Short grey hair: the trend for 2021

HAIR TRENDS

Even Pantone has chosen Ultimate Grey as the colour of the year! Here’s the cut to choose and the professional products to use to enhance this cool and metallic colour.

With its metallic and glossy shades, grey hair is fascinating, on both mature - like the actors Helen Mirren or Judy Dench - and younger women - from Cara Delevigne to Billie Eilish. Obtaining (and maintaining) cool grey hair without the hairdresser’s help, however, is really difficult.

If you’d also like to try out grey in 2021, make an appointment with your favourite Davines salon for customised cut and colour advice!

Very short haircuts for grey hair

To ward off the dreaded “granny” look - we recommend avoiding too-long or regular haircuts, which can make grey hair look antique.

Opt for a short or very short haircut, instead. The perfect example is Meryl Streep’s look in The Devil Wears Prada: practical, elegant, modern. An asymmetrical bob or a pixie cut with a quiff can also be an excellent solution.

For example, in his first proposal for the 2021 collection, Tom Connell- Davines Hair Art Director - makes grey the star on a very short haircut inspired by Tilda Swinton.

The Shadowing Technique: choose your shades of grey

In this pixie cut, Tom Connell plays with various shades of grey: locks of a darker colour pop up where least expected, giving movement to the whole haircut.

The audacious contrast of shades is obtained thanks to the new Davines technique, Shadowing. Shadows are at the heart of this technique, i.e. the dark sections that enhance the rest of the colour, creating a visual effect where light grey appears glossier and the hair, in general, looks fuller.

The bigger the difference between shades, the more visible the contrast. If you’d like a more delicate result, choose shades that are closer to each other, with the help of your Davines hairdresser.

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Products to counter grey’s warm reflects

The main issue with maintaining - natural or coloured - grey hair is dealing with warm reflects. In the case of natural grey, as we age the production of melanin is interrupted and the hair turns white, with warm tones. Formerly light hair is at risk from yellow tones, while formerly dark hair tends to turn copper.

Coloured hair also faces the same type of risk: due to the effect of the sun and other elements, cosmetic colour can gradually become warmer. To counter the yellow, it’s fundamental to use the services of a professional salon that can give you the cool-toned colour that best suits you. Once back home, remember to use shampoos and conditioners with pigments that “cool down” the colour.

Ultra-cool Colour

For a healthy and glossy grey, it’s not enough to let the hair grow and stop colouring it.

The hairdresser can be a great help in the transitionto grey by using natural cool tones, such as those that are guaranteed by the Mask with Vibrachrom Cool Intense Natural.

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Silver Shampoo

The second fundamental step is using a shampoo with blue/purple coloured pigments, such asAlchemic Silver Shampoo.

This shampoo counters the yellow reflects caused by environmental factors, such as exposure to the sun or smog, or bleaching.

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Silver Conditioner

To close the circle, we advise you to enhance cool reflects by also applyingAlchemic Silver Conditioner.

After rinsing the shampoo, apply the conditioner throughout the hair, distributing it evenly. Leave on for 5 minutes, comb and then rinse.

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Extra brilliance and no frizz for white and grey hair

Another issue with - natural or coloured - grey hair is the fact that it tends to be frizzy and dull. To make even grey hair glossy and disciplined, we recommend always using OI Oil:

If you’d like to tame frizz, apply on towel-dried hair before blow drying it.
For a final touch of brilliance and softness, apply OI Oil to dry hair to define the styling.

And one more thing: don’t forget to apply a hair mask at least twice a month. The Renaissance Circle, an ultra-nourishing mask for all hair types, is an example.

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