties Opens in a new tab
Because dirty blonde hair Opens in a new tab is a medium tone, it teams seamlessly with dark brunette roots. Here’s a flawless demonstration, perfected using Blondor + 6% to achieve glossy highlights. Our bond-strengthening system, Wellaplex Opens in a new tab, was added to the formula nurture and nourish locks. Then, once hair had reached the correct underlying tone, Illumina Color 8/13 + 8/1 was used to tone.
8. Cool Brown to Blonde Balayage
Image Credit: @hairby.megw Opens in a new tab
Blonde doesn’t have to mean ultra-bright. In the case of this brunette balayage, the mid-lengths and ends tip slightly lighter, with a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it caramel Opens in a new tab glow. Megan Opens in a new tab has laced locks in cooler tones for a freshly-frosted sheen. Recreate the look with Koleston Perfect 5/0 + 4/0 through the roots, rinse, then tone the lengths using 8/0 with dash of 8/73. It’s cool, crisp and clean.
