From rich, warm blondes to subtle ombre tints and lifted surfer girl locks, your time in the hair chair will never be the same again. The new hair colour trends for autumn/winter 2014 are made for women that want their tresses to look soft, natural and beautifully sun-kissed all year round.
Note: If you’ve just finished growing out your colour and pledge to stick to your natural locks from here on out, we suggest you look away. Now.
Bronde
Traditionally you’re either blonde or brown but to hell with the rules, why should we have to choose between the two anyway? Going ‘bronde’ means you can have all the sophistication of a brunette with the added depth of an elegant blonde.
This colour technique works particularly well against warmer, darker skin types, reducing the contrast between hair and skin tone for an all over shade harmony. The perfect option for a girl that’s looking for a colour change without venturing too far into blonde territory. We know how scary that can be.
Mario Charalambous, Technical Director at Richard Ward says: “Bronde colour placement can be used to highlight specific facial areas. For example, it can lift and enhance cheek-bones or elongate the neck by adding lighter tones in this area. It's great for enhancing or concealing!”
Ombre
Ombre has pretty much gone global and then some but we’re glad it’s sticking around on our beauty radars. By definition it involves adding a subtle and gradual tint for a naturally faded finish. The end result should look lighter on the ends and soft at the roots, creating a beautiful warming effect.
The possibilities are endless with this trend as you can tailor the strength of the colours to your taste. Whether you want to make a subtle transition into caramel ombre or flashes of cherry red, it’s your shout.
Go as natural or as bold as you please and enjoy low maintenance, fuss-free tresses. It frees so much more time up for shopping.
Balayage
So what if we’ve seen the last of summer, that doesn’t have to mean waving goodbye to heavenly sun-kissed locks. Balayage has been around for a while but thanks to celebrities like Jennifer Aniston, Sarah Jessica Parker and Alexa Chung, it’s set to be the most popular hair colouring request of 2014.
Balayage is a French technique which translates from the root word ‘to balay’ meaning to sweep. A highlighting technique applied freehand with no foils and designed to give a more natural finish. Now we're listening...
Perfect for anyone looking for less regrowth and a soft level of lightening without the harsh demarcation lines you can get from normal highlights. Ideally, hair should be mid length to long with layers or texture to allow the colour to settle on the hair and blend in. Need a more winter appropriate look? Use the same technique but finish with a warmer deeper gloss.
Sweeping sultry colour and less time in the salon chair – sounds like a serious draw card.
Halo Highlights
A fancy highlighting method designed specifically with short hair in mind. Halo highlighting is all about the placement of colour within a cut to emphasise the shape and style.
Ordinary highlights can wind up looking quite 2D and flat on shorter hair but this technique avoids that dilemma all together since they are only placed around the front.
Colour is smudged through the top surface layers to lighten the complexion. Voilà! Healthy looking locks and a peachy glow to go with it. Now that’s clever colouring.
Floating Lights
The best news ever for girls with thinner hair. Floating lights involves placing graduated colour away from the roots down the length of the hair shaft, building on the intensity as you get further down the hair.
Ideal for adding 3D definition and creating the illusion of thicker hair. It’s the it girl’s alternative to over-styled dos.
The Ribbon Technique
Thin ribbons of hair from beneath your parting are separated and coloured to create flashes of luminous colour and multi-dimensional texture.
Jaclyn Smith, Creative Colour Director at Jo Hansford, explains, “This is colour contrasting for women who want to play with colour, in a subtle way. We develop the colour so the different shades set off the other tones in the hair.
This new freehand colour technique gives the effect of free-falling colour, entwined to create soft movement and a fresh new look.”
Perfect for brunettes looking to enhance their base colour and reflect warmth with hidden bands of copper, bronze and cinnamon or for blondes seeking soft buttery highlights to neutralise strong platinum tones.
Interlacing
The red carpet colour treatment if ever there was one. This technique is achieved by plaiting the hair and painting the colour on freehand. The dye is always lighter, creating a glistening effect when it catches the light. For that reason it works better on hair with a slight wave or kink as opposed to poker straight in order to really show off the shimmer.
It’s very wearable and easy to maintain as there’s no structure through the colour. Polished boho chic and one painless growing out process. It’s SO worth it.
Dip Dye
Ombre's bolder sibling, dip dye, involves a strong contrasting line of two shades, usually darker at the roots and lighter at the ends. This look is often used with pastel hues too to create that fun, festival vibe. Think Lauren Conrad when she went My Little Pony pink, Jessie J and Kylie Jenner.
The new twist on this trend is making the dip dyed ends longer so that you have much more bold colour than natural - are you brave enough?
What's your favourite colour trend right now? Tweet us @sofeminineUK
This article was written by Lareese Craig. Follow her @LareeseCraig
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