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Discover Hair Ribboning for the Chunkiest Balayage Yet
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20.02.2026

Discover Hair Ribboning for the Chunkiest Balayage Yet

By: Zara Kenyon
Have you heard of hair ribboning? A new take on everyone's favorite service, balayage, it levels up your client's look with bolder highlights that maximize body and movement. So, when you're tasked with boosting dimension, this is one technique you want in your repertoire. Keep scrolling for tips on how to craft the look – and how to help clients maintain it at home...

What is Hair Ribboning?

Hair ribbons combine the thickness of chunky highlights with the seamlessness of freehand painting, so your client is treated to a higher-contrast take on a traditional balayage. These cascading ribbons can be painted lighter or darker than the base colour, depending on the desired finish, resulting in bright, dimensional strokes that give hair plenty of body-boosting movement.

What is the Difference Between Ribbon Highlights and Balayage?

Ribbon highlights and balayage have a lot in common with each other. They both harness the beautiful blending that you only see with freehand, open-air highlights. You also focus both techniques through the mid-lengths and ends of the hair with a tailored approach. Your goal: to highlight and enhance the natural beauty of your client's colour and complexion.
But, here's where they differ: while balayage is a hair lightening technique that's typically soft and subtle, ribbon highlights are applied to wider sections of hair for a bolder result. Cascading ribbons deliver bright, contrasting pops of colour for a head-turning finish, whether your client asks for golden blonde ribbons, thick, depth-bestowing lowlights, or all-out sweeps of rainbow shades.
The Quick Take:
  • Ribbon highlights and balayage are both freehand painting techniques.
  • Balayage is usually soft and subtle, with finer sweeps of lightener or colour.
  • Ribboning involves painting thicker sections of hair for a bolder, high-contrast look.

Who Suits Ribbon Highlights?

Not sure if ribbon highlights are right for your client? Here’s how you’ll know it’s the perfect technique…
  • Their inspiration photos show chunky highlights versus finer weaves.
  • They have high-density, high-volume hair – the ideal canvas for wider slices of lightener.
  • They want a more dramatic, high-contrast colour change than a traditional balayage typically delivers.

Your Hair Ribbon Highlights Kit

If you're using ribbon highlights to add depth to your client's hair, reach for your colour product of choice, around two shades darker than the base colour. But if you're adding lightness and brightness with those cascading ribbons, your highlighting kit needs extra attention. Here are four essential products for the dreamiest finish:

1. Wella Professionals Balayage Brush

Our specially designed, curved balayage brush makes mixing and painting simple, ensuring the blend from dark hair into light has a beautifully melted finish. Plus, it's wide enough to perfect those chunky highlights. Use it to saturate 1-2-inch sections of hair for an even lift.

2. Wella Professionals BlondorPlex

Hair ribboning usually requires more lightener than a traditional balayage, so as well as making sure you price the service accordingly, opt for a product that respects hair's integrity. BlondorPlex 9 not only gives you up to 9 levels of lift – ideal for high-contrast colour – but it also gives your client up to 97% less breakage*. Meanwhile, the anti-brass complex ensures the cleanest canvas.

3. Wella Professionals BlondorPlex No. 2 Bond Stabilizer

Blondorplex No2 Bond Stabilizer with built-in Plex technology deeply strengthens and repairs the hair after lightening with BlondorPlex 9. Apply Blondorplex No2 Bond Stabilizer on damp hair after rinsing out lightening. Leave on for 2 minutes and rinse to complete their BlondorPlex service.

5 Ribbon Highlights Looks to Try

1. Caramel Blonde Ribbon Highlights

Image Credit: @annie4cruz
This caramel blonde combines both chunky ribbons and finer weaves of lightener, delivering a multi-dimensional look that draws on the benefits of two techniques. Perfect for giving a dirty blonde base colour a new-season glow-up, the look also harnesses the true-to-tone vibrancy of Color Touch for major radiance.
The Formula:

2. Chunky Bronde Ribbon Highlights

Image Credit: @balayagebylex
For show-stopping ribbons, level up the lift and give your brunette clients a boost of caramel blonde. The ultimate in bold bronde (brown-blonde) looks, ribbon highlighting takes the famously soft look and gives it major definition. The piecey, chunky finish makes it perfect for summer with its beachy, sun-kissed vibe. Just add loose curls or waves, courtesy of EIMI Ocean Spritz and a wide curling iron.
The Formula:

3. Brownie Batter Ribbon Highlights

Image Credit: @hollyydoeshair
This rich, chocolatey masterpiece shows that even chunky placement can appear ultra-seamless. Add finer weaves, and you'll get a beautiful blend that exudes dimension with every hair swish. Color Touch is bringing the vibrancy here, with hints of ash that feel cool yet rich all at once, so brownie batter ribbons make the mid-lengths and ends of hair shimmer.
The Formula:

4. Golden Face-Framing Ribbons

Image Credit: @danielleemilie
When your client's goal is glow, face-framing ribbons work their magic. Chunky sweeps of lightener through the front give both hair and skin a healthy radiance, enhanced by a golden toner. A touch of red in this Color Touch hue brings beautiful warmth to the overall look. For added shine, finish with a drop or two of ULTIMATE SMOOTH Miracle Oil Serum.
The Formula:

5. Root Beer Ribbon Highlights

Image Credit: @hairbyangelaalberici
For that root beer colour, blend bronzy tones through a dark brown base, as seen in this shimmering look. The high-contrast lift and placement, courtesy of hair ribboning, ensures the highlights don't get lost in the depth. They pop and glow in the most eye-catching way. Shine is key for this look, so consider a SHINEFINITY. For a translucent veil of zero-damage colour and up to 250% shinier hair**, it's a product every client will love.

How to Maintain Ribbon Highlights

Before your client leaves the salon with their flawless ribbons, make sure they've got the right products and techniques to maintain highlights at home. These three steps will ensure their shade goes the distance...

1. Use a Colour-Protecting Shampoo

Colour-safe shampoos are essential to every maintenance regimen, and ULTIMATE COLOR Shampoo is second to none in terms of enhancing and protecting their shade. The gentle, sulfate-free lather washes without stripping, soothes the scalp and moisturizes the hair, with a powerful blend of Glycine and Vitamin B5 that neutralizes Colour-distorting metals. The result? Up to 10 weeks of colour vibrancy***, and healthy-looking hair that feels both clean and cared for.

2. Always Apply Thermal Protection

Heat styling is one of the biggest culprits behind colour fade, so if your client wants to protect their shade, they should minimize their use of hot tools. But if they're not ready to put down the flat iron or curling iron yet, heat protection will allow them to style as they please, while keeping their ribbon highlights protected against brassiness and damage. Recommend ULTIMATE REPAIR Protective Leave-In, which harnesses AHA and Omega-9 in a delicate cream, giving hair a boost of care and repair every time your client uses it to style.

3. Refresh the Tone with a Hair Colour Mask

If your client has high porosity hair that doesn't hold on to colour well, they may want to try topping up their tone in between their salon visits. Color Fresh Mask is a quick solution that revives and refreshes their highlights; a tinted treatment that takes the place of conditioner, enhancing their shade in 10 minutes. All they have to do is smooth it through clean, damp hair on days when colour needs a boost, allow it to develop, and then rinse thoroughly. They'll see the difference instantly.
Now you've got the full lowdown on hair ribboning, you're ready to create the look for your clients. Why not pair the technique with the hottest hair colour trends of 2026?
* When using BlondorPlex 9 + BlondorPlex n°2, vs BlondorPlex 9 alone ** Versus untreated bleached hair. *** With regular use of ULTIMATE COLOR regimen from salon to home.

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