Probably the fastest growing hair trend this side of 2009, balayage is a free-hand form of highlighting your hair, where your stylist applies colour (blonde) to your ends but leaves your roots dark.

The result is a delightfully sun-kissed finish that looks amazing when you curl your ends and not the best when you leave them straight. So, that’s something to consider if you’re thinking about getting this done. You see, balayage works really well with casual hair. It’s relaxed, cool, undone and very much on trend right now. But, if you have dead straight hair and leave it that way all the time, perhaps this technique isn’t for you.

What balayage will do for you though is add dimension to your hair. It adds depth of colour and instantly updates block browns. Plus, it’s quick, so you won’t be in the salon all day like you would if you were having regular foils done.

Here’s what you should expect from your colourist:

1) A consultation: When you speak to your colourist, make sure you tell them exactly what you’re after. Take pictures of celebs in and talk about your hair maintenance levels, your budget and what you want to achieve from this style.

2) The colour mixing process: Once you’ve had a chat, your colourist will nip off and start mixing your colour. Just like they do with any dye job. There should be more than one shade with balayage though. As you’re trying to add depth and dimension, it’s important to have a nice blend of blondes that work with your natural skin tones rather than one block, blonde shade.

3) Application: Unlike regular foils that are applied from your roots to your end, balayage is concentrated only on your ends. Your colourist might backcomb small sections of hair before applying the colour to break it up and create smaller sections of colour. This is what mine does anyway. They will simply paint the colour onto your ends sporadically and wrap in foil. You’ll then have to sit around for a while, read some mags and then pop off to the basin to get the colour out. If you’ve had some colour in your hair before, they may need to apply a toner, but generally it should be good to go.

4) Final touches: Once the colour is all in and your hair’s ready to blow-dry, ask your stylist to blow-dry with movement. If you get it dead straight, it might look a bit wack. Movement, waves and even a bit of curl is exactly what you need to pull off this look.

Once you’re used to your new colour, play around with styles and products at home. A good texture lotion will add guts to your ends and a little curl job with a  works an absolute treat.