When you talk to Australia's finest colourists about hair painting, you wonder why foils and their tell-tale patches and dark roots ever existed. And you wonder why we ever put up with the torture of the dreaded streaking cap. You wonder why the term baliage sounds like and is something from another time in hairdressing and you wonder why such a simple sounding concept could be so terribly overlooked.
myhairdressersearch decided it was time to take a closer look at this well kept hair secret and these intriguing free-form styles of colouring to find out their roots and their current masters.
Baliage became a popularised technique in the 80's, basically defined by Kathy Gilbert of Torquil Murray as 'combed on colour'. More specifically, baliage is an Americanisation of what was a technique created by the French, originally called 'le balayage' meaning 'strands of colour'.
The west coast American version became synonymous with chunky highlights. Hair colour was combed or painted onto the hair, emphasising natural high and low lights, working sympathetically with a hair style to enhance natural texture.
Warwick Grange of Shibui Salon, Melbourne, defines baliage as 'applying lightener straight to the hair with no conductor' and says that the term was so overused and misused that the technique evolved into the more contemporary 'hair painting'.
For those of us who still don't totally understand the look of this wild child of colouring, think supermodel Giselle Bundchen or sexy city girl Sarah Jessica Parker. These two modern icons of glorious hair are good examples of hair painting. Baliage also made a special guest appearance on Australia’s Next Top Model.
Kathy's take on what is better about this technique is that 'it gives a better finish, it's quick and effective and it's not about a lot of hair. It's more about having it done well and having the right style to start with'.
If you still can't picture what's different or better about the technique, imagine the perfect result of a tropical holiday, weeks of careful sun exposure with a touch of salt water bleaching. Picture colour that looks like the product of nature rather than the dreaded 'train tracks through a field'. Warwick, who is touted by Kathy Gilbert as Australia's master of the technique, loves Eugene Perma, Solaris, 'Air Libre' (free flowing) Decolorante (bleaching powder), and says a basic style takes about 2 hours all up. He layers the colour to create depth and says the cost is driven by product and time. The cost of a typical collar length style would start at about $185.
There is a little debate among the experts about what the technique is best suited for. Warwick doesn't limit its application in any way or specify that only textured hair should be used. Some colourists believe it is better suited to hair that is not straight and fine. But it's ideal for short hair and it requires less maintenance than foils. It's perfect for getting close to the scalp and hiding any signs of striping from the scalp that can be a tell-tale sign of artificial colour, no matter how skilfully applied.
So what's not to like about baliage and hair painting? It has all the advantages of the great look of highlights and streaking without the maintenance or suffering. For such a great result, and with such great ambassadors, one wonders why one would do anything else.
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