Ever thought about rainbow hair ?
I first started writing about vivid hair colours back in 2012, crumbs! looking back it was one of our first blog posts. However in truth, vivid colours have only really become normalised or for all over the last couple of years. It used to be unusual to see lilac or mint green hair when you were out and about but now it’s not and it’s no longer just for alt kids or the youth. We have all ages and styles coming in for bright fun colours.
However although we are doing more and more colourful vibrant creations it’s still a small percentage of our customer base that want the look. However the colour market in the UK has exploded with an increasing amount of colours available and some salons opening up that solely offer colour. Aided by the rise in technology, social media and advances in the cosmetic industry. Colour trends are but a phone screen away.
First we Lighten
It is not often you get to play with so many colours at once and create this lovely effect, mermaid, unicorn or rainbow hair depending on which term resonates more. Therefore when the lovely Eden requested rainbow hair we were so excited! This was a group effort as Eden came in on a busy Friday and the stylist due to create the look was sadly poorly. However we are free roam salon and that means that although you can choose your stylist we don’t worry if you want to swap or if somebody is busy, you are welcome to book somebody else and sometimes if it suits you and you’re happy we can have one person colour and another cut. This teamwork means is a contributing factor to vibe of our salon. We all get on and look after one another and so that means, we collectively care for our clients. This time Fran prepped the hair for colouring, Aimee coloured and Abbie finished the look.
Eden, our client had lovely long hair, the perfect canvas to use a rainbow palette. We started by lightening the mid lengths to ends in a V shape to create a softer line but left the top of the hair Eden’s natural colour. It’s not possible to have these vibrant colours without first lightening and we always test your hair to see whether the condition is good enough to allow us to do so. However we also have some great products now which help protect your hair in the process.
Next Colouring our Rainbow Hair
Next came the fun part Aimee mixed her colours. We use Blossom colours from our colour brand. We like this range as it fades true to tone and last well. Unlike some vivids they are lovely and conditioning on the hair. Aimee was careful to blend various colours together to get an almost holographic effect on the hair. Blended across and down the hair to avoid any definite stripes. This took some time as Aimee was clearly having fun but she wanted to make sure there wasn’t a really dominate shade. The colours were left to develop and once we had washed and conditioned the hair.
The End of the Rainbow
To really show off the look Abbie curled the hair, we finished the look with some clips another hot trend this season as seen on the catwalk at Gucci and Chanel. Get ready to have fun with clips and hair scarves. Eden’s mum described the look as ethereal, we couldn’t agree more.
Our Top Tips for Vivid colour.
Use Sulphate free shampoo and conditioner.
Using low chemical shampoos will help the colours stay in for longer and keep the condition of the hair healthy. Wash your hair in cool water or as cool as you can, this will also help keep the colour for longer.
Embrace the fade.
Bright colours tend to be semi-permanent and designed to fade. Therefore it’s good to expect the colours to fade down. As mentioned before our colours fade true to tone and what this means is that the violet for example fades to a lighter violet. Some colours like this may start violet but fade to pale blue. Also don’t get into a cycle of lightening, wait for the colour to fade, if you change you mind wait until the fade is good enough to cover with your choice of colour.
Blue don’t move
It’s just a fact that any brand of blue dye stains the hair the most, so while the colours fade the one that sticks and does not fade entirely is blue and green.
Use a Colour Conditioner
We can advise on colour conditioners that will act as a top up for some single colours ie pink or red. Unfortunately this won’t work for this type of look, multi-coloured hair.
What do I do when I want a new colour?
We were asked this question on Instagram. This very much depends on which colour you’d like to be next. Apart from as mentioned embrace the fade. If you wish to be a clean blond we would need to assess which colours you have left or that have left a stain and remove. If you want to be brunette or red we can usually cover the staining and even the colour out well. If you wish to be another vivid colour if it’s within the same tonal family it is generally fine. I.e pink or red. Blue or green. However if you wish to be pastel pink and have blue left we will need to remove first.
As always we offer free consultation for colour, so please come and see us if you want help deciding or further understanding on how we would achieve the look you want and what would be involved.
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