Trend Breakdown: Hailey Bieber’s Glazed Brunette
5 Tips To Recreate A Hailey Bieber-Inspired Natural Brunette
From her signature glazed nails to her chopped bob, Hailey Bieber continues to reign as 2023’s It-girl. She is the No. 1 hair inspo pic brought in among our younger clients—and yes, she didn’t invent natural brunette color with a subtle glow—but she did influence our routine blondes to dip a bit deeper this year. And for that, we’re grateful.
So what goes into this soft, glazed brunette that looks effortless and expensive all at once? We spoke to the industry’s top hair experts to find out. Keep scrolling for formulation tips, toning techniques and more for creating Hailey Bieber-inspired brunettes—plus, her actual formulas from her colorist!
1. Build subtle dimension through strategic placement.
The key to a Hailey-inspired, subtle brunette? Purposeful placement. To create natural dimension, knowing where to place brightness—and more importantly depth—is key. Take into consideration head shape and the hair’s natural fall.
When it comes to technique, Moroccanoil® Global Color Ambassador and celeb stylist Greg Gilmore (@greg_gilmore) prefers to use a foilayage with a little extra brightness around the face to build soft dimension—and balayage expert Diana Vivilecchia (@dvcolour) agrees. “Surface painting with a mix of foilayage has been my go-to for my brunette looks,” she shares.
Pro tip: Less is nearly always more. Creating or leaving natural depth will allow the hints of glowy brightness to pop.
Greg’s “rich cinnamon” natural brunette for actress Skai Jackson:
Here’s Redken Brand Ambassador Daniel Mora (@danielmbeauty)’s Hailey-inspired result + his lowlight formula:
- Redken Shades EQ 06n + 07m + Redken Shades EQ Processing Solution
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2. Map out a toning strategy with two different levels of brunette.
While the goal of Hailey’s natural brunette is to look effortless, there’s a beautiful, expensive element stylists need to target as well. To do this, there are two key toning components that need to be addressed:
- Tone with brunette on brunette. “For toning, I would go in with two different levels of brunette that compliment each other,” Greg says. “But you have to make sure they are at least two levels apart to show really good contrast. For example: Moroccanoil® Color Calypso Demi-Permanent Gloss level 7C+7CN [paired with] level 5CG+5G lowlights.”
- Tone within two to three levels of the natural base color. “To maintain a natural brunette look, I’m always toning within two to three levels of their natural base color. If the client’s a natural Level 5, and I’ve lifted to a Level 8, I’m toning with a Level 6 for the end result to read like a Level 7,” explains Redken Official Brand Ambassador and BTC influencer Farhana Premji (@xo.farhana.balayage). “Also, if I’m looking for a natural brunette, I’m toning with warmth for a cohesive look.”
Pro tip: When mapping out her toning application, Diana sections the hair into three horizontal zones to serve as a gradient. Zone 2 (the middle section) needs to be the longest zone to have a subtle end result.
The glazed brunette trendsetter herself, with formulas by celeb hair artist Matt Rez (colorbymattrez):
- Redken Shades EQ Bonder Inside 07NCH + 08GG + 09GB (1:1) + Shades EQ Processing Solution
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3. Be prepared to fill hair that’s been previously colored.
“Filling”—also known as repigmenting or tint-back—is the process of replacing pigments that were previously removed from or don’t exist naturally in the hair. For blonde clients looking to go darker, the hair MUST be filled to avoid uneven color or fading to undesirable shades like mushroom brown, green or even violet.
Here’s a comprehensive how-to for filling to take to your natural brunette appointments:
- Find your client’s natural starting level. This will help you figure out their underlying pigment.
- Formulate missing pigments. For example, if your client is a natural Level 4 but wants to be a Level 6, you will need to fill any prelightened, Level 9 hair to a Level 7 before depositing color.
- Use demi-permanent color to avoid blotchy results. Demi-permanent contains low levels of ammonia, which is more gentle and will create an even canvas for gloss or a final shade.
- Don’t be afraid to add red to your filler formula. Red tones will allow ash to control the warmth for a vibrant result.
- Don’t rush or skip the fill process. Filling helps the end result last much longer and keeps it from looking hollow. We recommend only filling two levels at a time.
Read More: Filling The Hair? Don’t Skip These 4 Steps?
For her natural brunette clients, Diana prefers to use color lines from Oligo Professionnel and Revlon Professional®.
Watch Carly Zanoni (@the.blonde.chronicles)’s lightening and toning method for natural brunettes:
@the.blonde.chronicles For the full length tutorial, check out my virtual education platform BCU. For only $15/month you get immediate access to over 100 tutorials plus access to ask me anything in the @the.BCU DMs. It’s like having a mentor right at your fingertips ☺️ ⚠️ BCU fam: this tutorial is called “From Blonde To Dimensional Brunette All over color: Wella CT 6/0, 7/0, 7/03 Tip Outs: Schwarzkopf Blondor 7 vol and a splash of 20 vol Final Gloss: Redken SEQ 8WG, 7NB, 9NB #hairtok #hairtutorials #hairvideos #haileybieberhaircolor ♬ original sound – Carly Zanoni
Learn more of this season’s hottest trends:
4. High volume developers are not necessary.
Farhana’s glazed brunette checklist: A Level 5 caramel base, a barely-there money piece, low-contrast dimension, Level 6 and Level 7 highlights, loads of shine, lived-in texture, an oversized jacket and black sunnies. The best part? You don’t need to cake on the lightener to check all those boxes. (Yes, we heard that sigh of relief.)
But just in case you need a high-volume lift, here’s Greg’s advice:
- Apply to the midlengths and ends first for about 20 to 125 minutes before applying to the root.
- Try to use as low and slow of lightening process as possible in case you don’t get the right lift on the first application.
Pro tip: To prep the hair for color, Farhana uses K18 Hair PEPTIDE PREP™ PRO chelating hair complex, K18 Hair Professional Molecular Repair Mist and K18 Hair Professional Molecular Repair Mask.
Farhana’s Hailey Bieber-inspired color created with Redken and ARC™ Scissors:
Get Farhana’s go-to Paragon II from ARC™ Scissors!
5. Ask your client the right questions during the consultation.
Here’s the scenario: Your client booked a day-of appointment after falling in love with Hailey’s natural brunette via Instagram. In less than two hours, they’ve decided to undergo a major color transformation: What’s the first question you ask?
“The first thing I ask is if they’re in love with HER or if it’s actually her color they’re after,” Farhana jokes, but she has a point. There are a lot of hidden elements to Hailey’s look—warmth, maintenance, budget, etc.—that clients might not be aware of due to its misleadingly effortless appearance.
Curly hair specialist Sahrita Silva (@sahrita23) also advises showing clients inspo pics with their own density, length and texture. “Some people may come in and want a certain look now, but are actually trying to reach a different goal,” she explains.
To get the look, Sahrita prefers coloring with the BLONDME® collection by Schwarzkopf Professional® and glazing with DIA Richesse Hair Color by L’Oréal Professionnel.
Blonding, bronzing and balayaging—master these staple techniques from the pros by enrolling in BTC-U today.
