If you're anything like us, you'll be long overdue a trip to the salon to get your highlights freshened up. Dark roots? Don't know her.
It's true: we spent every day in lockdown dreaming of trying out the latest hair trends.Ribbon blonde? Sign us up. The textured bob? Chop it all off. Even the modern mullet? Yep, there was no trend we wouldn't have tried (thanks Miley).
But now we're out the other side and my hair salon is officially open, we're looking for a slightly more subtle switch-up – something soft and flattering for autumn, but that doesn't require too much maintenance or upkeep.
Enter 'money piece highlights'; a happy medium between two-tone hair and super-soft balayage highlights that instantly brighten and frame your face. "Money piece highlights are a fuss-free way to change up your look without having to touch the whole head – it’s all about face-framing and contouring the hair," says Natalia Romaniuc, colourist at Windle London.
Money piece highlights were popularised in the '90s and have made a notable comeback lately. "The main inspiration for this throwback trend is probably '90s era Geri Halliwell," says Natalia, "it’s just been a little bit more refined and softened to suit the 2021 market".
"It's a super flattering look because it brightens your face, accentuating your facial features and your own base hair colour," explains Natalia. "Best of all, this technique works on any colour of hair and really can suit everyone, whether you are a warm blonde or a deep cool chocolate brown – the money pieces can pop by choosing a colour 3 to 4 shades brighter to achieve the full impact, and usually require bleaching those specific areas of the hair beforehand."
Money piece highlights are a hotly-emerging trend as we ease out of lockdown and look toward summer, with clients looking to embrace a new and exciting look in a fuss-free way, says Natalia.
"We are able now to work with the clients' more natural colour and offer them services such as money piece highlights to immediately update their look, with very little effort – and of course, less time in the chair meaning more affordable and maintainable.
"My clients at Windle are incorporating this trend into their usual balayage colours, where we just intensify the placement of highlights and freehand around the face."
So how do we maintain the look? "The level of lightening involved with money highlights mean you should use gentle, natural shampoos so as to not strip the hair or affect the colour," advises Natalia. "After all, you wouldn’t buy a Gucci dress then wash it with dish soap, would you?!"
Ready to look a million dollars? We thought so, too.
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