Flamboyage...no it’s not a dessert or a type of dance that you’ve never heard of it. It is (like ombré and balayage before it) a ridiculously grandiose name for a highlighting technique that Blue Tit London are calling the next big trend.
The early 2000s taught us to be sceptical of highlights, especially the block-y, bleach-y kind that made everyone look like a racoon. But, in the years since ombré and balayage have done their best to redefine our understanding of hair colouring. And, now flamboyage has come along to revolutionise the industry once again.
For many ombré reopened the (salon) door to the concept of subtle hair dying. Though looking back now, the concept of fading dark roots to bleach blonde tips is anything but natural-looking. Though, no one can knock how little upkeep this look required. Celebs like Lauren Conrad, Victoria Beckham, Alexa Chung and Katy Perry can vouch for this first hand.
Watch Now: Before And After Flamboyage Highlights On Curly And Straight Hair
Then came balayage highlights, or the art of freehand painting the hair. Since it popped up on Pinterest, it has become incredibly popular as it creates a more nuanced, graduated look. Unlike highlights of yore, it’s tailored to the client's noddle. It works just as well on short, long, straight, curly, blonde or brunette as it is bespoke it can easily be tweaked to fit every hair type. Because this technique doesn’t require foils or meche, balayage is relatively speedy. Plus, it grows our more naturally as hairdresser rarely paint up to the root line.
If highlights were on a spectrum and ombré was the most extreme and balayage the most subtle then flamboyage would be right smack in the middle. It takes a little longer than the hand-painted technique, but the end effect is more sun-kissed. Similar to balayage, it’s tailored to the customer and works on curly, straight, bobbed, flowing, blonde and brown hair. But, unlike anything else on the market, it uses Davines adhesive strips (flamboyage meche), which are applied to the hair instead of foils. The sticky strips allow the hairdresser to be extremely precise with which strands are coloured. The end effect has depth and vibrancy with different colour tones woven through the hair. Though a tint can be added afterwards, flamboyage makes hair look lighter and brighter without the dreaded stripes. As the base colour of your hair never changes it grows out seamlessly. From personal experience, I'd say it is enough for people to notice and say, ‘your hair looks nice,’ but not enough to feel the pressure of upkeep.
To see how it works on long curly and short straight hair, we put flamboyage to the test at Blue Tit’s London salon. Watch the video above to see how we got on.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.