After months of chlorine dips, saltwater swims, and sun-drenched time outside, chances are your hair color might need a little love as we transition into a new season. It’s always the right time to feel your best, whether that means nourishing and enhancing your natural hue or pulling the trigger on a new style entirely. We’ve rounded up a few tips to support strands of all colors and textures as we move into cooler months.
Start with the Scalp
Hair color aside, everyone can benefit from a healthier scalp. As we transition into Fall, there is less moisture in the air, which can lead to an itchy, dry scalp (hello dandruff) as well as hair frizz and breakage.
- Briogeo Scalp Revival Charcoal + Coconut Oil Micro-Exfoliating Shampoo is a great balancing scrub. It gently buffs away build-up and inflammation that can lead to hair loss while moisturizing the scalp. You can pair it with the massaging brush for extra impact.
- OUAI Scalp + Body Scrub is a great multi-tasker to keep in your shower. It is formulated with a sugar and coconut oil blend that cleanses and gently buffs away build-up and dry skin cells on your scalp, hair, and body.
- Moroccanoil Dry Scalp Treatment contains nourishing argan oil and both antioxidants vitamin E and fatty acid that help repair and hydrate the scalp. It also includes salicylic acid, which loosens and sloughs away buildup on the scalp.
Brighten and Boost
If you’re lucky enough to love your natural color, then it’s a great time to try treatments and products that enhance, brighten, and boost its beauty.
- Hair Glaze is a non-permanent hair color treatment that adds shine and can help reduce flyaways and frizz. This glaze by Oribe enhances both natural and color-treated hair, providing a high-gloss topcoat that brightens color and leaves hair feeling super soft.
- Purple Shampoo/Conditioner is a simple and effective choice for blonde hair, gray hair, and brassy hair. It is a toning treatment that neutralizes yellow tones and brightens strands. Celebrity stylist Kristin Ess created a sulfate-free set called “The One Purple Shampoo,” which pairs with a purple conditioner as well.
- A gentle, balancing shampoo like this one by Kevin Murphy is perfect for everyone to rebalance scalp hydration and gently cleanse strands as we transition from the more humid summer months to drier Fall ones.
- For longer locks, hydrating masks can boost brilliance, resiliency, and hydration to give any color a healthy shine. The Blue Tansy Reparative Mask by ADWOA detoxes and deeply conditions to seal in moisture and strengthen strands.
The Silver Revolution is Here to Stay
Silver strands have never been sexier. Both women and men are embracing their natural grays more, from streaks and stripes to full heads of white…and some are even faking the look with glosses, tints, and dyes. We can thank our collective time in quarantine and celebrities embracing their roots – as Andie MacDowell tells Vogue, “At the very beginning of quarantine, my hair started growing, and every time my kids would see me, they kept telling me I looked badass with my gray hair.” She goes on to share, “I use a lot of purple conditioners to make it look silver, and it’s amazing how they work. I love L’Oreal’s different purple products.”
And for the guys….there’s a whole movement around the “silver fox.” Gone are the days of feeling insecure because of gray hair. Men are bravely embracing their fated strands and proving that hair color does not have to correlate to the lifestyle it once was associated with.
A great way to transition to gray is by adding highlights – see the below section on hair color techniques.
Toffee Talk
Toffee is the buzzword highlight color for brunettes this fall. The color is derived from the butter-colored candy and combines dark blonde with a rich, warm brown for instant dimension and that “just kissed by the sun” glow. This article by Mane Addicts rounds up all of the variations on the toffee trends with inspirational photos that will have you dialing your stylist in no time. This trend is a great way to enhance your natural features with a subtle change that might be just the level of change you’re looking for.
Cue the Copper
Move over icy, cool blondes – warm, golden hues are in! Redheads are having a moment, and for the rest of us, copper is a flattering way to integrate some red into that head (of hair). Copper highlights can subtly add warmth, shine, and dimension to auburn, brunette, and blonde strands and, in the process, help the skin tone look more vibrant as your summer glow fades away. It’s a universally flattering hue that can be used in face-framing highlights or all over balayage for a more “lived-in” look.
Process Makes Perfect
No matter what hue might speak to you the most, there are several techniques for achieving the perfect color to suit your personal style. Some of the most popular ones are:
- Balayage: free-hand painting technique to apply color. This technique applies color lower down the hair shaft to the tips vs. at the root for a more subtle grow-out.
- Color melting: a technique used at the root to create a more “lived-in” look, melting the root’s natural color into the highlighted/lightened ends.
- Babylights: done similarly to foil highlights; however, with baby lights, the amount of hair in each section and the spacing between the sections are smaller.
- Teasylights: hair is teased before highlights are painted on, bringing forth a gentle ribbon-like highlight.
- Single process: “all over color” is a base color ideal for covering grays and for coloring hair that is too short for highlighting techniques.
- Base break: this is a technique for lightening new growth on one to two levels without the use of a lightener. It can be used to blur a line of demarcation as your natural hair grows in and your highlights grow out.
It’s always the right time to invest in feeling your best, whether that means leaning into your natural color or trying something new. Looking for more inspiration? Check out this list of hair influencers on Livingly and screenshot your favorites for your next salon visit!
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