If you’re anything like us, there are few things more relaxing than scouring Instagram for bright and elaborate hair-colour ideas. If you’ve also found yourself recently entranced by brightly coloured box braids or Aurora Australis-inspired dye jobs, let us introduce you to an emerging trend that allows all the fun of a vibrant, fantasy hair colour without nearly as much of the commitment. We’re talking about rainbow fringes.
Across Instagram, there are countless posts under the hashtag #rainbowfringe and #rainbowbangs showcasing all sorts of fringes in different cuts and colour schemes. Colourist Kristina Cheeseman has given plenty of her clients their own iteration of the trend. “I have noticed an uptick in rainbow panels, mostly due to the fact they’re easier to maintain, they’re not your entire head, and you still get the essence of rainbow hair with half the maintenance involved,” she says.
Though you might find the idea of wearing a rainbow on your forehead a little out there, rest assured colourists are coming up with inventive ways to keep this trend fresh and approachable. “I make my rainbow grungier and less vibrant by diluting each of my colours with a contrasting colour,” explains colourist Kate McBride. “This makes the colours a little dirtier and, in my opinion, more mature and wearable for somebody not in their teens.”
But there’s no one correct way to do a rainbow fringe, as evidenced by the sheer amount of looks you can find on social media. Below, see a few of our favourite takes on the trend.
The rainbow fringe Cheeseman recently did for this client prove that even people with dark hair can maintain bright accents. “Because she had previously coloured dark hair, it was nearly impossible to get her mid-shaft and ends as light as the roots,” Cheeseman recalls. “So I worked with the colour it lifted to create the gradient from bright to moody.”
Rainbow fringes don’t even require a full ROYGBIV moment. As colourist Arminta Willar showcases, red, yellow, and blue shades blend together seamlessly when paired with some strategically-placed silver dye.
@angdomyhair / Instagram
A short, blunt fringe is not necessary to nail this trend, as proven by colourist @angomyhair. To accentuate this client’s long side swoop, she blended in a full spectrum of colours from red to indigo.
@basementsweet / Instagram
A rainbow fringe makes an excellent statement on both neutral and bright hair colours if you ask colourist Siva Hanson. Her head-turning fringe blends into the upper layers of this client’s turquoise dye job, making it truly impossible to miss.
@kxthrynrxsehair / Instagram
Here we see McBride’s grungy take on the rainbow fringe, which she created by mixing complementary colours. She diluted her red dyes with green dyes, orange dyes with blue dyes, and so on to achieve this look.
@isthatpat / Instagram
Here, colourist Patrick Garcia proves that even vivid, orange mermaid waves pair well with a rainbow fringe. He used fuchsia, turquoise, and lime-green shades to bring new life to this client’s light-brown hair, which had a previously coloured and faded fringe.
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