Bye bye Brunette: Ash Brown is the new hair colour to know

Basic brunette is a thing of the past — an icy shade of ash is the capital’s most wanted. Just ask your colourist

Alexa Chung

IStockphoto

8 October 2018

Autumn, the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness — and what Keats forgot to mention, of swapping the beachy, sunbleached highlights in favour of a new season colour refresh. For brunettes, this means cooling down your colour to match the forecast.

“There has been a growing trend for women wanting cooler hair colour in the salon,” says Adam Reed, hairstylist extraordinaire and one half of duo Percy & Reed. “Cooling down your colour gives it a beautiful opulence, lending a cashmere or suede texture that looks soft and expensive.”

Recently, the move towards cooler hair tones has led to warm honey blondes turning icy platinum, with ash blonde hair seeing a 23 per cent rise in Google searches year on year. But blondes aren’t having all the fun — now ash brown is stealing the crown for the capital’s most wanted hair colour.

Think mushroom rather than chocolate or chestnut — but with deeper, smokier nuances than the blah-brown of your pre-teens — ash brown now ranks in the top 20 hair-colour searches, with the term racking up a further 18.9k tags on Instagram.

To meet this rise in demand, L’Oreal Professionnel is launching a Parisian Cool in-salon colour collection this month, which includes four new ash brown tones, spanning light to dark and enhanced with technology to showcase the shade in its best light — see newly annointed ash brown ambassador Alexa Chung for more details.

“The lovely thing about ash brown is that anyone can wear it,” says Reed. “If you have reddish tones in your hair, ash can create a beautiful rich burnt toffee colour. Or, if you’re naturally light, try ashy roots and a blonder balayage through the lengths and ends.”

All you’ll need now is the cosy jumper to match.

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Bye bye Brunette: Ash Brown is the new hair colour to know

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