We thought last year would be the season of multi-tonal hair and that this year we’d see something completely different, but instead we’re getting an iterative improvement over the previous year’s trend. Now instead of bearing your rainbow-colored hair for the world to see, you’re going to have to hide it beneath a single bold color and force your friends to go digging to find it.
It’s like playing Toucan Sam with your hair.
Russian hair colorist Nanameuw has perfected this process so she has a perfect rainbow beneath a single-tone bob of purple. Lift up the top layer and you’ll find a pristine spread of colors from ear to ear. And to top it off, she says her technique actually doesn’t damage the hair either.
In an interview with Allure, Nanameuw reveals that the first step is, naturally, to whiten the hair to bring out those vibrant colors. "For this look, it is very important to first whiten the hair along the length, and only then applying the bleaching powder to the roots, so that the background of clarification is uniform throughout the length of the hair," she said.
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After whitening comes the hard part: coloring. To get each discrete section separate she’ll work with one color at a time while pinning the final color (purple) up and out of the way so she can work.
“Starting at the occipital area, I applied each color of the paint very carefully with a narrow brush to dry hair so the color doesn’t flow,” she said, adding that a 3cm brush is best to avoid staining sections with the wrong color.
”After all the elements of the rainbow are painted, I neatly fold them together,” she went on to say. “I like when strands of different colors touch, as it allows the shades to make a soft gradient”.
Then, once the rainbow is complete she unclips the top-most portion and paints it purple by hand.
Finally comes maintenance. Going to all this trouble makes no sense if it all washes out in just a few days. “To maintain color for longer, it is important to use a balm with a low pH,” Nanameuw said. “It smooths the cuticle of the hair, so the hair color isn’t washed out as quickly”.
And as always, Nanameuw stresses the importance of adding masks to your daily routine and said that thermal protection is a must.
Would you try this trend for summer? Let us know in the comments!
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