Spring is here (contrary to the weather) with summer is fast approaching. Our hair is the perfect way to manifest the kind of weather we want to see, which is perhaps why “sunbeam blonde” is having a moment right now. “It’s a fawny tone that is overlaid with a pale gold in a halo section of the head,” explains colorist Nicola Clarke, who counts Kate Moss and Cate Blanchett as clients.
Name-checking the likes of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy and a young Claudia Schiffer as great examples of women who have worn the trend in the past, Clarke points out that, more recently, the look was visible at the spring/summer 2024 shows. On the runways at Philosophy di Lorenzo Serafini and Emporio Armani, luminescent golden hair brought light to models’ faces, negating the need for copious amounts of makeup.
As well as adding luminosity and the appearance of healthiness to the skin (timely after a long, drizzly winter), sunbeam blonde makes the hair look–as the name suggests–sun-kissed and natural. “It’s the look you get after you’ve been sitting in the sun for a couple of weeks,” explains Clarke. “It just adds sunlight, utilizing different colors, like flattened honey, caramel and syrupy tones, as well as vanilla, through sections of the hair.”