The short answer
AirTouch uses a blow dryer to push short hairs out of a section so the highlight or balayage blends softly. Air weaving — the technique at the heart of Kaizen's Regenerative Hair Color class — uses the same physics as a protection tool: cold air isolates fragile new growth and broken hair so lightener only touches hair that can take it.
What AirTouch is
AirTouch is a highlighting technique credited to Russian colorist Vladimir Sarbashev that spread from Eastern Europe to salons worldwide. The colorist takes a section under tension and uses a blow dryer to blow the shorter, finer hairs out of it. Only the longer strands left in the fingers are lightened, which creates a soft, diffused blend without teasing or backcombing — and a gentler grow-out.
What air weaving is
Air weaving is Kaizen Education's version of the air-separation family, taught in Regenerative Hair Color. It uses the same principle — air separates hair by weight — but with a different goal. Instead of using air mainly to soften the blend, air weaving uses it to isolate the exact hair that needs protecting: fine new growth and baby hairs at the hairline and part, and snapped or over-processed mid-lengths. Air is not a finishing step. It is the sorting tool.
Side by side
| AirTouch | Air weaving | |
|---|---|---|
| Main goal | A soft, seamless blend | Protect fragile hair, then create the blend |
| Air | Blow dryer airflow | Cold air only — every pass |
| Hair it targets | Short, fine hairs in any section | New growth, baby hairs and broken lengths specifically |
| Elevation | Varies by result | Chosen per zone: low to free the hairline, high to open a damaged interior |
| Best for | Soft balayage and highlights | Grey blending, fine or thinning hair, over-lightened blondes |
The four variables that make or break it
Whichever name you use, clean air separation depends on four things: tension (firm and flat, or nothing sorts), elevation (one consistent angle per zone), cold air (heat was never what moved the hair) and no pinching (a pinched section becomes a choke point, the hairs cross-hatch and you can't reach the root). Most failed attempts are missing at least one.
Which should you use?
If the hair is healthy and the goal is simply a softer blend, classic air-separation highlighting works well. If you are working around fragile regrowth, a thinning hairline or broken mid-lengths, use air separation as a protection tool first — that is air weaving. Many colorists end up using both, choosing per client and per zone.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between air weaving and AirTouch?
Both use air instead of backcombing to separate hair. AirTouch uses a blow dryer mainly to soften the blend of a highlight or balayage; air weaving uses cold air as a protection tool to isolate new growth, baby hairs and broken lengths before any lightener goes on.
Who invented AirTouch?
AirTouch is credited to Russian colorist Vladimir Sarbashev and spread from Eastern Europe to salons worldwide.
Should you use hot or cold air for AirTouch or air weaving?
Kaizen teaches cold air only. The airflow, not the heat, is what separates the hair, and hot air stresses the fragile hair the technique is meant to protect.
Where can I learn air weaving?
Kaizen Education teaches air weaving in Regenerative Hair Color: The Air Weaving Method, a six-to-eight-hour hands-on class at Reverie Salon in Chicago, from $600.
Sources
Learn it hands-on
Learn air weaving with Kaizen
Regenerative Hair Color: The Air Weaving Method — six to eight hours, hands-on, from $600.