With summer in full force people are flocking to the beach (and the hairdresser) for a trip to the lighter side of life.
50 shades of blonde
Baby, strawberry, golden, ash, honey, platinum, butter, caramel, cool, warm, sandy and the list goes on. Finding the right shade of blonde to match your skin tone can be challenging.
Director of BLONDEE salon Brisbane, Faith Williams, has a few tips to consider when selecting the perfect blonde for you.
Faith supports that “the easiest way to tell which shade of blonde will suit someone is to look at their eye colour and vein colour. If someone’s veins look a little bit more blue, they have cooler undertones, more green means warmer undertones.”
Brown Eyes
Natural or warmer shades will usually compliment you best. Think, creamy blonde, beachy, milkshake, beige, buttery, honey, caramel and rich. If you have cool skin tones, ash and platinum blonde tones will produce a harmonised look.
Green Eyes
If you have green eyes, you can generally pull off all types of blonde shades. If you have a cooler skin tone, ash and platinum will complement your hues. If you have a warmer complexion, gold, caramel and honey will look stunning on you.
Blue Eyes
Taking a closer look at the blue variations and finer details of your iris will determine which shade of blonde will suit you.
If someone has a darker ring around the outside of their iris, they can pull off warmer and cooler blondes.
For eyes that are one blue colour all over with minimal variations, you will generally be best suited to cooler blondes such as a pearly, icy, creamy, beige or silver.
Let’s Talk About Root Shadows
A Root shadow is a low maintenance hair colour technique in which a darker shade is applied directly to the roots giving a soft, seamless contrast to the lighter shades below.
Faith is “a massive fan of root shadows, or anything that is low maintenance, and looks more lived in”. Faith says “keeping a darker root shadow always looks so much better on somebody who has dark hair to start with.
It helps to balance out their skin tone with the lighter ends and they get the best of both worlds.” Root shadows also prevent harsh regrowth.
Balayage
French for ‘to paint’ balayage is a hair trend that has taken the world by storm.
This technique requires a lot less maintenance than colouring a full head of hair as it grows out naturally. Balayage produces a softer more natural looking result than foils creating a natural and sun kissed look.
‘The Money Piece’
Donned by Kylie Jenner, Beyonce and Dua Lipa among other celebrities, ‘the money piece’ lifts your complexion, creating a fresh new look.
If you are considering going lighter but don’t want to commit to a full head of foils, or you have naturally darker hair, you may want to consider the money piece.
The money piece is a bright frame around the front hairline personalised to your specification. Faith says, “a root shadow on the money piece will prevent the client from looking washed out”.
Damaged hair
Hair damage is inevitable when going lighter.
Faith says “as a hairdresser you want your clients to be walking around for the next 2-3 months with amazing hair. You don’t want them walking around with amazing hair for just two weeks”.
To minimise breakage and keep your hair healthy and shiny, it is important to take care of your hair post treatment.
Faith explains “blonde hair is already more fragile so using the right products is so, so important. In the same way that people may use four or five different products on their skin, it’s important to care for your hair. You have got to wash it properly, use the right treatments, use the right toners at home to maintain your blonde in between visits.”
These hair healing tips from a professional can help you to take care of your precious locks.
