56 E Andrews Dr NW · Buckhead, Atlanta 30305
56 E Andrews Dr NW · Buckhead, Atlanta 30305
Balayage is hand-painted, which is the whole point. Instead of packing color into evenly spaced foils, your colorist paints it where the light would naturally hit — so the result has no start line and no hard regrowth edge.
Done well, it looks like hair you were born with and grew out on purpose. Done badly, it looks like stripes. The difference is placement, and placement is a judgment call made on your head, not from a photograph.
what makes balayage work
Three things decide whether balayage looks expensive or looks like a technique. None of them are the product in the bowl.
There is no map. Your colorist reads how your hair falls, where it parts, how it moves when you tuck it behind an ear, and paints to that. Which is why the same service on two people produces two genuinely different results — and why a photo of someone else is a starting point, not a brief.
Painted and left open, the lightener works gently in the air for a softer, more blended result. Wrapped in foil — foilayage — it drives harder and reaches a brighter blonde. Most heads need some of each, and deciding the ratio is most of the skill.
Balayage is judged on how it grows out, not how it looks on the day. We place the paint so that as your hair grows the transition stays soft, which is what buys you three or four months between appointments instead of four weeks.
services & pricing
Prices are starting points. Length, density, and how much lift you’re after all move the final number, and your colorist confirms it before anything is mixed.
First-time balayage always starts with a consultation. We look at your hair’s history, agree how light is realistic, and decide whether it’s one visit or a staged plan.
Priced by how much of the head is painted. Face frame brightens around the face only; partial covers the top and sides you actually see; full includes the back.
Balayage’s finer cousin. Very fine, closely woven pieces that read as natural depth rather than painted movement. Slower to place, and the technique behind hair that looks like it was always that color.
A gloss between appointments is what keeps balayage from drifting brassy. It’s the single highest-value thing you can book in the months between full services.
Going significantly lighter than your natural shade, or lifting old color first? That may be a staged plan rather than one appointment — see color correction.
what to expect
In daylight, against your skin. We agree how light is realistic for your hair’s history, and whether we’re painting open, in foil, or both.
The slow part, and the part that decides everything. Allow two to four hours depending on length and how much of the head we’re covering.
Lightening gets you to the canvas; toning gets you to the color. This is the step that decides whether you read cool, warm, or neutral.
You leave knowing what to wash it with and roughly when to book a gloss. What you use at home decides how long the tone holds.
making it last
Balayage that should carry you four months can turn brassy in six weeks — and it’s rarely the color’s fault. Sulfate shampoo strips tone, and Atlanta’s water leaves minerals in lightened hair that pull it warm and dull.
A sulfate-free, color-safe range plus a gloss partway through the cycle solves most of it. We retail the Schwarzkopf and Redken take-home ranges built around the same chemistry we used in the bowl.
before you book
At LaBara, face frame balayage starts at $195, partial at $295, and full at $325. Those are starting points — length, density, and how much lift you want all move the final number. Your colorist confirms the price before anything is mixed.
Highlights are woven into evenly spaced foils from the root, which gives uniform brightness and a defined regrowth line. Balayage is painted by hand where light would naturally fall, usually starting away from the root, so it grows out soft. Highlights are more predictable; balayage is more bespoke and lower maintenance.
Both are hand-painted; the difference is what happens next. Balayage is left open so it lifts gently in the air, giving a softer and more blended result. Foilayage wraps the same painting in foil, which drives more lift and reaches a brighter blonde. Most heads get some of each, and your colorist decides the ratio based on how light you want to go.
Two to four hours depending on your length and whether we’re doing face frame, partial, or full. The painting itself is the slow part, and it isn’t a step worth rushing. Bring something to do.
Yes, and it’s some of the most striking work we do — but going several levels lighter from dark hair can take more than one session, particularly if there’s old color on the ends. We’ll tell you at the consultation whether it’s one visit or a plan.
It’s lightener, so it is a chemical service. What balayage does is keep most of that lightener away from your scalp and require fewer full appointments per year, which is why hair on a balayage schedule usually stays in better condition over time. We add a bond treatment to lightening work as a matter of course.
ready when you are
Bring the photos. We’ll tell you honestly what’s reachable on your hair and how long it takes to get there.
areas we serve
