Hair trend shifting from sleek look to ‘effortless’: expert
If 2018 was the year of polished, perfectly styled strands, this year’s top hair trend is all about ease. “Effortless hair, like Kate Moss or Vanessa Paradis,” says David D’Amours, the editorial director for Kerastase Paris in Canada.
“It’s about not forcing it, not using too much curling iron. It’s about embracing your natural type of hair and not going with too straight or too curly. What’s really trendy right now is less is more.”
The switch is, in many ways, opposite from the styles we saw popular in magazines and on runways last year.
“The sleek look was more of a 2018 trend. I think now we’ve seen it so much that, for 2019, it’s almost been the opposite happening,” D’Amours confirms. “We saw so much of it on runways: slicked back hair, slicked back ponytails, pin-straight hair, long, long, long hair. And, now, it’s the opposite of that.”
So, what’s the reason for the complete 180-degree change? According to D’Amours, it has a lot to do with plain-old practicality. “People don’t have a lot of time, and not just Canadian women, but people all around the world,” he says.
Social media, and more specifically, a pushback by many people against the insta-perfect images (yes, even hair) that’s portrayed on the various platforms may also be playing a factor.
“You see it on social media, a beautiful woman with beautiful hair and she just went to the beach, but she looks like her hair is naturally perfect. But it’s not the reality,” D’Amours says.
Despite these pitfalls of perceived perfection, social media remains a great place to get ideas for one’s prospective hairstyle. But D’Amours cautions people getting too stuck on one hair colour or style, as what they ‘like’ on social media may not be a perfect fit for their unique hair.
“You need to adapt a trend to someone. You can’t just copy what you see on social media or Instagram. You need to adapt it to your customer,” the Montreal-based hair pro says.
“We cannot duplicate what we see on social media all the time. We are dealing with women who have less hair, more hair, longer hair, shorter hair. And sometimes, people say, ‘Ok, I want this hair from this picture.’ And I say, ‘OK, this is not happening.’”
When it comes to your hair, he says, honesty truly is the best policy.
“It’s important to be honest,” D’Amours says. “It’s important to have that conversation with your customer and not selling a dream that’s not possible. A lot of good things are happening on social media, but a lot of bad things are happening there too. People are retouching their photos so much, they ’re even retouching the colour of the hair. I’m still a big fan of reality versus social media.”
And, if you do find yourself scrolling through hairstyle hash tags on Instagram this year, don’t be surprised if you start seeing some of the top celebrities and influencers such as Lucy Hale and Aimee Song rocking a chin-length bob.
The cut, D’Amours says, is going to be the ‘It’ hairstyle of 2019.
“The lob was about being just above the shoulder or maybe a little longer, but now, it’s all about the jawline,” he says. “It’s about bold hair with a little bit of layers, almost a blunt bob.
“And I love it because it’s important to build in the natural texture because the cut is so strong. It doesn’t have to be wavy, it just has to be tousled. It looks much more cool.”
As for colour, 2019 is shaping up to be the year of blond, D’Amours says.
“For sure, there’s going to be big buzz about everybody wanting to go blond. Or trying to,” he says.
D’Amours points to natural highlight techniques like baby-lights (the precise application of ultrafine highlights to mimic the multi-dimensional colour found in children’s hair) as the go-to option, replacing more concentrated balayage or ombre options.
Otherwise, we can expect to see colour going a lot more monochromatic than it’s been in recent years, as in full-on brunette with more natural colour variations. The colour-blocked approach will allow stylists to have more fun with the cuts, according to D’Amours.
“It’s interesting to go back with texture when your colours don’t bring you the multi-dimension that a cut is going to give you,” he summarizes.
One of the simplest ways to achieve an “I-woke-up-like-this” appeal is to embrace your hair’s natural texture, forgetting about forcing it into something it’s, well, not.
“If you don’t force your hair too much, and you play with it, it’s all about natural and taking care of hair,” D’Amours says. “We’ve seen lots of campaigns on the runway, too, where we’re seeing people embracing the natural shape and movement of hair.”
One of the biggest benefits to nixing too many hot tools from your daily styling regime — in addition to improving your hair’s overall health, of course — is it’s sure to be a big time saver.
“You need to not go more than five minutes,” D’Amours jokes of the ideal styling time.
“If you go longer than five minutes, you need to start again.”
D’Amours says that the natural or “green” beauty movement that we’ve been seeing in skin care and colour cosmetics industries will also play a big part in hair care this year thank to natural and organic offerings like the Aura Botanica collection from Kerastase Paris.
“I think those products are helping people to embrace their more natural side,” he says.
Air-dry product options and curl-enhancing crimes from brands like AG Hair are also influencing people to rock their natural hair textures and styles rather than over-styling.