Seeing pink hair everywhere? We share top tips from singer Adéla's stylist Matt Rez on how to recreate her hot pink shade, and the trending shades of the season
Pink is always in, but thanks to Slovak singer Adéla the hair shade has never been more popular. From electric petal and glacial pink to metallic and viva magenta shades, learn exactly how you can master the techniques for your clients, with the 101 from other hair experts.
Electric Petal Pink Hair
Slovak singer Adéla's hair is the shade of the moment, with her "Electric Petal Pink" coined by celebrity hair colourist Matt Rez, who created this vibrant look ahead of her first arena tour. The iconic style blends raspberry-violet hues at the roots with saturated, electric pink through the ends, and is the perfect shade for those braver clients who love a vivid colour.
On his Instagram, Matt shared how he mastered this look, starting by prepping the hair with a bond repair treatment, using a clear permanent colour for a more even lift, considering her growout and demarcation line. In their first session, Adéla had over one inch of growout, and to get any pink Matt needed to use a level 9: "Lifting that much regrowth evenly (without banding) is always tricky." That brought Adéla to about a level 7 and "gave (him) a much more even base before going in with lightener".
Sarah Bates, UK Lead Educator for Elgon tells us the best way to achieve this bright, statement colour. “Elgon I-Light Hot Pink will give you the foundation shade and Pure Red can be added to create your perfect fuchsia tone.”
Kirsty Judge and Tina Mehmi, RUSH Colour Artistic Team Members agree that "incorporating hot pink into looks is going to be one of this season’s top colours. It’s bold, feminine and unapologetically chic." For the perfect pink, they recommend hair being lightened to a clean level 9-10: "The cleaner the lift, the cleaner and cooler your finished pink will look."
Glacial Pink Hair
Singer Addison Rae is the leading light of high fashion, and so was her hair in the Headphones On music video shot in Iceland. “With the winter months coming in, we see an influx of darker shades and tones," says Marlene Lamont, Owner of Uban Hair & Beauty, but "glacial pink is giving icy vibes which match the cold weather perfectly."
To start, Marlene neutralises the whole head with an ultra light blonde dye to help "eliminate any warmth that might creep through. For the gorgeous, pearlescent hue, I used Mood’s Moody Toner in 915 on wet hair, which resulted in an incredible glossy shine."
Instead of going all in with a hot pink, clients could be experimenting with neutral tones and pastel pinks, Jordanna Cobella, Wella Professionals Colour Digital Craft Expert tells us. "Clients can experiment with this shade without the worry about long-term commitment as the Wella Professionals Shinefinity service doesn’t lift your natural base colour.”
Candyfloss Pink Hair
Candyfloss pink is the perfect shade for clients who want to dip their toe into the world of pink, and a call back to Kylie Jenner's "King Kylie" hair era.
Kelly Shone-Adams, OSMO Technical Advisor says, “This fun-loving, light pastel shade of pink can be created with either OSMO IKON Semi-Permanent Strawberry tone, or you can mix Colour Revive Platinum Blond and a dash of Colour Revive Hot Pink to get the shade you desire.” What’s more, Kelly advises adding a few drops of red pigment into clients’ leave-in conditioner or primer to keep up the colour in between salon top-ups.
Chris Grimley, Textured Hair Specialist and Owner of Fusion Hair Co agrees that “This cotton candy pink adds a playful pop to the dark winter days!" Chris recommends cutting hair in a short style for this shade, which "makes vivid colours like pink look more saturated and punchy!"
The Perfect Peach Hair Shade
Give your clients a glimpse into summer with a peachy hue shade like Jada Pinkett Smith's shimmering cropped cut. The team at Vanity Doll Salon, Ambassadors for Directions Hair Colour advise using the Directions Peach shade: “This summery shade is so versatile, it can be used alone to create a beautiful and vibrant peach, diluted to make a soft, sweet peach, or added to pink shades such as Carnation Pink to warm them up.
"We recommend applying this on damp hair, to ensure the pink and orange tones that make up this colour have an even coverage.”
Metallic Pink Hair
Resident It Girl Megan Fox has always inspired with her multi-dimensional, metallic pink hair look. To recreate Megan's shade, Alex Thaddeus Stylist and Owner of Alex Thaddeus Hairdressing advises creating a subtle depth with different shades of pink to really draw the eye in. "These shades are also perfect to create for the fashion forward clients that are looking for an interesting look."
By combining three very different shades of pink, Alex reecommends adding contrasts between rose-pink hues feathered throughout complimented by lighter silver-lilac points...applied and feathered throughout in small sections through the sides and ends melting seamlessly together."
Viva Magenta Hair
90s trends are back in full force, including singer Gwen Stefani's magenta pink hair. “When it comes to using pink, there are so many possibilities beyond pastels or hot pink tones which allow your creativity to flow!" outlines Tracey Ann Smith, MOOD's Creative Director.
This colour is vivid and expressive, continues Tracey, building a base of deep colours works to give an electric feel, with the light picking up the deeper blue and purple hues: "Overall, this creates a saturated, vibrant look." To recreate this on a client, Tracey recommends using the MOOD Paint Colour fuchsia, styled with salt spray and a texturising spray wax.
"Viva Magenta" is 2023’s Pantone Colour of the Year, and we’re expecting to see a whole host of magenta varieties out in full force taking clients straight from cool and light to a much edgier approach, says Molly Addams, Manic Panic UK Content Specialist. “It involves a number of colours to bring this shade to life, including pink, red, and violet, and its appearance - although still magenta – can differ depending on its formula."
Rainbow Pink Hair
Paramore singer Hayley Williams has become synonymous with rainbow hair over the years, including a gorgeous pink-purple fringe look. Safy B, Owner of Safy B’s Salon believes pink should be "the main character, with a pop of rainbow underneath – a signature look at Safy B’s!"
To achieve rainbow pink hair, Safy B creates "dimension at the roots before adding vibrant pink throughout. For the rainbow peekaboo, I placed a roughly two-inch panel beneath the top pink section, over-directing the colour slightly towards each side to create a flowing, horizontal rainbow rather than distinct vertical stripes.
"The bottom section was coloured pink again, sandwiching the rainbow between two pink layers so it reveals itself through movement. The result is bold, bright and joyful, with a hidden rainbow moment underneath!"
Punk Pink Hair
Twilight star Kristen Stewart defined the 2010s pixie cut, but this was also a pink-centred look.
A short pink cut is sharp and dramatic, agrees Suzie McGill, Artistic Director for Rainbow Room Uddingston, "The global application of the pink colour makes this a bold and eye-catching look. Using a vibrant pink brings a whole new dimension to the look and adds a sense of drama....styled into textured spikes to the top of the hair creating a punk-inspired edge."
Click here to find out how you can further embrace Barbie pink in your salon.
