There’s no shortage of fall staples inspiring us to head to the salon to switch up our hair colours. Cider and spice, cranberry, even pumpkin pink — we’ve seen it all. Or at least we thought we did until we stumbled across an incredible dye job that embraces the most beautiful thing about autumn: the changing leaves.
Earlier this month, Ashley Largey, stylist and owner of Burbank, California’s Darling Nikki‘s Salon shared photos of her stunning work on one of her clients: a blend of colours that captures all the shades of fall foliage. Vibrant red, rusty orange, golden yellow, and even a little bit of green come together to look as beautiful atop a head as they do atop a tree. We reached out to Largey to find out how she created the look.
“My client, Eden, sent me a photo of leaves on the ground as inspiration for what she wanted her hair to look like,” Largey says, explaining it’s not unlike Eden to go for fun, unexpected ideas. Totally onboard for the challenge, Largey says the entire process took over four hours. “We were starting with hair that was a natural level six with about 50-percent grey. I used Pulp Riot bleach with 30 volume to achieve a pale yellow, borderline-white colour as our initial base. I then went section by section, meticulously picking out triangular sections and blending two to three colours per strand.”
Largey says that all of the colours she included are semi-permanent dyes by Arctic Fox. “I used their Sunset Orange, Cosmic Sunshine, and Phantom Green. We were going for a fall look that represented the beginning of the leaves changing, hence why there is that bit of green sprinkled in there,” she notes. “And, believe it or not, there is some Purple Rain added in for depth.”
The gorgeous outcome embodies one of the most awe-inspiring aspects of fall, resulting in a not-so-natural hair colour made up of some of the most beautiful colours in nature.