When you’re not heading to the salon for a root touch-up, you’re desperately researching which purple shampoos can banish your yellow and give you the icy locks you probably paid £100 for about two weeks before.
Everyone knows that summer = peak time for blondes. And whether you’re bleached-up or simply rocking a subtle caramel highlight, we can all agree on one thing – blonde is SO difficult to maintain.
How do celebrities do it?
Well, aside from the fact that they have top hairdressers at their beck and call 24 hours a day, there’s actually a hot new technique on the block we can ALL use to keep our hair colour fresh, and give the illusion of a recent salon visit – even if we’re dragging out visiting as long as possible.
Welcome, strandlights.
Seen on the likes of Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Karlie Kloss and Jennifer Aniston, strandlights are the youngest sibling of the coveted babylights, and the latest (and greatest) child of the classic highlight, with minimal maintenance and maximum impact.
According to freehand colour king at Smiths Salon in Soho, Adrian Paoluccio, achieving the perfect strandlight focuses on the hairline of the client by strategically placing delicate highlights – requiring less bleaching, less regrowth, and ultimately, less damage to your hair.
The highlights also don’t go all the way to the root, allowing room for a natural-looking shine for your hair, and 0 panic when you get slight regrowth. It also means you can experiment with *just* how blonde you want to go, asking for the strands to start lower down to give more of a balayage feel.
Adrian also does strandlights totally freehand – meaning there’s no set structure in how they’re going to look, but they create a 3D-effect which makes them more natural and blendable, even if you’re not a natural blonde.
Like all light shades however, he does recommend using a colour toning shampoo and conditioner to hydrate and strengthen the hair, as well as keep your colour fresh between retouches.
Want to get the A-list locks for yourself?
Adrian suggests you ask for a ‘natural sun-kissed look’, however, having a consultation with your stylist first is super important to ensure that you get the right colour for you (unfortunately, while we desperately want Jessica Biel’s hair, it might not be the one for us!)
And what’s more, as strandlights is merely the technique used, there are so many options when it comes to colours. So whether you’re after a mousy lift, or looking to go full-throttle blonde, this is one we’ll be turning to all summer long…
Thinking of going blonde? Find your ultimate shade inspiration below…
