What is lived in color

Many women, at some point in their lives, get their hair dyed or colored. Dying one’s hair can be a fun way to switch things up, express yourself, and try new things. But as many routine-dyers can tell you, keeping up on a dye-job can be hard work (not to mention, expensive)! Women who get their hair colored, especially if they go blond, may find themselves at the salon or buying at-home dyes nearly once a month or so for touch-ups. As your hair grows, your dye job grows out as well, leading to the unwanted, awkward showing of roots. However, the solution is found in a newer trend — lived-in hair.

What is lived-in hair?

Lived-in hair, despite its slightly misleading name, is not just a grown-out dye job that still looks good. Lived-in hair is a new dying/highlighting technique that allows the hair to grow out in a natural way, rather than leaving visible roots that require touch ups. While the actual process takes a few hours, this look can last up to six months, according to its creator, Johnny Ramirez of Ramirez Tran Salon. The process seems similar to other dye treatments in that it involves highlighting the entire head, adding color and bleach. However, there are aspects of the lived-in hair technique that make it quite unique.

The trick to lived-in hair is the “fake root” that is created. The client’s natural hair colors are used to create a look that is blended throughout the entire head. This means that when it grows out there are no harsh roots visible. The main difference between this treatment and balayage is the blending of the color throughout all of the client’s hair, whereas balayage paints a layer over the hair. The process seems a bit complicated and can take several hours — but the results are worth it! The lived-in hair dying technique allows for less frequent salon visits and touch ups, and leaves behind a completely natural look even months after the initial dye-job.

Using our coloring lines, Davines and L’Oréal, creating this naturally stunning look is made simple. Make sure to ask your stylist about lived-in hair next time you want to get your hair dyed!

Blonde hair is an Australian mainstay and highly requested in the summer lead-up with balayage and ombre a popular choice. The best blonde is always natural and healthy-looking, and thanks to the lived-in hair trend, it’s easier than ever. Hair addicts are choosing subtle highlights to mimic that worn-in, effortlessly cool hair look. But if you’re unsure if lived-in colour is for you, don’t worry. We’ve made your ultimate balayage hair guide, breaking down each highlighting technique. So, if you’re ready for summer hair, read on!

What Is Lived-In Blonde?

Lived-in colour is neither balayage nor ombre and instead a subtle highlighting method that amplifies your natural colour. Similar shades are worked into your colour, avoiding the roots, so the hair looks grown-out yet polished. Think Margot Robbie and Gigi Hadid's effortless blonde. While the lived-in look is subtle, delicately colouring hair with complementary shades, ombre and balayage have a more prominent colour gradation, with different colour angles and placement. Ombre is horizontally applied for dramatic two-tone contrast, while balayage is vertically applied on the surface strands for a sun-kissed look. Or to get technical, balayage is a colour technique while ombre is a colour style. If this sounds confusing, just think of ombre hair as colour-blocking and balayage as it’s sun-kissed cousin. While balayage on short hair can be a little harder to achieve due to the colour's precise placement, the results are stunning, adding dimension and warmth to your lengths. Bobs, lobs and shorter pixie hair styles become textured and effortless with quick tousled styling. While pictures are always helpful when choosing a colour, it’s best to know which blonde shades suit you according to your skin tone. For example, if your skin has pink undertones, you’d choose a cooler blonde shade to amplify your features. A good rule of thumb if you want a natural look is to request complementary shades with your colourist's help since they’ll choose a technique to suit you. Depending on technique and colour, balayage can take up to 2-4 hours. Similarly, ombre takes 3- 4 hours, while the lived-in look is a little more complicated Due to the different lengths and widths of the highlights and shades, the process can take up to 5 hours for the best blonde hair colour. Want long balayage but have short hair? The good news is you can buy pre-coloured hair extensions. However, we recommend visiting a trusted hair salon who’ll colour and apply your extensions, so they’ll blend perfectly with your hair. Our Russian Hair Extensions use real human hair so they can be cut and coloured to suit your features. They’re also durable and hair-friendly with copper bells attachments, so you don’t have to worry about hair strain or damage. Balayage, ombre and the lived-in look are overall better suited to lighter hair shades. It just depends on which technique you like. From high contrast ombre colour to delicate highlights for lived-in blonde, you’ll be summer ready in no time. Still need more information? Our colourists can help you on your summer blonde journey, so get in touch today.

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This story was originally published on June 2, 2015. Deciding to embark on a new hair color pretty much guarantees a full-time commitment to maintaining that 'do. Frequent touch-ups and regular trims are generally a must in order to keep up the style you walked out of the chair with. But, a new trend is helping cut down on the time you spend at the salon. Meet lived-in color.

Coined by famed colorist Johnny Ramirez and introduced by the ladies at The Cut, lived-in color is a new way of highlighting and blending that allows the color to grow out naturally. Most importantly, it can last up to six months. The process itself is fairly extensive, taking about six hours to complete — but the idea of spending half the day at the salon twice a year, rather than a couple of hours every four to five weeks, sounds pretty blissful to us. It not only benefits the consumer in the time, money, and hair-health departments — in the long run, it helps the colorist as well. "It's a compliment to me," says Ramirez. "You think you'll struggle because they don't come back as often, but it's the word of mouth or the people stopping and wanting her hair. In essence, one client will bring me 10 to 20 [more clients] over time." Essentially, the technique involves highlighting the whole head, lifting or bleaching the hair, depositing the color, and creating a "fake root." Then, Ramirez replicates the color on top of certain strands to match the new base color — and to avoid harsh roots as the hair grows out. Yes, the final look might appear similar to balayage, but Ramirez stresses that it's different. The process involves using 20-volume peroxide to blend through the whole head (while with balayage you paint the outside perimeter of the hair). The technique not only lasts a long time but works with every hair hue (Ramirez notes that only those with gray strands have to come in sooner for base touch-ups). But, he stresses, this isn't a task for just any colorist. "It takes a certain kind of colorist to deliver that kind of hair color to last six to seven months," he says. "[It takes] a master hair-color junkie to make it as natural as possible — you have to be an amazing fucking colorist to pull this off." The idea of lived-in hair is spreading to haircuts as well. Hair guru Wes Sharpton of the esteemed Hairstory studio likes to provide his clients (one of whom is our own beauty writer, Maria Del Russo) with styles that not only grow out beautifully but require zero-to-minimal styling. (Also known as "the dream.") The cuts have a softness to them, instead of the blunt, severe edges we often see. This allows the hair to gradually grow out without falling into that "I need a haircut" phase.

"It’s about being modern," says Sharpton. "I would rather someone look really great with minimal work, and have people in my chair for the idea of retaining something that has value longer, than to keep the same small circle of people trapped in a look because it’s convenient for my paycheck." Where things get iffy is when you're about two months in and that cut starts to look, well, not so new anymore. Does this idea really live up to the hype? Sharpton says that, when executed right, it's definitely doable. "When [the stylist] really performs, then it requires less work from you," he says. "It’s like if you bought a jacket and had to sew the sleeves on every morning; it just doesn’t make sense. I don’t want to give you something that you have to put together all the time; I want you to just be able to wear it and look great.”

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