What Is Reverse Balayage? Clorists Explain Benefits, Cost, and More

Anyone who has gone from brunette to blonde knows just how much of a challenge the whole lighting process can be. To create a lighter, sun-kissed look that is easier to achieve and maintain than an all-over dye job, many clients ask for balayage highlights. This hair coloring technique involves freehand painting highlights onto the hair to create a natural-looking gradation of color. However, if you're looking to go darker, you'll want to give the technique's sister, reverse balayage, a try.

While traditional balayage is all about brightening, reverse balayage focuses on adding darkness and dimension back to light hair. While it's low-commitment and easily reversed, there are still factors (like cost and hair type) to consider. So, to help you decide if reverse balayage is right for you, we tapped master colorists Mark DeBolt, Rita Hazan, and Tiffanie Richards to share everything they know about this hair coloring technique.

Ahead, find everything you need to know about the reverse balayage before heading to the dark side.

What Is Reverse Balayage?

As the name implies, reverse balayage is the "reverse" of balayage, adding lowlights and darker strands instead of lightener with a "painting" or "sweeping" hair color technique.

"Reverse balayage basically means adding depth back into your hair by adding darker color tones into your hair," says Hazan. "This helps make your highlights pop by adding contrast. And it's a great way for blondes who just want to go a little darker."

Instead of brown hair that appears highlighted, reverse balayage makes already highlighted hair appear lived-in and sun-kissed with rich depth and dimension, sometimes with lighter roots that blend into darker strands. Because of the way it complements highlights, it's typically most popular among blondes who want to go darker than their current shade by adding darker lowlights and tones throughout.

The Benefits of Reverse Balayage

• Looks more natural than foil highlights: Reverse balayage involves painting specifically selected strands and blending them with your natural base. As such, it looks much softer than traditional foil lowlights, which tend to have more obvious lines of demarcation.
• Low-maintenance: Because the dark strokes are painted on so softly to achieve that natural look, they leave no trace of harsh, blunt lines or obvious regrowth, allowing for more time between your appointments. "It's just low-maintenance," Hazan says. "It should help your natural hair blend better with your new color."
• Color is less likely to "bleed": If foils are placed too close, a "bleed"—aka a spot of demi-permanent or permanent hair color that's leaked onto the hair beneath the foil, could occur, and that can be difficult to fix. With reverse balayage, colorists use a barrier between their sections to prevent the layers of bleach from touching.
• Easy to grow out: When your natural hair color blends well with your roots (as is with reverse balayage), the grow-out process is much easier if you suddenly decide you don't want to color.

The Drawbacks

If you're looking to add dark hues to your hair, reverse balayage has few downsides. One thing Richard notes about reverse balayage is that "Fine hair textures may want to avoid this technique and go for a traditional foil lowlight" if barriers aren't used. This is because applying reverse balayage is done with semi-permanent or permanent hair color types, which has the possibility to bleed onto unintended areas of hair. Fine hair's thinner texture has less resistance than thicker textures, which makes it more prone to absorbing those bleeds.

Mentally, be prepared and certain that you want to go darker before walking into the salon and asking for the technique. "It obviously will give you a darker effect, so make sure you definitely want to go darker before you commit, and that's something you're ready for," warns Hazan. Additionally, some styles will be harder to maintain than others. For example, if you decide to do a "reverse ombré" look with much lighter roots, you should expect more maintenance and touch-ups.

Reverse Balayage vs. Balayage

As we mentioned, the balayage color technique is all about lightening things up. The word "balayage"—which translates to "sweep" or "paint" in French—is the name of this freehand hair color painting technique, which focuses on the top layer of the hair, lightening it up with highlights and color. For example, a common balayage style would be an ombré look with painted-on highlights, dark, smudged roots, and a blonde gradient.

But, again, a reverse balayage is the reverse of that: Instead of focusing on the highlights and top layers, it's all about what's underneath: the lowlights and under-layers, and making them blend with the rest of your hair for a natural, lived-in look. "It's all about lowlights and tone, adding contrast with darker, shadowy pieces underneath," says DeBolt.

The process involved is similar—the same painting technique is used—but merely focusing on different sections of the hair. So, if you're looking for something sun-kissed yet rich and dark—with deep lowlights and moody shadows, reverse balayage is definitely the way to go.

The Cost

Depending on the salon, how experienced your colorist is, and how many lowlights are required to achieve the desired look, you can expect to pay between $150 to $500 for reverse balayage, which is about the same cost as a full set of highlights.

How Can You Make Your Reverse Balayage Last Longer?

While reverse balayage already lends itself to lasting longer between coloring sessions, there are some things you can do to prolong your dye job. Richards says to use only color-safe products—she recommends the Kérastase Chroma Absolu line, specifically, the Bain Chroma Respect Shampoo—as they will help "preserve the color deposit that was put into your hair."

"Hair masks are a must as well: Hydration equals color longevity," she adds.

The Takeaway

Reverse balayage—the addition of handpainted lowlights instead of highlights—is a low-maintenance, low-commitment way for blondes to add subtle darkness and depth to their hair. It's perfect for someone looking for a darker, more lived-in look without wanting to commit to a full-blown, all-over transformation.