Ombré, Sombre, Balayage whats the difference?

Trends come and go, but it looks like gradient beautiful natural hair is here to stay. Over the past few seasons, we’ve transitioned from foil highlights and solid all-over color to softer and more natural looking hair color.

These days, the look is sun-kissed, grown out and slightly unkempt. The slow-fade styles add depth, dimension and you don’t have to be visiting the salon every few weeks for a touch-up.

Then: Ombré Now: Sombré

The demand for dark roots and lighter ends started a few years back, worn by everyone from Sara Jessica Parker , Drew Barrymore and Dree Hemingway. Ombré can feature quite a stark dark-to-light fade – making sombré (“subtle ombré”) a much more nuanced take on the dip-dye trend.

The worn-in look is perfectly low-maintenance. There’s no need for constant touch-ups due to there being no clear demarcation line or regrowth – making it an economical option, too.

"Ombré means [going] darker at the root and gradually getting lighter at the ends of your hair," "The beauty of ombré is that it can work for any hair type or color. If the hair is highlighted already, I just paint on a ‘fake' root and make it look like the color has grown out for a few months."

"Sombre is a more subtle version of ombré. Even though it is more subtle, it takes the same amount of time as ombré," Kosia Asiamah creative director at Yoni Kreger salon says the color transition is also much more gradual (no lines of demarcation, which means less touch-ups), making it a lower maintenance, less expensive alternative to its more obvious counterpart.

Balayage is a French word for sweep," its a technique. "Technically, it means that you area-painting highlights on the hair in a sweeping motion." Highlights will be in chunkier sections, making it seem like the sun naturally lightened the hair. Because no foils or meche is used to apply product, sections are less saturated than typical highlights and regrowth lines are less noticeable. Your hair will look just as good whether it's one week or one month from your initial salon appointment.