With traditional highlights, small sections of hair are dyed a lighter color than the base shade. These sections are usually wrapped in foil during the dying process. The dyed sections will run all the way from the root of the hair strands to the tips.

Balayage is a technique that involves directly painting lighter color onto very specific strands and parts of hair, instead of using foil to color an entire section. The hand painting technique creates multiple different layers and tones of the lighter color, which often results in more gradual and natural-looking highlights.

With balayage, the roots of the hair generally don’t get much lighter, but the ends will see much more brightness. Balayage also tends to be more customizable than traditional highlights because of the hand-painting method.

With a base color that’s lighter or with hair that’s been highlighted frequently, lowlights can add a more dimensional look. Lowlights are essentially the same as highlights, except that instead of incorporating a lighter color into the base shade, they incorporate a darker shade.