The global colour authority, the Pantone Color Institute, has annointed Pantone Ultimate Grey and Illuminating (yellow) to express the mood for its choices for the "Colour Of The Year 2021".
In Pantone's website, it states that the marriage of these colours convey a message of strength and hopefulness that is both enduring and uplifting.
To inspire us to incorporate these colours as a hair colour in 2021, Dicksum Low, creative director at A Cut Above group of salons, who is the authority on playing with colours on your hair, tell us how.
“I think the colour of the year picked by Pantone is the perfect message to start this year as it interprets our current global situation due to the pandemic," Low says.
"The dullness is represented by grey while yellow represents the beginning of a new year full of hope and strength. Yellow has always been recognised as a colour of happiness, optimism, enlightenment and hope.”
Low says the colours of grey and yellow chosen by Pantone is such an exquisite combination and it definitely creates a challenge for every hairdresser to make it work for their clients.
“It really inspired me to try and think of playing with more combinations and placement of colours on the hair, but most importantly I love how Pantone conveys a message of strength and hopefulness that is both enduring and uplifting – a timely message that all of us need during this challenging time, ” Low says.
With 15 years of experience in the hairdressing industry, Low was the first Malaysian nominee to be in the running for the International Hairdressing Awards for "International Hairdresser Of The Year".
He was also the first Malaysian representative to be awarded as one of the top three winners for “Best International Avant-Garde Collection” for the International Hairdressing Award for two consecutive years from 2020 to 2021.
This is no small feat as this award is considered the “Oscars of the hairdressing industry” where top hairdressers from 44 countries compete for the best collection of the year and they are selected by an exceptional jury panel comprising renowned industry icons.
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“On the commercial side, for a trendier hairstyle, bright yellow and ash grey colour can be designed as balayage, dip dye and random placement on hair, ” he recommends.
Low says, “Grey colour can also be used as highlights for someone with more than 60% grey hair. When applied as highlights the grey hair colour will camouflage and blend with their natural grey roots.”
For grey hair that has grown a bit sparse or has turned into a muted yellow (blonde), he says a grey hair highlight colour is good to hide and divert attention away from grey hair.
“Using grey as highlights has been an extremely popular trend recently due to the pandemic conditions where social distancing is put in place and clients are unable to visit their hair salons regularly, ” he says.
Grey is actually a trendy colour right now but yellow can also suit any hairstyle according to Low.
“It’s really very much about how the colour is placed on the hair and it should be done tastefully. It should also be customised according to each client’s personality.
“The best way to show off these colours on any hairstyle would be a chunkier hidden colour panel around the face. It also gives clients a choice of whether to show off the colour or not, depending on how they position the layer of hair.”
Low says grey and yellow can be used as hair colour by anyone and he explains, “For clients with a darker skin tone, a more muted, darker and less intense tone for either yellow or grey will look classy.
"Also, I recommend a combination of rich brown alongside blonde and ash grey to mute the highly contrasting look so that it will turn out very flattering.”
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For someone with fairer skin tone, any tone of yellow and grey would suit them, and he adds, “One should also take other details into account such as eyebrow colour, daily makeup colour preferences and wardrobe colour tones, so that all of these can come together to complement yellow and grey hair colour tones.”
To protect the longevity of the hair colour and of course, to maintain the healthiness of your hair, Low stressed that one’s efforts to care for coloured hair is essential.
“For home care it’s important to use a colour shampoo to protect against the colour fading off and also a moisturising masque to retain moisture in the structure of hair and maintain the hair cuticle in a smooth condition.”
A hair serum – applied while the hair is wet for better saturation – is advisable too, he says, before blow drying the hair to protect coloured hair against heat and to leave your hair looking shiny.
When salons can start operating, Low says in-salon treatments on a monthly basis are also an equally important haircare regime because your stylist can customise the treatment according to your hair needs based on your current scalp and hair conditions.
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