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Rainbow Money Piece Hair Colour Trend 2021

If You Like the Regular Money Pieces Hair Trend, You're Going to Adore This Rainbow Version

We love money pieces for their ability to add dimension to our hair and brighten up our complexions. "Money pieces refer to the strategic placement of lighter hues along the face-framing pieces of hair using the balayage technique," explained London-based balayage expert and colourist Jack Howard. Last year, this trend was taken a step further by exaggerating these lighter pieces of hair to create chunky money pieces, which really dials up the balayage and makes it a little more dramatic. Now, those chunky highlights have been taken even further with rainbow money pieces. If you loved the money pieces trend before, you're going to adore this bold, vibrant new version of the trend.

Texas-based colourist and owner of Hair by Love Salon Cyrell Cook is the master behind this unique and dreamy hair colour look, which she created after wanting to push her creative freedom with a client. Her client wanted to "jazz up [her hair] when she was DJing but also wanted something she could tone down if she was going to dinner," Cook told POPSUGAR. "My thoughts went to money pieces, but make it rainbow!"

Money pieces work so well because, when done in natural tones, "clients feel brightest when their hair is light around their hairline, so I think the money piece frames the face nicely and makes clients feel blonder and brighter," said Cook. "Trends come in and out of style, but the versatility of money pieces makes it so appealing," she added.

But, like most unique hair colour looks — especially rainbow hair colour that incorporate multiple shades — they aren't easy to create. This particular rainbow money pieces required a quite a few complex steps. First, Cook lifted her client's natural hair colour to a blonde base using lightener and low volume developer. Once this processed, she then washed and blow-dried the hair.

Next, is where the real magic happened. Cook custom mixed a number of rainbow shades using Pulp Riot semi-permanent colours, noting that Pulp Riot is formulated not to bleed onto other colours when rinsing, so it was a perfect choice for this look. Cook then sectioned out the face-framing bits of hair, painting the rainbow hues in 3/4-inch segments. To ensure the entire money piece was rainbow coloured through and through, she started by painting the under layers of each section first and then working her way to the top layer of hair by the hairline — "laying the next section on top of the previously painted rainbow," she explained.

Since the shades are so vibrant, some colours fade much quicker than others, Cook said that to avoid this, she recommends shampoo and conditioning in cold water since hot water makes colours bleed and fade faster. Very high heat when styling should also be avoided to get best longevity from the shades.

If you're eager to try the trend at home before salons open, be prepared because rainbow money pieces are extremely hard to do if you're not a professional. Cook said that if you want to experiment with your hair during lockdown, try colour deposit shampoos (these deposit temporary dye onto your hair rather than dyeing strands permanently) in pastel shades. She recommended staying away from blues, purples, and greens as they tend to stay in your hair the longest and can be harder to remove. But if you're looking to try the rainbow money pieces and have it looking as good as Cook's, visit the professionals come 12 April when hair salons reopen again.

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