The clocks have gone back and the weather is changing, which can only mean one thing in the world of beauty – a sudden urge for winter hair inspiration to help you try something new.
Whether you are dreaming about a brand-new colour to re-energise your winter wardrobe or want to shake yourself out of a hairstyling rut with a new cut-and-shape, discover our favourite expert-backed winter hair inspiration to try right now.
Chestnut Red
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Red is having a standout season this year, and that extends to our hair. “Autumn brings in elements of the ‘cosy girl’ aesthetic, and the warm iconography of the season certainly inspires with ‘pumpkin spice’ tones,” reveals the trend-setting hairstylist Tom Smith.
What also makes red such a playful shade to experiment with right now is the breadth of shades in the palette. A touch of chestnut can lift and add shine to brunette tresses, especially in the winter time, by helping them reflect more light. Then, at the other end of the spectrum, “more acidic tones of candy, rose and cherry are being incorporated into copper hair for the bolder among us. This will grow in popularity throughout Autumn and towards the festive season,” predicts Smith.
Toffee Blonde
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“Most people can feel a bit washed-out in the winter, especially when they lose the colour from their tan,” explains the celebrity hair colourist Nicola Clarke. So, it’s no surprise that warmer tones are on vogue right now. In particular, both Clarke and fellow leading hairstylist Zoe Irwin are seeing a rise in toffee blonde hues, which they have jointly dubbed ‘Bambi blonde’ for this season.
“It’s not quite as warm as a regular honey,” explains Irwin. “It’s not a yellow gold, it’s softer, and the tones are chosen from a fawn palette [hence the nod to Disney’s famous deer]. We are also using a layering technique of different shades for a more modern, thicker, sliced highlight, with layers of caramel, lighter tones and a glaze on-top.” The result is a warm cashmere-like finish that feels expensive and laissez-faire in equal measure; perfect for anyone who wants their hair to evoke a quiet luxury.
Floating Layers
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The new generation of effortlessly cool girl hair that promises plenty of bounce and volume, ‘Floating Layers’ is a technique mastered by Joel at John Frieda Salons, where Irwin is also creative director. It works by shortening layers in the middle of the hair, unconnected to the top and bottom sections, so your hair moves much more freely without looking overly messy or damaged.
“We did this hair cut on a model from Models 1 and we’ve ended up doing the hair of a lot of models on their books, because she’s got so much work from it,” reveals Irwin. “The top section stays really quite long still, but in the middle section, you shutter out this layering technique, so that your hair appears to float as you move.”
The Big Chop
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Right now, you can’t help but notice that women are, quite literally, cutting the summer out of their hair. Whether it is to combat the dryness caused by summer sun, or just the desire for a massive shake-up, expect the hair lengths of your friends to raise towards their collars (or even higher).
“It’s a powerful and assertive shape that offers a toughness that mid length hair has been lacking in recent seasons,” explains Smith. “Cut the length in line with your chin, or the corner of your jaw depending on how bold you want to go. For fine to medium hair textures, keep layering to a minimum as you’ll need to keep the bulk, but for thicker, wavier or curly hair types, layering can help to create the squarer, more androgynous silhouette this style requires.”
Sultry Brunette
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“There’s been no shortage of ‘Barbiecore’ references around this year and it’s the rules of global trends that when one polarity is popular, the opposite is also often true,” explains Smith. “Many of our celeb tastemakers have opted for deeper, glossier and muted tones of late and this more sultry, understated style is the opposite of the loudness that Barbie Blonde offers.”
The trend has been seen on the catwalk too, as Irwin observed: “Fashion show after fashion show this year, you could see that the brunette was becoming much, much darker.” Significantly though, to make sure it looks uber-luxe, a high gloss finish is essential. Plus, ask your colourist to use a super dark base, but with a shade or half a shade lighter woven in too, with glazes through the bottom, to add different dimensions.
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Lead image credit: Vinicius “amnx” Amano via Unsplash
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