“Teasylights” Are The Secret To Natural-Looking Highlights

With so many celebrities going blonde this summer, perhaps you're feeling a similar itch to splurge on a few highlights. If that's you, the latest look for bright, natural-looking color will likely send you over the edge. Meet: "Teasylights."

A hybrid of traditional highlights and balayage, the technique of teasylighting involves — you guessed it — teasing the hair before sweeping on lightener. Sabrina Yamani Yamga, a colorist at Alex Brown's SPACE Studio in Chicago, breaks it down for us. "Similar to balayage, teasylights create a softly-blended highlight off the root," Yamga explains, adding that the process looks a bit different. "Rather than hand-painting, your colorist will use foils and softly backcomb or tease small sections of hair before applying the lightener, which will diffuse the blend between the lift and the base tone."

If you're looking for visual inspiration to bring to your colorist — either in the coming weeks (with all the proper precautions) or at your pre-fall hair appointment — you'll find plenty of teasylight closeups across a range of base tones and textures, ahead.