HJ VOICENOTES

Lloyd Court, creative director at seanhanna Salons, Wimbledon, on why it could be time to push beyond lived-in colour and bring individuality back

LLOYD COURT

"I THINK CREATIVITY HAS BEEN LOST NOT JUST IN HAIR COLOUR, BUT IN LIFE IN GENERAL. PEOPLE ULTIMATELY WANT TO EXPRESS THEMSELVES THROUGH THEIR HAIR.

I think lived-in colour is definitely still massively trendy, but we have seen a shift in the salon, with more creative, statement looks coming back in demand, particularly with younger clients.

People ultimately want to express themselves through their hair, but recently the trend has become too ‘samey’. I see everyone wearing the same clothes, going crazy over the same viral make-up and skincare and wearing the same hair. I think creativity has been lost, not just in hair colour but in life in general.

Lived-in colour has become the ‘new normal’ in terms of how clients want their colours to look. But in another way, I do think hairdressers and clients have become too comfortable doing the same thing and looking the same as each other.

I think we’ve reached a point where there’s almost an expectation around what ‘good’ colour looks like. You can scroll through social media and see hundreds of variations of the same lived-in blonde or brunette. They’re beautiful, and there’s obviously a huge amount of skill involved, but when everyone is looking at the same references, it can be difficult to create something that feels genuinely individual.

Education on these lived-in looks has boomed because the general consensus is that’s what colourists want to learn. There’s been a huge appetite for understanding how to create those seamless, low-maintenance results, and rightly so. But I’m excited to see what comes next.

I’m not downplaying the skill involved in creating lived-in colour; it’s absolutely technical and not easy to achieve, because it breaks the rules as we know them. For a colourist to make something look effortless and grow out beautifully takes a lot of understanding. But for the trend to evolve in the way that balayage did, for example, we need to branch out of our comfort zone and figure out what’s coming next.

Balayage became so successful because it evolved. It went from being something quite new and different into something that every colourist wanted to understand, and then it developed into so many different techniques and interpretations. I think lived-in colour has the potential to do the same thing, but we need to keep pushing it rather than just repeating the same formulas.

I’m always making new suggestions to my clients, and I would never want to get stuck doing the same look 24/7. Sometimes a client will come in with a very specific reference, and I’ll look at it with them and think about how we can make it work for their hair, their lifestyle and their personality, rather than just recreating exactly what they’ve seen online.

For me, that’s where the exciting part of colour comes in. We should be encouraging clients to find something that feels individual to them. Lived-in colour isn’t going anywhere, but I think there’s room for much more creativity within it, and I’m excited to see where colourists take it next.