Like the spot-on meme that taunts you every time you click open Instagram, summer is made for taking that belated birthday trip across the Turkish Riviera, bar-hopping between rooftops, or finally trying that new dreamy hair colour [4] you found on Pinterest. Should the former make you (or your wallet) tremble, planning a trip to the salon is an easy, low-pressure adventure that will still give you something to look forward to.
Even better, all the coolest trends you'll see this summer are fittingly low-key. We're talking soft, buttery highlights; grown-out roots [5] (but in that pretty, professionally intended way); cool blond hues [6]; and hair colour that's easy as hell to maintain [7]. Because at this point, who has the time for all the fuss?
"Summertime always inspires people to go a little lighter with their color," Tom Smith [8], celebrity hairstylist and international colour creative director for Evo Hair [9], says. "Summer holidays and a more relaxed attitude during these months mean longer between appointments."
Translation? You can expect the five "easy" hair colours ahead to trend from now until the foreseeable future — and dammit, if that's not a win the world could use right now, we don't know what is.
Summer Hair-Colour Trend: Strawberry Blonde
Think of this hue as the strawberry blonde 2.0. "This is a beautiful red that's darker than the the usual strawberry blonde but lighter and a little more natural than the bright coppers that we have been seeing in past months," said Brown. It's a great update for those lighter or darker redheads that want to try something a little different."
Summer Hair-Colour Trend: "Ripple" Highlights
Summer's answer to the "expensive blonde" hair colour [10]? "Ripple" highlights, a decidedly low-maintenance alternative with just as much shine.
"Typically, highlights are woven in fine strands that melt through the hair, while balayage tends to be chunkier pieces painted away from the root, but ripple highlights are a fusion of the two: larger slices of colour but painted precisely in foil right up to the root," Smith previously told POPSUGAR. "This is followed by a shadow-root toner that blurs the part nearest the scalp to keep a modern, blended result and a soft root as your hair grows."
The key, then, is to make sure outgrowth of the colour is soft and flattering and not at all harsh. "Ask your stylist for sliced highlights that blend all the way through your hair and then a second-stage shadow-root toner that stops the highlights from looking streaky and helps them grow out softly by blurring the part nearest to the scalp."
Summer Hair-Colour Trend: "Ripple" Highlights
Summer Hair-Colour Trend: "Ripple" Highlights
Summer Hair-Colour Trend: Copper Contour
You've seen the shade on everyone from Kendall Jenner and Kaia Gerber to Sophie Turner, but the trend you'll be seeing all summer takes the copper hair colour [11] to a new level. "A copper contour ties two huge 2022 trends together: copper and hair contouring," Smith says. "It's clear to see that there has been a great focus on all shades of copper, strawberry blonde, and auburn."
This look will add extra dimension woven throughout the hair to play with light and shade. "Replicating this with hair colour requires a bespoke approach to place complementary shades of copper, strawberry blonde, mahogany, and auburn throughout the hair based on the structure of the haircut," he says. "I love seeing lighter or brighter tones placed around the face and through the ends to replicate the effects of the sun on natural hair."
Even better? It works for all skin tones. "Copper hair is not just for those who are fair-skinned," celebrity colourist and Matrix expert George Papanikolas [12] says. "This tone can be warmed up for golden skin tones or also cooled down to a more auburn copper."
Summer Hair-Colour Trend: Copper Contour
Summer Hair-Colour Trend: Copper Contour
Summer Hair-Colour Trend: Dark Honey Highlights
The prettiest tweak on balayage: dark honey highlights, which create ribbons of colour while maintaining dimension. The key to this of-the-moment look? Blend, blend, blend. "This is a soft, natural-looking golden-blonde colour," NYC-based colourist Stephanie Brown [13] says. "The highlights are more blended to make the colour look less highlighted and more like it's lightened all over. It's a creamy honey colour that's wearable for many skin tones."
Summer Hair-Colour Trend: Dark Honey Highlights
Summer Hair-Colour Trend: Dark Honey Highlights
Summer Hair-Colour Trend: Dark Honey Highlights
Summer Hair-Colour Trend: "Pam Anderson" Blonde
On the opposite side of the spectrum — and if you're ready for a little more maintenance — the latest white-gold blonde trend is inspired by model and actor Pamela Anderson and her iconic hair colour. Everyone from Dua Lipa [14] and Ciara to Kim Kardashian [15] and Anya Taylor-Joy have tried the look on for size.
What sets this colour apart is its crystal-clear tone. "This bright blonde is achieved with lots of highlights and is left 'untoned' to give a slightly raw, bleached look," Smith says. "This particular shade is best described as white gold: it's not as cool as a silver or ash shade but most certainly not warm enough to be golden. Platinum blonde is high maintenance and expensive to achieve, so this colour trend is best left in the hands of the experienced professional."
Summer Hair-Colour Trend: "Pam Anderson" Blonde
Summer Hair-Colour Trend: "Pam Anderson" Blonde
Summer Hair-Colour Trend: Herringbone Highlights
"Since the pandemic, it's wonderfully more acceptable to show your natural greys [16], and celebrities such as Jennifer Aniston [17], Gwyneth Paltrow [18], and Sarah Jessica Parker [19] are leading the way when it comes to incorporating their grey hairs into their iconic hair colours," Smith says. "Using a herringbone pattern of highlighting, various shades are woven in among the grey strands, giving a finely balanced mix of warm and cool tones. This really celebrates grey hair by including them in a hair-colour design as an additional highlight colour."
To get the colour, ask your stylist to mix (not nix) your greys and incorporate warm- and cool-toned highlights in an irregular way. "Not alternating each shade but scattering and diffusing the various shades around the irregular pattern of your own grey hair — since grey hairs tend to arrive sporadically and scattered — to work with this rather than fight against it for a hair-colour design that is totally tailored to you."
Summer Hair-Colour Trend: Herringbone Highlights
Summer Hair-Colour Trend: Herringbone Highlights
