BRAND NEW HUE
Rich all-over colour and clever use of dimensional light and dark tones are among the trends for happening hair.
When considering the inventive hair colour options and modern styling trends that have emerged this season, it’s fair to say hair professionals are ready to have a little fun.
Many creatives thrive in challenging situations: certainly the past year has been tricky for hair experts, particularly with many people forced to stay home. But this downtime, plus our subsequent post-lockdown hair requirements, have incubated some exciting new approaches ... encouraging us all to try something a little less ordinary.
The enthusiasm is infectious: it’s not hard to get on board with the trends when it comes to hair colour in particular, given that the past year has required many of us to embrace a more natural approach.
THE DEEP END
If one hair colour trend has (unintentionally) encapsulated 2020, it might just have been ‘regrowth’. In an example of making lemonade from lemons, our grown-out roots just happen to have spawned the most desired colour approach of 2021. Namely, the global embrace of intentionally shadowed or ‘melted’ blended roots that embrace a seamless transition from a deep opaque base colour to slightly brighter ends.
It not only gives lightened hair a more modern, ‘lived-in’ feel, it extends the life of your colour by fading into your natural roots, instead of leaving a harsh demarcation line. The winner of Australia’s L’Oréal Professionnel Colour Trophy Awards, stylist Massimo Tirimaco of Zohair Salon in Adelaide, ran with the idea and came up trumps. He took out the title with his combination of a sharp textured bob with deep, blended roots and dimensional tan and bronzy tones.
“It’s so modern, yet still so classic,’’ commented judge Damien Rinaldo of why he scored it highly, praising “the strength of a great clean haircut and merged with beautiful natural smoky balayage colours”.
Newton Cook, creative and education director at Rodney Wayne, says there are a number of new application approaches inspired by low-maintenance hair. “I’m excited about using a mix of semi and permanent colours in different areas of the hair to create a seamless, multi-dimensional colour. The new techniques benefit each person individually. The colour outcome can be more bespoke to suit each client’s hair type, colour and preferences.”
If your roots are more silver in nature and you’re keen to move on from the six-weekly salon cycle to disguise them, there are a number of ways to remove the harsh regrowth line. Grey blending allows you to easily grow into grey, creating light and shade throughout your hair. Sections of highlights are blended in seamlessly among the rest of your tresses and toned, to break up blocks of colour and ensure a shiny, multidimensional look to your locks.
Face-framing strands can also be brightened to add an illuminating effect around the front section.
SMOKE SHOW
After a summer in the sun, Cook suggests dialing down the warmth in tone to embrace a trending look called ‘smoky hair’, tipped to be big over the next few months and perfectly timed for a winter update.
“Smoky hair is about creating a seamless blend of colour tones with the darkest shade at the root, and reflective lights at the ends, just like a smoky eye,” he says.
New, purpose-developed L’Oréal Professionnel hues quickly counteract a washed-out, brassy look to create not only luminous, glowing ash reflects on blonde and grey, but also rich plums, iridescent mochas and sandy looks on deeper hair colours.
“SMOKY HAIR WILL SUIT THOSE AFTER A TAILOR MADE LOOK.”
NEWTON COOK
It’s perfect for someone with sun or balayage-lightened hair already, as they easily pick up the cooler tones in the smoky technique.
“Many people prefer cooler tones,” says Cook. “I think that’s because they’ve either personally experienced or witnessed the disaster of home lightening, which is always a superraw, brassy colour.
“The smoky hair trend will suit those who love a contemporary tailor-made look with custom shades and smooth, natural transitions.”
50 SHADES OF RED
It’s you’ve ever been curious about copper or mad for mahogany, now is the time to run with it. Colourists and tastemakers globally are embracing all manner of reds ... and the unanimous enthusiasm suggests this won’t be a one-season thing. On the lighter end of the spectrum, a ginger gloss over blonde or pale coral copper keeps things playful yet temporary.
Call it The Queen’s Gambit effect, but the bold true red hue of Anya Taylor-Joy’s character Beth Harmon in the Netflix series has been particularly influential, inspiring many to try to take the plunge, while the even more daring adopt more bold, artificial crayola-like cherry colour.
Cook’s pick? “I’d love to see more clients try a dusty red. It’s such a beautiful colour and can actually suit a lot of different skin tones because of where it sits in the cool-warm scale.” While ‘anything goes’ is often desirable for many a look, your salon-created red often needs dedicated haircare products.
“A lot of clients tend to think that colour fade is only due to the number of times they shampoo their hair,” says Cook. “Actually, there are many factors, including the sun, swimming, and heat tools.”
Leave-in conditioning sprays that have multiple benefits are useful prior to styling for those environmental challenges, while colour depositing shampoos are useful to keep things fresh between touch-ups.
STYLE AND CARE
The skincare market has boomed in recent years, but it’s now your hair’s turn to be met with a plethora of solutions beyond basic shampoo and conditioner. Called the ‘skinification’ of hair, this phrase refers to the increasingly sophisticated formulas and ingredients used in haircare products that have traditionally been used in skincare.
On the salon shelf you’ll find overnight serums, scalp scrubs, cica creams and micellar waters each targeted to a specific hair type, be it curly, damaged or thinning.
When it comes to coloured treated hair, the focus for lightened strands remains on reinforcing weakened bonds within your hair to improve hair strength. For other tones, it’s about retaining brilliance of colour and shine.
Protecting your investment in a beautiful new hue also extends to modern styling tools that now prioritise hair health as well as results.
Cook is a fan of the new L’Oréal Professionnel Steampod 3.0 styling tool that can curl or straighten. “Using steam rather than traditional hotplates, it gives a smoother, faster result with less damage than regular straighteners and hair is left feeling more moisturised and softer than before I’ve started styling.”
He says all hair shades look luxuriously glossy after styling with the Steampod, even lightened hair which usually doesn’t reflect light as well as darker hair.