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40 Inspirational Ideas for Balayage Short Hair to Feel Like a Celebrity

Experiments with balayage on short hair sometimes look even more spectacular than on long hair. Dimensional highlights make the haircut expensive and soigne. Balayage is a free-hand technique — the stylist applies colors to the hair as an arbitrary pattern, thus making it look similar to naturally sun-kissed strands. Worth trying, and this is why!

Check out these hair color ideas for short hair to feel gorgeous, stunning, and modern. Forget the old method of foil highlights done in a hair shop next to the house!

1. Short Dark Hair with Blonde Highlights. Make your tan skin shine naturally without excessive bleaching. The spiced up beachy waves with money pieces bring cool modern vibes.

Experiments with balayage on short hair sometimes look even more spectacular than on long hair. Dimensional highlights make the haircut expensive and soigne. Balayage is a free-hand technique — the stylist applies colors to the hair as an arbitrary pattern, thus making it look similar to naturally sun-kissed strands. Worth trying, and this is why!

Check out these hair color ideas for short hair to feel gorgeous, stunning, and modern. Forget the old method of foil highlights done in a hair shop next to the house!

1. Short Dark Hair with Blonde Highlights. Make your tan skin shine naturally without excessive bleaching. The spiced up beachy waves with money pieces bring cool modern vibes.

2. Blonde Highlights with a Few Waves. The natural brown hair color works best with a few highlights. You will know that you are always the center of attention.

3. Mahogany Brown Balayage for Short Hair. Not only blondes have all the fun. Here’s a fabulous mix of stand-out colors for brunettes. With reddish balayage highlights, you get artistic results with minimal effort.

4. Dark Short Hair with Highlights. If you need dark hair color ideas for short hair, you may like the following balayage hairstyle. Even if you want blonde highlights, you will have to start with transitioning warm shades. All browns and copper would be a great starting point.

5. Balayage Ombre on Short Hair. It is not a common pairing, but it seems that everyone loves it! Put in a few metallic shades to blend your natural color with highlights. Multi-dimensional tones are good for easy maintenance and effortlessly adorable looks.

6. Dirty Blonde Hair with Balayage. Perfect for those with grown-out dark roots. Enjoy never-ending hair dimension that catches the eye. Get ready for several compliments from the guy you like!

7. Ash Bronde Short Hair Balayage. In search of hair dye ideas for short hair that are on the cooler side, consider ash, gray, and silver tones. This will be a mega-transformation for your brown mane!

Ash Blonde Balayage for Brown Hair
By Anna

8. Cinnamon Balayage for Shorter Hair. Do you have soft brown hair? Time to embrace some milky lightness! Diversify your look with delicate cinnamon ribbons. It is a great way to add depth to your hair, and make your eyes shine!

9. Burgundy Balayage Bob. An inverted wavy bob is a classic beauty that never gets old. How about refreshing it with some burgundy balayage highlights? This trick will add mysterious vibes to your look.

10. Royal Gray Balayage on a Lob. Models and celebrities are regularly going out with gray hair nowadays. Going gray has become a trend! You can also pull it off if you choose your flattering gray shades and have them blended seamlessly into your natural hair color.

Gray Balayage Lob with Lowlights
By Han

11. Balayage Highlights and Lowlights for Short Hair. A bit of cinnamon in brown hair provides a superb look. To show off the multi-tone color, a few waves and random twists will create a striking effect.

12. High-Contrast Blonde Money Piece. Here is a trendy way to apply a balayage to short hair — use lowlights to reduce the contrast between a root color and highlights around the perimeter to make a money piece really pop.

13. Balayage for Short Brown Hair. What shade to choose for a sun-kissed effect? Caramel brown balayage or honey balayage highlights will do the trick on your short hair. Slightly bent the front pieces to frame your face nicely.

14. Short Brown Hair with a Sombre Effect. Dark brown hair and beige highlights are a yummy combination. This short balayaged hair would look super cute in low buns and simple braids – the shoulder length still allows creating them.

Brown Sombre for Short Hair
By Mary

15. Shadow Root and Balayage. Balayage on short hair is a great fit for those who don’t want to visit beauty salons often. If you are a seeker of a low-maintenance hairdo, go for the shadow root and balayage combo.

16. Shoulder-Length Balayage Hair. Balayage is one of the old but gold hair dye ideas for mid-length hair lacking texture. Watch it transform your hair into a luxurious, eye-catching mane!

17. Subtle Honey Blonde Balayage. The hair color ideas for short hair are not limited to high-contrast balayage highlights. Go for a gentle gradient with honey, amber, and vanilla blonde, and enjoy the result!

18. Buttery Blonde Balayage on Short Hair. This sunny shade of blonde plays perfectly well with the peachy tones in the girl’s skin and delivers a lived-in look in a combo with the natural brown roots.

