Hair color trends

Feeling the need to update your style? A fresh, new hair color always does the trick. Go mellow and opt for the natural look of all-over highlights or spice it up by working in some pastel hues. Whatever look you choose, we’ve got the details on the hottest hair color trends, so you can pick a style perfectly tailored to both your personality and your natural coloring. For runway-approved hair, start here.

Balayage

Yielding a more natural look than traditional foils, the balayage might be the most requested hair trend in salons. For a balayage, your colorist paints the color onto your hair, as opposed to traditional highlights, where your hair is separated, colored, and wrapped in foil. The hand-painted technique gives you a more natural look with a less obvious grow-out. Request a mix of highlights and lowlights for a sun-kissed glow. This technique is suitable for all hair colors, but looks especially stunning on blondes or medium brunettes.

Babylights

You know that sun-blessed, dimensional color rarely seen on anyone over the age of three? Well, if you’re willing to spend some cash, you can get that look too. Babylights are superfine highlights that take way longer than traditional highlights to achieve the desired effect. Your stylist will separate your hair into many small sections, and then paint variations of color on sections of those sections.

Unlike foils, babylights are painted onto the hair, so some strands have heavier color than others. It’s a tedious process that can take a few hours, but the end result is gorgeous and more natural looking than a full head of foiled highlights or an all-over color.

Platinum

It seems this hair color never goes out of style, as blondes continue to abandon golden honey tones for lighter, icier shades. Keeping your hair this blonde is high maintenance, though. So make sure you want to invest both the time and the money it takes to maintain your roots. And before you opt for that bleached-blond look, ensure that it suits your skin tone. Out of all the hair color trends, this one can go way wrong if it’s forced onto someone with an incompatible skin color.

Cayenne Spice Red

Red hair is big right now and you don’t have to be a natural redhead to rock it. Enter—cayenne spice red, one of the hottest hair color trends. No, it’s not orange, but rather a pumpkin hue with gorgeous golden undertones. Again, make sure you have the right skin tone before sprinkling on the spice. But if you can pull it off, your ginger locks will be the envy of even your most conservative friends.