A “celebration of the individual” is how famed hairstylist Eugene Souleiman describes 2016 spring looks. With a varied assortment of colours, textures, and accessories strolling down runways – some of them put together by Souleiman himself – it’s clear we are in an uncompromising era of individuality.
But even in this period, when we are blasted with imagery and inspiration via social media, a few favourites still manage to emerge. We called on the team at Suki’s – a Vancouver hair institution, started more than 40 years ago by matriarch Suki Takagi – to weigh-in on the latest in hair. Credited with changing the hairdressing landscape in Vancouver, Suki’s continues to be quite literally on the cutting edge when it comes to education and training. Ashley Hood, a colour designer, instructor and creative colour specialist, offers her views on how to achieve some of spring’s best looks – for every individual.
Strobing
The senior colour designer and L'Oréal Artistic educator spends a ton of time training (it’s part of the Suki’s culture). Recently, she was in Toronto for training where she learned about the latest technique, called strobing. Similar to the contouring trend in makeup, strobing works with a women’s face shape, using colour to highlight and accent her best features.
Babylights and balayage
Babylights, or natural-looking highlights that mimic the sun-kissed tones your hair took on as a tot. The delicate highlights are created using a very fine hair colour technique to mimic subtle highlights.
Balayage is a French word meaning to sweep or to paint, and offers colour with softer and less noticeable regrowth lines. The colour technique has taken over from ombre (the gradual blending of one hair tone to another) as the go-to soft, natural look, and expert stylists know which colours suit your skin tone, so that it lights up your features.
“Everyone realized that balayage looks like Victoria’s Secret hair, so they wanted to switch over to that,” Hood says.
Pastels
This isn’t a new trend per se, but it’s gaining traction as more and more women take the dip into unconventional colours. For those of us just outside the Millennial generation (and I’m not saying any numbers), Hood suggests tip-toeing the pastel world with a rose gold tone. She calls the coppery/pink colour a “mature pastel,” because it’s subtle, but still interesting and with a little edge.
For younger women interested in taking the leap into candy-coloured hues, Hood says the rule of thumb for those with fair, pinkish skin is to opt for lighter shades: soft lavender, pink, baby blues. Lavender and grey work gorgeously on yellow-tones skin, she says. Darker skin-tones benefit from vibrant colours: orchids, deep blues, turquoise (“really, really pretty on Asian hair,” Hood says).
But if you’re going to go this route be prepared to maintain it, notes Hood, who says to expect touch-ups every three weeks.
Making the cut
Meanwhile, when it comes to hairstyle, senior stylist Amy Husche, who also recently returned from training in New York and Toronto, says to look for sleek up-dos, as opposed to the loose buns on last season.
French braids are big, but in terms of cuts, generally speaking, it’s all about what works for the individual.
