Signature colour · Amsterdam
Balayage is the studio's signature. It is painted freehand, by eye, in a single chair on Geelvinckssteeg in the centre of Amsterdam — one client at a time, from consultation to the last strand. A balayage appointment runs about two and a half to three hours and starts at €200. Toner is priced separately.
Balayage is a freehand lightening technique. The colour is painted onto the surface of the hair rather than applied through foils or a cap, and it is swept along the strand instead of saturating it from root to tip.
Because nothing is packed tightly against the scalp, the lightening begins softly and deepens towards the ends. There is no hard line where the colour starts. As the hair grows, the transition stays soft — which is why balayage does not need retouching on a fixed schedule the way a full head of colour does.
The word is French: balayer, to sweep.
The four techniques are often used interchangeably online. They are not the same thing, and the difference decides what your hair will look like in three months.
Worked in foils, section by section, close to the root. The result is more uniform and brighter overall, and the regrowth line is more visible. Better suited to someone who wants clear, even lightness rather than a lived-in look.
Painted freehand, without foils, and left softer at the root. Less uniform by design, and it grows out gently.
A graduated effect — dark at the root moving to light at the ends, with the change concentrated lower down the hair. A stronger, more deliberate contrast than balayage.
The original AirTouch technique uses airflow from a blow-dryer to separate the shorter, newer hairs so that only the longer strands take colour. Aram does not use airflow: he separates the strands by hand, which allows the selection to follow how your hair actually grows. It gives the finest, most blended transition of the four.
At this studio: balayage from €200, highlights from €200, ombré from €220, AirTouch-style blonding from €220. Each is quoted after seeing the hair.
Balayage works best on someone who wants their colour to grow out gracefully rather than sharply — because you do not want to be back in the chair every four weeks, or because you would rather your colour looked like it belonged to you than like it had been applied.
It suits most natural bases, but the starting point changes the result. Dark hair takes more lifting to reach a cool blonde and may need more than one session to get there safely. Previously coloured hair — especially hair with box dye or old highlights on it — behaves differently from virgin hair, and that has to be assessed before anything is mixed.
Fine hair, thick hair, straight, wavy, curly — all take balayage. The placement changes, not the technique.
Consultation first. Fifteen minutes, free, no obligation to book. You bring photos or nothing at all. The point is to establish what your hair can hold and what will suit you, and to agree the price before any colour is mixed.
The appointment itself runs about two and a half to three hours. Painting, developing, washing, and a finish. If toner is needed — and for a clean, cool blonde it usually is — that is a further hour and priced separately, from €110.
One pair of hands, start to finish. No assistant applies your colour. No second client overlaps yours.
Balayage is lower-maintenance than a full head of colour, not no-maintenance.
Most clients come back every three to four months. Between visits, the thing that shifts the colour most is not time — it is water, heat and the wrong shampoo. Sulphate-free products and a lower dryer temperature hold the tone considerably longer.
Toner fades faster than the lightening underneath it. If your blonde starts reading warm after a couple of months, that is usually the toner going rather than the balayage failing, and a toner refresh is shorter and cheaper than a full appointment.
At this studio, from €200. The range runs to €290 depending on length, density and how much lifting the hair needs. Toner is separate, from €110. The exact price is agreed at the consultation, before anything is applied.
Usually two and a half to three hours. Add roughly an hour if toner is included.
Most clients every three to four months. Balayage is designed to grow out softly, so there is no hard deadline the way there is with a root tint.
Yes, though how light it can go in one appointment depends on your starting shade and the condition of the hair. Going from dark to a cool blonde sometimes takes more than one session. Doing it in one sitting is possible in some cases and damaging in others — that assessment happens at the consultation.
Often, but it needs looking at first. Box dye and old highlights lift unpredictably, and what is already on the hair changes what can safely be done in a single appointment. That assessment happens at the consultation.
Highlights are applied in foils close to the root for a more even, brighter result with a visible regrowth line. Balayage is painted freehand, softer at the root, and grows out without a line.
Yes — and Dutch, Russian, Ukrainian, Armenian and Arabic. Describing colour precisely is difficult in a second language, and it matters more than most people expect when the result stays with you for three months.
Geelvinckssteeg 10-A, 1017 BE Amsterdam — in the centre, a short walk from the Flower Market and Koningsplein. By appointment only.
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One chair. One artist. A consultation first, then colour mixed for your hair — not from a chart.
