Blonde Balayage Hair Ideas to Inspire Your Next Salon Visit

There's no hair color more popular or highly requested than balayage. The painterly technique results in a dimensional color that reads, "I just came back from a two-month summer vacation spent seaside" and never "I just came back from an appointment with my hair colorist." The results are always natural-looking since the highlights and lowlights intermingle throughout the hair. As stylist Janna Velasquez of Bomane Salon in Beverly Hills puts it, "Balayage is a freehand painting technique, usually focusing on the top layer of hair, resulting in a more natural and dimensional approach to highlighting." (To read more about the actual color technique, click here.)

Blonde balayage is a particular favorite for the warmer seasons of the year (especially for people who live on the sun-washed West Coast). It offers a natural-looking way to go blonde—one that's softer and subtler than other trendy blonde shades like golden or platinum blonde. If natural-looking hair color is your thing, and you're feeling inspired to lighten and brighten your strands, then keep scrolling to discover 20 examples of blonde balayage before booking your appointment.

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Long Sun-Kissed Balayage Blonde

This is one of our all-time favorite looks on Ciara. Her long, sun-kissed hair starts out as chestnut at the roots and slowly transforms to yellow blonde at the ends. Her long waves add to the overall beachy nature of this look, and make us want to take a tropical vacation, stat.

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Ombré Balayage Blonde

Matt Rez is an expert hairstylist and colorist at Mèche Salon in Beverly Hills. He has a whole host of celebrity clients like fashion blogger Chiara Ferragni. We love how her hair is equal parts ombré and balayage. The color is seamless and accentuates her bold brows.

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Short Blonde Balayage

We love actress Eiza González's blonde hair, which Rez was also responsible for. She has naturally dark hair, but you'd never know by looking at this picture. We love that her eyebrow color matches the bronde tones at her roots, giving the entire look a natural effect.

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Choppy Balayage Blonde

Rez proves that one of the best colors to accompany a choppy lob is dark blonde balayage.The waves add texture and volume, mimicking the glorious effect of salt water. With this style, you don't need to take a dip in the ocean to pull off this beachy look.

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Cool-Toned Balayage Blonde

If you're trying to avoid any warm blonde tones, draw inspiration from this cool-toned masterpiece. Like we said, Rez specializes in this hair coloring technique, which is why so many of our favorite looks on this list come courtesy of his Instagram account.

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Betty Cooper Balayage Blonde

Rez even counts "Riverdale's" Lili Reinhart as a client. As we all know, Betty Cooper has some of the best blonde hair in the game. Whether she's promoting her hit show or attending a red-carpet event, her color is always perfectly glossy and melded.

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Dark Balayage Blonde

Raven of helllosunshine proves that blonde balayage can work for dark hair, too. The continuous blonde highlights provide contrast to the chestnut color at the roots while accentuating her bouncy curls.

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Subtle Balayage Blonde

Stephen Garrison is an expert colorist at Roil Salon in Beverly Hills. His Instagram is full of blonde inspiration (blonde-spiration?) like this. We recommend scrolling through before committing to a new color.

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Balayage Blonde Melt

Garrison's Instagram caption described this blonde color better and more succinctly than we ever could. All he wrote was "melty," and it truly captures the magic of this color. The highlights and lowlights blend together so seamlessly, it's difficult to tell where they end and begin (which, in this case, is exactly what you want).

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Ultra-Dimensional Balayage Blonde

Have you ever seen a more Instagram-worthy back of a head before? We haven't. The undulating blonde highlights give the appearance of movement and dimension, even when photographed lying still.

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Bronde Balayage

Here's another example of dark brown hair perfectly accented with blonde balayage highlights. It creates a natural-looking bronde color effect that looks so natural, its hard to tell it's been created by an actual colorist.

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Caramel Blonde Balayage

Janibell, of janibellrosanne.com, wears strawberry-blonde balayage highlights throughout her springy curls. We love the way her hair transitions from dark brown to blonde at the ends (and, yes, we're obsessed with her eyeshadow in this picture).

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Ashy Blonde Balayage

Sure, this looks more ombré than balayage, but it's worth including nonetheless, thanks to the seamless color transition. We love how her dark brown (almost black) hair undulates into an ashy blonde shade. It comes courtesy of Cherin Choi, an expert hair colorist and co-owner of Nova Arts Salon.

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Grown-Out Blonde Balayage

Choi's dedicated client base includes celebrities as well, including actress Chloe Bennet. Choi had just created this color before this red-carpet event, and we love how the blonde and caramel hues blend together for this warm, toasty look.

Byrdie Tip

Balayage and ombré hair color are best for low-maintenance individuals because the hair color technique grows out naturally and beautifully.

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Cool Sandy Blonde Balayage

Choi is also responsible for this curly-haired color meld that transitions from cool-toned brown to sandy blonde. We love how it accentuates her layers and curly texture.

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Bright Blonde Balayage

Justin Anderson is the co-founder of dpHUE and an expert colorist at Nine Zero One Salon in Los Angeles. Here's an example of blonde balayage he did for Alli Webb, the founder of Drybar.

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Platinum Blonde Balayage

If icy blonde is more your style, look no further than this cool-toned creation by Anderson. The darker lowlights under the light blonde hair brings depth to the overall look.

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Warm Blonde Balayage

Anderson is known to work his magic on many noteworthy celebrities as well, including Kristin Cavallari. This playful high ponytail showcases her dark roots, and tumbles into a warm honey blonde.

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Waist-Length Balayage Blonde

Whether you wear extensions or your hair really is waist-length, Anderson's work proves that blonde balayage highlights work on any and all lengths.

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Honey Blonde Balayage

When we see this hair color, one word, and one word only, comes to mind: sun-kissed. We love how the light pieces frame her face at the front, and that a mix of different tones work together to create one cohesive look.

Balayage vs. Highlights: How They Differ and How to Pick One