Balayage - can anyone recommend someone in north London?

[Eesha]

Hi,

I’m thinking to have this done on my black hair to get a newer look. My worry is I get lots of white growth quickly so will this be an expensive hair change? I’ve seen a few places quoting 150, is that realistic?

£150 is not realistic no, it should cost much more if it’s being done properly, especially as you have black hair. Yes it will be expensive but it’s quite a specialist style when done properly, other places may do it cheaper but chances are it won’t look how you expect it (ie a shit job). It’s freehand too, so it very much depends on the skill of your stylist. I wouldn’t bother getting it done at a cheap salon.

Is your hair naturally black or coloured black? If you hair is virgin then it might be easier to lift, as dark hair dyes are notorious for being difficult to remove evenly. However virgin black hair is still a long and difficult process to lift as it will go through an orangey stage - so to get a blonde or ash brown your hair will need to be lifted quite lightly. This needs specialist stylists/products to maintain the integrity of your hair, as a cheap salon may just leave you to walk around with damaged ginger/orangey hair as they aren’t experienced with black hair. I’m not sure how light you want to go, but from black to blonde in just one appointment isn’t advised.

A good balayage needs multiple tones, and it’s difficult to do this well with black hair as brunette/blonde tones don’t blend nicely with black. This is why it’s a easier to balayage a natural blonde/light brunette as their natural colour makes a good, flat base for the highlights and you get a nice gradient. This is again why you should find a stylist that will be able to achieve what you like with black hair - don’t go by price, but by pictures of their work.

Whereabouts in North London are you? I’d recommend Hannah at 77 the Hill in Enfield, she is worth her weight in gold and my balayage came in at £130 including cut and blow dry - I was there for the best part of 4 hours.

Hi, I’m near Golders Green. The stylist I found seems like he knows what he is doing but as I don’t know much about hair, the price sounded crazy. I have dark hair, near black, which grows very quickly. His English wasn’t great and he said I’d still need to regularly get my roots done as they were white. For balayage, can’t you get black to brown or something similar. Blonde might be too much of a change.