Back to results

Skin Deep

Share

Skin Deep hair and beauty tips with Sheila Ryan, hair and beauty expert at Aroma

Hi everyone, autumn is here once again! I love this season, the air is refreshing and yet we still get fabulous sunny days. Autumnal colours are in abundance, rich gold and reds looking beautiful throughout the countryside. Locally, St. Giles fields look breathtaking as I walk my two faithful dogs, Princess Oscar and Bella.

This month I talk about how we can adapt our hair colours to warmer shades of chocolate and honey. I hope you find a little inspiration in our quest to look beautiful in the coming winter months.

Balayage

We’ll start with Balayage. So what exactly is Balayage I hear you ask? Balayage is a French word for ‘sweep’ or ‘paint’. The technique gives a sun kissed, natural looking hair colour, which is the reason why we love it! It’s very similar to what nature gives us as children, with softer less noticeable regrowth, so actually it’s a very economical way of colouring your hair. Less is definitely more when creating soft, natural looks.

The wonderful news is this technique is totally bespoke to you. A good Balayage expert will be able to place the colour to suit your own skin tone, so it will look amazing and light up your features. It’s a highly skilled technique and hasn’t been widely taught in the UK until recently. It’s now better known because of the amount of celebrities and models wearing it. Clients are seeing it on catwalks and red carpets and want the same hairstyle. I love to see Balayage finished with loose curls or a beautifully tousled look where you can see the colour variations ribbon through the hair.

Lowlights and Highlights: which ones are right for you?

Are you after a little extra light in your hair? Whether you want to restore radiance to dull hair or you just fancy changing your colour, lowlights and highlights are the easiest way to transform your shade to something altogether more interesting. However, you have to think which one is right for you and what you need to know before you commit to your new colour.

You can create multiple honeyed shades running through your hair like Jennifer Lopez, or fine shades of chocolate, a la Kristen Stewart. The highlights or lowlights are what you need to ask your stylist for. Celebs like Jennifer Aniston and Jennifer Lawrence are great ambassadors for highlights and lowlights, as their hair is full of light and dark accents which add body movement and interest to their beautiful looks.

The benefits of combining highlights and lowlights are that it gives a much more natural look. Lowlights involve darkening strands of hair by using colours that are darker than your own natural colour. Highlights use colours that are lighter than your own natural shade. Combining them, and also leaving a tad of your own natural colour, is a fabulous effect.

Colour is the most fun accessory you can add to your hair and you can adapt it to each season. The best way to achieve this is through the expertise of your hairdresser. You must be able to communicate with them; take in photographs and magazines showing the colours you would like to achieve, as this can be a great help. Use the instinctive expertise of your hairdresser/colourist and together you’ll be able to come up with your own personal blueprint of colour completely adapted to you.

I’ve actually included in this article examples of work that we’ve achieved in my own salon as I feel this is more ‘real’ and ‘local’. Having said that, the picture of Jennifer Aniston looks fantastic, so I slipped that in too! I hope you enjoyed this month’s article, and I wish you all winter months of bright and radiant hair.

Sheila, Salon Owner and Senior Stylist at Aroma Hair and Beauty

For any further advice contact me at the salon, [email protected]. All emails will be answered personally.

Top right image: Balayage created by Gemma Ryan at Aroma Hair & Beauty

Bottom right image: Highlights by Sheila Ryan at Aroma Hair & Beauty