By Claudina Hannon
Summertime, for many of us, means taking a trip to the hair salon to lighten up our tresses to obtain a more sun-kissed hair color for beach season. But this summer you can kiss your ombré goodbye with these three emerging highlighting techniques in Northern Virginia salons. We also spoke with some of the local hair color connoisseurs to get the answers to our questions on the latest coloring trends.
Sombre
Sombré is an ombré technique with less contrast. It shows the color slowly changing from darker to lighter in a gradient. Nadia Hijazi, senior creative stylist at Salon Bleu in Tysons Galleria explains, “The idea is a subtle ombré, like the sun did it.” The color is lighter at the ends, and the sombré technique creates a more subtle contrast between your roots and the rest of the hair. But to NoVA women, this technique might be known as just a soft ombré. “[Clients have been] wanting their ombré done in a more natural tone,” says Hijazi.
Babylights
“[They are] very time consuming, finely woven highlights that are placed inside the foils,” says Joanne Chung, stylist at PR at Partners in Tysons Corner. In other words, they are extremely thin highlights that make your color look natural but with an added dimension. Chung says it usually takes her about two-and-a-half hours to complete the process, and she has already applied the technique on some clients. “That’s the next trend I would say that’s [going to] be big pretty soon,” Chung predicts.
Tortoiseshell
If you take a look at supermodel Gisele Bündchen’s haircolor—that is tortoiseshell, also known as ecaille. It is a technique that looks great on blondes and brunettes because it highlights warm blonde and brown tones all over with thicker portions of the hair being highlighted. This technique accentuates the face by placing lighter highlighted pieces around it. But Hijazi says clients may ask for it with a different name: “[It’s] painting on highlights as opposed to using foils to do highlights. I would say balayage is the term everyone is using.” Chung says that she has not yet seen this technique at PR at Partners but is sure they will eventually take it on as the trend grows.
Bottom Line
Not all stylists refer to these three techniques by the above names, but that does not mean your salon doesn’t offer them (even if you don’t see them listed by those names under Services). You just have to be very specific when describing what you intend to get done, and it can be helpful to show the stylist a picture of the style you want.
At PR at Partners prices for these hair coloring techniques start at $160, and Salon Bleu’s prices are between $190-$260. Please call each salon for more detailed pricing information.
