Balayage and Highlights Look Similar, but They're Not the Same — Here's the Difference

Highlights, lowlights, ombré, balayage — there are tons of hair-coloring techniques out there that have dominated our Instagram feeds for years, yet even some of the most beauty-obsessed among us still have a hard time deciphering the differences between them all. Highlights and balayage in particular are two techniques that people seem to be confused about often, but the end results for both tend to look pretty different.

If you are considering coloring or switching up your hair soon but can't figure out which technique is best for you, we spoke to two professional hairstylists to get a little breakdown on the differences between foil highlights and balayage. Read ahead to see what we learned.