Hands up who is ready for a serious hair colour refresh?! Salons are finally open after a long year of stop-start lockdowns, which means we can give our DIY hair dye kits a break and get back to our beloved colourists.
If you’ve been making do with an at-home root touch up the last few months, you may not know where to start when asking for a new colour. Need some hairspiration? Check out our 10 favourite hair colouring trends for Summer 2021!
Brown Balayage
This graduated technique is usually associated with a natural sunkissed look, but that doesn’t mean blondes have more fun when it comes to balayage! Find out more about different balayage techniques.
If you’ve got dark hair, you can still mix up your shade across the brunette spectrum - and the results are just as stunning. For the most effective brown balayage, it’s great to start with a natural hair colour of dark brown or black. You can then ask your stylist to paint lighter brown shades - think fawn or caramel - vertically from root to tip. Balayage tends to work best on medium-long hair, but if you’re rocking a shorter do, you can get a similar effect by focusing the colour right on the tips. Find out more about what is balayage hair here.
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Hazelnut Brunette
If you’re a committed brunette babe, but want to add a little dimension to your style, then the Hazelnut Brunette trend is for you.
The low maintenance look can make a big impact and add more depth to your hair colour, whilst still keeping things nice and natural. This tone on tone hair colour involves a few different highlights of brown shades - from deep and ashy to light and golden, depending on your desired effect - which bounce off your base colour to give your brunette a boost! Your stylist will be able to recommend the best colour combo to give you a rich Hazelnut vibe that compliments your skin tone.
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Warm Mocha
Can’t decide whether you want rich chocolate brown hair or a cool coffee hue? Then do what we do at Starbucks and make yours a mocha!
Mocha hair colour involves a medium-to-deep brown base that can be laced with highlights and lowlights for lots of dimension. Your colourist will know how to expertly combine the hair dye with your natural base colour for a natural, low maintenance effect. The great news is that this colour combo can be adapted to flatter all skin tones, but for the most modern take on this trend, warm your mocha up with sprinkle of cinnamon or a few streaks of honey (ok, are we still talking about hair colour or just ordering our perfect coffee now?)
Credit https://www.instagram.com/hair_by_ericaaa/
Coffee Balayage
For coffee purests that want their hair to look as hot as a cup of the good stuff, Coffee Balayage is one of the most popular trends out there.
Combining this ‘oh so natural’ technique with colours inspired by your favourite blend and the result is a warm and multi-dimensional brunette that’s anything but a flat white. Work through lighter latte shades or delicious toffee tones to brighten up your dark hair, giving it a luminous effect that’s bound to turn heads. The best thing about balayage? Your hair will still look gorgeous as it grows out and your roots won’t need touching up for weeks! So you can spend less time in the salon and more time in your favourite coffee shop, more on what is balayage hair is here.
Credit https://www.instagram.com/agora_hair_by_anrich_botha/
Walnut Brown
When it comes to hair colour ideas, sometimes simple is the most effective. If you want to go for a really classic look, you can never go wrong with a gorgeous Walnut Brown shade - the epitome of glamour for dark hair.
This deep, rich, all over colour keeps highlights to a minimum and lets the bold, beautiful brunette speak for itself - but that definitely doesn’t mean it’s boring! To make the most of this trend, talk to your stylist about finding the right tone for you. You want the colour to be luminous whilst still being rich and dark, so finding the right shade of brown is super important and will make sure your walnut wows.
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Blonde Roast
If you’re ready to lighten up after lockdown but want something that works beyond the height of Summer, why not cosy up with a Blonde Roast style?
A 2021 update on the much loved ‘bronde’ trend, Blonde Roast marries the very best of both blonde and brunette hair in a natural colour combo that suits almost everybody! The look is achieved by adding cool, ash highlights to brunette hair, or toning down blondes with the addition of some brown lowlights. This approach also makes it a great transitional style to experiment with if you are thinking of going from brunette to blonde or vice versa. Whichever direction you’re coming from, with this hair colour trend, meeting in the middle has never looked so good!
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Strawberry Red
This striking shade is a big hair colour trend for 2021 - and we’re here for it.
Giving us serious Celtic vibes, this warm, fiery hue takes the classic Strawberry Blonde trend up a notch. It really leans into the gorgeous red tones but still maintains a softness that makes it super flattering. If you’re a natural redhead - lucky you! You should be able to achieve this look fairly easily with a stylist that knows their stuff. However, if you’re having a big hair transformation from blonde or brunette, you may need a couple of trips to the salon to get the colour just right - but the results prove it’s all worth the effort!
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Red Brown
Not ready to go full on red? You can still inject a little fire into your style with a gorgeous Red Brown shade.
This hair colour is growing in popularity with brunettes who want to give a little edge to their chocolate brown hair or give a pop of colour to a more natural shade. This look can be achieved by adding burgundy or copper highlights through your brunette hair or for a look that’s even more subtle you can go for a dark brown to red balayage style. Either way, this eye catching shade will make sure it’s a hot hair colour summer! Understand more about the balayage technique step by step here.
Credit https://www.instagram.com/hairby_shirley_/
Peach Pink
If you’re looking for something between a fiery orange and a bubble gum pink, we recommend asking your colourist for a Peach Pink look.
This pastel shade is the ultimate cool girl hair colour trend for 2021 and the best part? Whilst it can take a bit of maintenance to keep your colour looking vibrant, a faded out peach hue is just as gorgeous as when it’s salon fresh. Peach Pink also looks incredible with both blonde and brunette base tones, so whether you want a subtle hue or an eye catching sunset shade, we recommend chatting to your stylist ahead of your appointment - they’ll be able to recommend the best way to achieve your peachy #hairgoals.
Credit https://www.instagram.com/oohlala_hair_hitchin/
Dusty Pink
Let’s face it, who didn’t grow up dreaming of having pink hair? Dusty pink is the perfect way to indulge your childhood fantasies whilst still keeping things chic and stylish.
This luminous, ethereal hair colour has taken the millennial pink shade we all know and love and turned it into the hair colour trend we all want to jump on. To achieve this gorgeous shade, it’s usually better to start with a light base, so the colour can really pop. You also want to try and limit the yellow tones in your hair, otherwise your pink could end up looking a little peachy. Chat to your colourist about the best route to your dream Dusky Pink shade and they’ll help you get there!
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