There is much confusion surrounding highlights and the balayage technique. People mistake the two because they can look similar to an extent, but indeed balayage and highlights are two different hair treatments with different hair care tips and effects.

Both highlighting and balayage should get done in a salon, as they are more complicated than your typical home box dye job. Attempting to do either one of these processes without the proper knowledge or tools could result in serious hair damage because chemicals are involved.

Let’s dive in to see what distinguishes highlights from balayage and which service is the best for your desired look.

What Are Highlights?

In the traditional sense of the word, highlights are a good way to add a little more depth to your hair, with lighter streaks throughout.

Your hairstylist can create highlights with aluminum foil strips so that you get more dramatic lightening in your hair because the stylist saturated specific strands.

This gets accomplished by using a plastic cap over the client’s head, weaving certain pieces of hair through the holes in the cap, and wrapping those pieces of hair with the foil and bleaching agent.

The result is a more intense contrast between the base color of your hair and the lighter hair strands. This style makes your facial features pop, like your eye color and the shape of your face, but it adds a lot of dimension to your tresses.

There is a set pattern that highlights tend to follow, and you have to get regular touch-ups to avoid the color of your roots sprouting and interfering with the highlighted look. If you like highlights but you wanted to try a more subtle look, go for babylights. We’ll discuss how these look in comparison further along. You should also know about the differences between partial and full highlights.