The fuss-free way to lighten your hair

Balayage is one of the easiest ways to lighten your hair, in a fuss-free way. We've picked some of our favourite hair transformations to inspire you ahead of summer.

Balayage is one of those hair terms that most of us have heard of at this stage. You might even be sporting it right now without realising. But what is it exactly? And why is it overtaking traditional highlighting methods?

The term balayage is French and means to paint. So any thoughts of stripy highlights are banished to the past (where they belong). The technique is more freehand, where stylists paint on colour or lightening products. The overall idea is to create more natural looking highlights in the hair as if you'd got them on holiday.

With most balayage techniques, there is a little more of a natural root showing as well. Although if you're like me, that'll be dyed too (to cover the greys!). This is because if your hair was lightened by the sun, it wouldn't start in a perfect strip, right at the top of our heads. The handy thing about that, of course, if that as the colour grows out, it does so in a softer way. Fewer trips to the salon means you can save on time and money - always a good thing.

If you're thinking of going lighter, or just adding some texture into your hair, balayage might be the answer. Here are some of our favourite examples of great hand painted hair colour.

Sunkissed Brunette

Strawberry Tones

Warm Reds

Soft Blondes

Would you be tempted to go with this freehand painting method of hair colour?