Gone are the days of obsession with every gray hair. Now, we’re calling that natural gray Highlights. Okay, not right but the herringbone highlight trend has a colorbist using every gray strand just like many highlights of your scalp hair. We’ve seen this trend of embracing gray hair over the last few years, especially during the epidemic lockdown when it was harder and harder to book appointments for gray coverage.
Colourist Tom Smith took to his Instagram to give us a scoop of herringbone highlights. He says there are three main reasons why this highlight trend works so well when you are turning gray. “It uses your natural gray hair as one of the highlight colors,” he explains. Herringbone highlights use that colorless strand and work with it instead. If you have ever tried to dye a gray hair you know how hard they can be and that dye can wash off anyway.
Afterwards, Smith says “Foil’s diagonal placement”, which is like a herringbone, hence the name. It’s not a new strategy, he said, but it’s great because “instead of the highlights sitting on top of each other, they sit across each other.” This ensures a more natural-looking blend.
Lastly, since you are not trying to dye every gray hair, you can probably end up with a less maintenance look and a “less appointment in the salon”. This is especially true for black hair. “Consider a gentle scattering of highlights to hold the depth for very black hair but still make your gray hair look intentional,” Smith said on Instagram. That way, you don’t have to run to the salon every three weeks for a touch-up! We like something that saves time and money – and embraces aging with style.
