Candy Colors!

Summer 2012 is turning out to be a very distinctive season in terms of haircolor — if you were ever looking for a trend to be all about endless combinations of self-expression, then seize the moment and come see me!  Inspired by the Capital District residents of The Hunger Games, this season’s hottest trend is to start playing around with the full spectrum of 100% artificial-looking colors, or as we hairdressers like to call them, Candy Colors.  Used as all-over colors, slices, or just a few foils, this trend is (strangely enough) not just for the young and can be worn to be office-appropriate.  Let me walk you through this one….

In case you’re me and one of the other 4 people who haven’t seen The Hunger Games yet (Seriously, text me — we should get a group together.  I’m tired of hearing how un-cool I am from my kiddo that I haven’t seen it yet.), here’s the group of people who live in the Capital District.  From what I can gather, their wealth and boredom are conveyed through the opulence and general flashiness of their appearance, to include bright-as-a-peacock clothes and hair.  And this concludes my knowledge of the Hunger Games.  Oh, and there’s some sort of a kiddie Thunderdome theme going on.  “We don’t need another heroooooo……”

I digress.  Back to crazy hair colors.  I promise everyone can pull this off, it just depends on how much or how little you put in!  If you’ve got the devil-may-care attitude about it, go for a full head!  If you’re just wanting to try it out, why not a few slices in a less bold color during your next highlight touch-up appointment?  This color craze it popping up all over Hollywood from the Barely-Legally-Buys-Alcohol Group to the Social Security Crowd.

Both Katy and Tarina have solid candy colors going on — and to be perfectly honest, I don’t think I love them.  If it were me, I would have selected something a bit more soft and maybe broken it up with a few colors (or shades of the same color).  But this is a very viable option if you’ve got the chutzpah to carry it off.  And then there’s Kelly Osbourne, who at the the moment decided to give up her grey-ish mane and is now rocking a pale violet color — I have to say it’s a vast improvement and I honestly do like this one. PS — is anybody else here getting a serious Jem and the Holograms vibe……?

The second way to wear candy colors, and the one I prefer the most, is with some high-impact, well-placed slices throughout the head.  Let me show you:

As you can see, there are just so many different ways to wear these slices!  You can go with a bang section, a multi-colored section in the front, peek-a-boos, many foils, or just a few.  The trick is to keep to a very neutral base shade and let the foils do all the talking.  And yes, that is Joan Rivers; she may be ancient, but she truly is on trend and is age-appropriate by selecting a softer color that compliments her base shade and isn’t too garish.  With these candy slices, sometimes more truly is less.

The final option with the candy colors is to have your old ombres ”dipped” in something sugary, or to have the foils placed in an ombre-style.  Like this:

In case you haven’t noticed, the trend seems to be a pale pink on a blonde base, or purple/blue on a dark brown/black base (but I am loooooooving that lime-on-platinum action up above!).  But truly YOU get to decide what works best for you and reflects your own style.

In terms of the behind-the-chair nitty-gritty, the color line I prefer to use is Scruples’ Urban Shock.  The amazing thing about these shades is that they are 100% customizable in terms of both the color itself AND the intensity of the shade — all I do is mix up the shade and then both you and I (with the help of an additive) get to determine how bright you want it!  Because what’s in the bowl is what ends up on your hair, there is absolutely no guesswork involved.  And they’re made with a (literal) conditioner base, so it’s super nourishing to the hair.  Then there’s the part where Urban Shock is one of the longest, fade-resisting “fun” colors I’ve worked with, so it wears very well.  And as a hairstylist, they’re super easy to remove when you’re over them, both easy on me and your hair!

 

Of course, when committing to candy colors, there are also two must-have purchases to make sure your color looks it’s best for the longest possible amount of time: color safe shampoo & conditioner, and a dry shampoo!  One has to ensure that they’re not washing the color down the drain (the shampoo) as well as protecting if from the fading rays of the summer sun (the SPF in the conditioner).  And of course, the less often you wash it, the better that color will look, period (the dry shampoo).  My best recommendations are the Joico Color Endure Shampoo and Conditioner duo, and Big Sexy Hair’s Volumizing Dry Shampoo.

It’s summertime — why not embrace the devil-may-care attitude of the season by putting a literal POP or PUNCH of color into your ‘do?  And at $10/foil, you can decide how much or how little you’d like to spice things up!  Besides, by the time the trend and the season are done, it will be time for your fall color update — and with the products I use, these colors don’t have to be a forever commitment!  Stretch out of your comfort zone and try on this trend, you’ll love it!