Who gets to look at their hair in the mirror every day? Who gets to live with the colour and cut till the next one is needed? Who has to subconsciously tweak their wardrobe and make-up shades to accommodate the overall shift in colour and mane direction? No prizes for guessing! So when it comes to how hair gets to look, feel and sway, why shouldn’t it be the girl or boy in the mirror that decides just how!
While appreciation for how one’s hair looks is always welcome, relying too much on the opinion of others, especially when it’s sometimes divided, can leave you with dwindled conviction!
The best way forward is to, armed with a reference picture and oodles of self-confidence, visit your stylist, who will effect the style, tweaking it to best suit your hair texture, face shape, and personality.
If not that, mentally sum up all the cuts and colours you have tried through the years, then choose one that made you feel your best. Then, with no worries about feeling dated because this year is all about retro styles, get your stylist to pump up its contemporary quotient, with a modern twist or season colour, and enjoy the collaborative result!
Curated below are the retro-inspired current trends from top hair gurus around the world, who have brewed, in their creative colour and cut cauldrons, something for everyone on their hair menu.
Most requested wedding look: Alia Bhatt’s causally blow-dried open hair, with a stunning mathapatti! Picture: Instagram
CUTS:
Boyband Bobs:
This cut is a throwback to the Nick Carter days but with a current, Kaia Gerber, twist. The hair is shorter than a bob, with graduated angles and longer pieces at the front, that angle in around the cheekbones.
Tip: Shampoo, condition, dry and iron just the longer bits.
Mix and match: The longer pieces can be styled, ironed straight, for work, or the entire head of hair sprayed with texture spray and scrunched, for party time!
Butterfly:
Hair that sits at or below the shoulders, is preferably curly or wavy, thick, is a texture fit for this heavily layered cut! The layers need to be well blended and not choppy.
Tip: Wash, condition, apply a curl souffle and let air-dry, allowing for the natural waves to settle into the cut pattern.
Mix and match: Blow-styled in waves for an evening out or worn in a layer revealing high pony, for play.
The Bixie:
If you have wanted hair longer than a pixie but shorter than a bob, this one’s for you!
This half-bob, half-pixie haircut once made a rage by Princess Diana, and worn with its variations by Winona Ryder and Kristen Stewart, has feathered ends and deep-point cut, choppy layering. Its length falls in the middle of a typical pixie and a typical bob, resulting in some optimal face-framing ends.
Tip: Shampoo and then use gel, to accentuate wherever needed.
Mix and match: For an evening out this cut looks best with the face-framing layers that are gel-accentuated, and a slide embellished clips. For a tamed-in version, use mousse to imperceptibly highlight the layers.
The colour guide 2022
Most requested look: Deepika Padukone’s brunette-based, eye-catching, balayage-coloured, lazy-girl textured, one-length bob from the film Gehraiyaan.
A booster of moods and a setter of fun! Colours can transform how you feel in a flash. Whether it’s an in-your-face, Pantone colour of 2022, Very Peri purple-toned blue, or the bright, optimistic sun-kissed hues, using colours to enhance how you feel and are perceived, is just a consultation away with your personal stylist.
As of right now, there’s a never-before technique-oriented colour palette available to you, and a seasoned colourist can deliver exactly what shade flatters best!
Expensive brunettes:
The darker roots and lived-in feel means periods between visits can be stretched, which ironically, is why this look won’t leave you a pauper! The pandemic kept us housebound with overgrown roots we grew accustomed to and actually began liking. Stylists waved their creativity over it, formulated sheen-enhancing mixes that A-listers everywhere sported and made this look one of the hottest hair trends to wear.
Chestnut browns, auburns that don’t stray too far from ones natural colour, paired with face-framing lights, or baby lights sparsely sprinkled through, make for hair that is not distressed, looks more glossy, richer in tonality and shine, and therefore oozing opulence!
French glossing:
A salon service that will leave your hair looking bathed in luminosity, with a light-reflecting high gloss! This ombre-graded finish that’s rich in tone and shine is an ammonia-free service, where colour is applied to the roots and uses a glossing method that balances pH levels.
Look how lovely Jennifer Lopez looks with her baby lights!
Split dye or half-and-half colour:
The name speaks for itself. Its contrastive technique, where the hair is divided down from profile to nape with one half of your hair one colour and the other half, another. This adventurous colour technique can be muted to suit the timid, by having less of a stark contrast between the two shades!
Chunky highlights:
The term may give you a ’90s zebra or tiger stripe throwback flashes, but the current chunky highlights are combined with the modern hair techniques like baby lights, money pieces and/or a balayage that look less DIY and more planned. From Kelly Clarkson to JLo, this technique, now refined technically to slip into its 2022 avatar, can be customised to suit any persona!
Hair contouring:
Highlighting the baby hairs that frame the face, taking almost invisible sections, gives the face a perfect lift in a soft and delicate way. It isn’t chunky, there is a lower contrast, and the transition to the main body of colour is less obvious. This is softer than a money piece and offers a lower contrast, yet a face-framing brightness.
Priscilla Corner