In the mood for a change? A new hair colour is always a good idea. Look no further than the recent work of British colourist Josh Wood, the man behind some of the most creative and buzz-inducing dye jobs at Fashion Week, for inspiration. There’s model Stella Lucia, who went from blond to “rose quartz” courtesy of Wood for Alexander Wang’s spring/summer 2018 collection. This season, he dyed Italian supermodel Mariacarla Boscono’s signature raven-black hair red for Ricardo Tisci’s debut Burberry show. (She has yet to dye it back.)

At Marc Jacobs, Wood took on the biggest colour project of his career: Nearly every model in the show had some form of permanent hair colour applied. “I’ve never had so many models willing to dye their hair,” he told us backstage. “It was like a colour revolution.” Achieving the dusty-pink, peach, blue and green pastel hues required five to six processes per model, a marathon of hair colour made possible, says Wood, by the quality of the products available to protect and treat coloured hair. “Bleaching isn’t like it was even two or three years ago,” says Redken’s global colour creative director. “The technology supports the most important thing: hair health.”

If we’ve convinced you to take the plunge, use colour-safe shampoos and conditioners and, better yet, extend time between washes. Redken’s brilliant new Dry Shampoo Paste is an aerosol-free (read “environmentally sound”) choice for targeting greasy roots. Still apprehensive? This isn’t look-at-me unicorn hair—the pastel colours this season are “grown-up,” says Wood.

 

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Redken Dry Shampoo Paste 05 ($27)

 

The moments we were convinced the trend would go mainstream: when two members of the Kardashian/Jenner/West clan rang in the new year with hair in familiar cool pink and blue hues, followed by Lady Gaga’s periwinkle updo at the Golden Globes, all of which were ringers for the tones Wood had crafted months before. What are you waiting for?

This article originally appeared in the March 2019 issue of ELLE Canada.