19. Short Hair Balayage with Bright Facial Framing. This medium-brown base is carefully infused with tiny blonde pieces to create a sun-kissed effect, while the main accent is made on the strands around the face.

20. Comb-Over Shaggy Bob with Balayage. The short hair inspo worth saving for later. Get a bob with longer front strands. Add matching balayage highlights to your short hair. Now you can style it straight, wavy, or very curly, change the parting to your liking, define each strand or follow the messy bed-head hair trend. Options are endless!

21. Brown Balayage Short Hair. Brunette girls don’t have to opt for radical changes and bright colors. If you want to keep it simple, go for a subtle gradient incorporating mixed shades, such as cinnamon, chestnut, and auburn.

22. Short Balayaged Bob with Dark Roots. A short blonde balayage will look more dimensional with any root dyeing technique. This can be just a slight root tap, more defined root shadowing, or soft low root melting that is almost unnoticeably blended with the rest of the hair. The type of haircut here is the BLUNT chin-length bob with a middle part.

Blonde Balayage Bob with Shadow Roots
By Hiro

23. Auburn Balayage for Short Hair. Brunettes will certainly be inspired by this lovely autumnal lob that illuminates the deep chocolate brown base with dimensional and playful auburn highlights.

24. Choppy Cut with Balayage. One of the best short hair color ideas is a partial face-framing balayage. If you are in the mood for a style revolution, match it with a tomboy haircut featuring some choppy layers to complete the rebel look.

Short Choppy Hair with Face-Framing Balayage
By Ivan

25. Soft Golden Balayage on Short Hair. These golden blonde insertions seem to be absolutely natural on the light brown base of the effortless long bob, giving us a clue on how a lived-in balayage should actually look.

26. Volumizing Balayage. An ideal way of spicing up a simple cut for fine hair is adding some balayage highlights to it. This hairstyle works equally well on straight, wavy, and curly hair, so give it a try!

27. Short Balayage Hair with Shadow Roots. While the sliced ends of this bob produce movement in the locks and give the style an edgy feel, the hair might have lacked body if it wasn’t for the depth created by coloring.

28. Shoulder-Grazing Short Hair and Balayage in Cool Tones. This angled long bob gains an amazing depth with the bright streaks of a platinum blonde placed against the sophisticated taupe brown base.

29. Honey Blonde Balayage Short Hair Idea. This color job is a happy middle ground between red, brown, and blonde since it has a little bit of everything without looking harsh and unnatural.

30. Glazed Caramel Balayage. Short brown hair with blonde highlights is a sure way to spend less time on styling while looking exceptionally adorable! For the best effect, pick warm hues, such as caramel and amber.

31. Short Caramel Blonde Balayage with Dark Roots. Upgrade your shag with some bent waves to maximize the natural volume of your hair. Such a hairstyle will give you an added chic factor and feel casual enough to wear it daily.

32. Purple Balayage for Short Hair. Purple balayage is breathtaking and 100% mainstream nowadays. The rosey plum color doesn’t stand out as much as it used to, but it can still make anyone modern and trendy. Are you ready to choose your purple mate?

33. Copper Red Lob with Caramel Highlights. The irregular highlights of this gingerbread balayage are a good match for the choppy finish and messy styling of the textured lob, let alone the naturally sun-kissed feel they lend.

34. Caramel Brown Hair with Accents. Here is a great idea on how to save your straight tresses from feeling flat: add distinct strips of blonde running from the top and melting towards the ends.

35. Dirty Blonde Balayage for Short Hair. This is a smokey version of lowlights inserted to create dimension in short hair and set off the areas painted in lighter shades while retaining a soft overall look.

36. Sparkling Silver Balayage. Show off your amazing hair with bright white silver highlights. A true must-have for a funky and sassy look.

37. Cute Balayage for Brunette Hair. If you are tired of pictures with bright blonde streaks, try subtle highlights! Light tones help you catch the warmth and the right light! This hairstyle adds a lot of true femininity.

38. Balayage for Short Straight Hair. Keep the roots darker, and try a soft fade towards the ends. Perfect for city girls who are searching for fashionable looks. Use a blow dryer to get it straight and add volume.

39. Choppy Layers with Balayage. Short hair highlights look cheeky and sweet on ladies of all ages. If you want your style to feel quirky and modern, add choppy layers and tousle the hair strands.

40. Rooty Ash Blonde Balayage. This color job immediately catches the eye with the depth at the roots, but you cannot fail to notice the seamless transition to the mix of ash blonde and beige hues.

We believe in trendy short hair color ideas that will make any girl flawless! Balayage on short hair is extremely beautiful, fresh, and fashionable. Pick your favorite, share it with your stylist, and enjoy your new gorgeous look!

by Editors
We are a creative team of "hair maniacs" who can't live a day without surfing the Internet in search of new hairstyles and haircuts, stunning hair shades, innovative coloring techniques, and life-saving hair hacks. To share them with you, of course. Feel yourself at home!