Last week my Gen Z sister referred to my 2010-era balayage highlights as indie sleaze hair. To her the look was a throwback, a relic from the past. So I started to wonder: Now that laid-back looks like lazy hot girl hair are on the rise and former devout blondes like myself have stopped lightening their hair completely—are high-maintenance hair trends like highlights and balayage on their way out?
Is my early 20s hair officially…cheugy?
It seems it might be, at least to some. Come to think of it, the last time I colored my hair, I asked for one block shade of brunette. My hair stylist Marc Mena, who also styles celebrities like Mindy Kaling and Jennifer Coolidge, had to reason with me that “hair is never actually just one color.”
Intrigued, I set out to investigate. First I texted my sister and her best friend, beauty writer Oona Oglesby, for their thoughts. “I’d say ombré is cheugy. Balayage hasn’t reached that point yet,” Oglesby said in reply.
Chrissy Teigen, balayage pioneer, in 2016.Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images
Next I asked celebrity stylists and colourists if they’ve seen any changes in requests. “Balayage as a freehand, hand-painted open-air technique is the ultimate way to achieve low-maintenance blonding and lightening,” Min Kim, celebrity colourist and L’Oréal Professionnel global ambassador, tells Glamour. “What may be dying out are the enclosed variations like foils, which can give higher-contrast blonding results and tend to be more high maintenance.”
Kim also adds that the recent decline in highlights and balayage is likely the beauty world’s response to the quiet luxury trend. Rich shades like expensive blonde and brunette have been spotted on celebs like Jennifer Lawrence and Hailey Bieber.
“Higher maintenance and high-contrast colours and highlights tend to look cheap and not done well,” Kim says. “As a result, we’re seeing this shift to more subdued, shiny, and deeper hues, which is quiet luxury’s answer to unhealthy, overprocessed hair that’s been obviously over-highlighted.”