Top Ten Hair Trends for 2001

Introduction

With current fashion in an '80s time machine, trends have a split personality. David Bowie meets Nancy Reagan? The common dominator is looking rich. 

Who wants to look like a millionaire? Everyone, if the current  fashion trends are any indication. With diamonds a La Liz (Elizabeth Taylor pictured to the side) and pearls, cashmere and silk, heralding the revival of socialite style, it's no wonder that hair for the season is more haute than hip.

Rife with '80s influence, the looks for today are less complex than Farrah or Cher ever wore, but they're definitely from the Reagan era. This means you can say goodbye to bedroom hair forever as classic cuts, smoother styles and high-rent color move to the fashion forefront.

However, the '80s were also the era of glam rock and it's from this zeitgeist that hair gets its playfulness. According to Anthony Chistiano, Mario Tricoci Salons and Spas "Mane" man in Chicago, short cuts are influenced by Pat Benatar's shorter fringe and disconnected overlay; mid-length looks have that tattered edge of Debbie Harry's hair in the '80s;  longer looks combine face-framing fringes with short crown layers, taking you right into an updated Joan Jett.

However, say stylists coast-to-coast, whoever your '80s icon, bring it down a bit: Today's looks leave out the big-hair aspect of the influence.

(Photo to side from Matrix Essentials, hair by Marcy Cona, John Donato, Joe Santy & Shay Ashval).

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Top Ten Current Trends For 2001

In the real world, here are 10 trends you can try:

1.  First up, the canary brights of summer are giving way to gold fever, which shows up in shimmering eyeshadow and uptown highlights that prove Christy Brinkley is the ruling golden girl once again. For Winter, gold looks great against amber reds, caramel to coffee browns, and neutral or emblazoned  blondes.

Add a hefty gold hair clip (hair accessories are sophisticated now, so throw away those girly-girl barrettes) and you've got the high-society style. If your color doesn't look great in the dimmest of light, you'll want to add a touch of gold somewhere.

At STELLA salon in NY and Miami Beach, Johanna Stella likes to alternate wide streaks that are close to the base color with small ones that add the glitter in a color that's several shades lighter.

(Photo to the side from Matrix Essentials, SoColor Honey Creme Haircolor New Ultra-Light Iridescent Blonde.  Biolage Hydrating Shampoo, conditioining Balm, Defining Elixir & Finishing Spritz).

2. Also woven with gold are today's ethnic-inspired fashions, which are all flowing silk and delicately detailed. Consider it an evolution of "hippie chic," made for rich girls. The hair to wear with the look is long;

while it seems we barely escaped to short for a season before the pendulum swung back, most every hairdresser is predicting a new, longer length. Hairpieces give you the look fast, but despite Angelina Jolie's dalliance with Goth, the look is smart and sophisticated.

Even if hair is long and stick-straight, it's neatly trimmed, colored for shine and modernized with touchable styling cremes.

(Photo to the side from Matrix Essentials, SoColor Honey Creme Haircolor Gold Series.  Biolage Color Care Shampoo & Conditioner. Vavoom Gel & Freezing Spray).

3.  Updos and casual looks are lots smoother than before and partly because long hair is back, the neatly combed, low-on-the neck ponytail or the chignon are the styles to wear. Chignons are seen even during daytime, if they are neat and sophisticated, yet simple. Runway models varied the look by wearing side-swept ponytails or braiding them into long plaits, with the complicated fishtail braid looking the most convincingly new. Plaits and twists are another approach, for the woman who has the time and wants you to know it. The time-crunched can instantly replicate the style with a few hair pieces.

4.  Well-groomed, cared-for hair shows up in every length from short to long and some of the style comes from the comeback of the set.

Fashion dictates hair must be "done" and nothing does it faster than a roller set. While the great brush-out will become the new hairdressing art, there is a looser version you can do at home by spiral setting hair and combing through gently or brushing from underneath only. However, the barely touched, "shake and go" approach to finishing the set is gone, gone, gone.

Even fingercombing is passe on anything but the most textured crop.  

(Photo of one length curly style to the side from Matrix Essentials, SoColor Honey Creme Haircolor Copper Golden Series with Biolage Hybrid Color Balm Gold Series, Biolage Hydrating Shampoo, Hydro-Active Hair Masque, Defining Elixir and Shine Renewal).

5.  Because all the emphasis is on clean and classic, it's only natural that healthy looking locks step up to the fashion plate.

To preserve your hair's integrity, get back to regular conditioning routines, master the art of applying the silicone shiner and skip the bleached-blonde babe look. For the polish of today, forget scrunch styling and backcombing; rely on heat-styling, roller sets and round brushes to smooth the cuticle and add that essential shine.

Helping the look along are styling cremes and foams, which make hair lots softer and shiny than heavy gels. Waxes and "play products," which can be heavy and greasy, are for precise detailing only and will be used very sparingly, even by guys who once liked the tousled wet look. 

(Photo to the side from Matrix Essentials, SoColor Honey Creme Haircolor Copper Golden Series. Opticolor Wave.  Matrix Essentials Perm Fresh Shampoo & Leave-In Treatment.  Via Dezign Quick Set & Contour Cream Wax mixed with Crystal Polish).

6.  Part of the trend toward healthy hair and lifestyles is the "natural" approach, which this season evolves into a "pure" approach. The difference: Natural products contain nature's hair helpers, while pure ones also eliminate alcohol and anything else that can harm hair.

Pure also increasingly means chemical-free, which puts the perm on the backseat. Curls and waves come from sets or stylists who know how to mold in waves or use the tool the French made famous: The Marcel iron.

7.  Texture is always important, but this season, it's precision razor cutting that adds it best. For short hair, the technique adds instant mobility; for long locks, perimeter edging is more precise than ever.

Even highlights are point-cut to show off texture and spiky crowns are new, because they're lots more subtle than the last time around. 

The idea is to have subtly controlled texture in the form of cut-in movement, as opposed to helter-skelter styling. Think of waves, curls, spirals and directional cuts that create a personalized image without a lot of work on your part.  

8.  As baby boomers move into their Dynasty years, it's only natural that there's a new emphasis on volume, the attribute women have always wanted most.

Not only does it feminize a style, it's a must for hair that's beginning to look thinner. Whether hair is rounded all over or lifted at the top, volume always looks natural and smooth, following the curves of the head. Remember, big hair is not part of the moneyed look, whether it's "inherited it" or just-out-of-high-school dotcom cash. Adding volume is one area where you'll see a break with the "no chemicals" attitude; nothing adds root lift and volume more easily than a spot perm or body wave.

9.  Of course, haircolor other than henna or vegetable always means some kind of chemical, but products today are buffered with conditioners and despite the pure and natural trend, as baby boomers turn gray, permanent and semi-permanent colors are their only options for complete coverage.

Haircolor is richer and darker, in complete keeping with the new ritz blitz sweeping the country. In a era when edgy is over and you want to get back to your own form of glamour, bold shades like Indian-sunset red, coffee-break brown and sun-kissed blonde do it best. No one cares if you color your hair anymore, in fact, if you want the look of luxe, it's a must.

(Photo of directional graduation cut to side from Matrix Essentials using Logics Coloreserve Remoisturizing Shampoo, Leave-in Protector, Bodifying Spray Gel & Designing Glissage). 

10. While, thus far, not a lot of attention is on short hair, in the age of individualism, it's a given that it's still around in force. For the smart shorts of the moment, consider the head-hugging cap cut with texture that runs through it, the beautifully rounded bob with layers or the spikier, textured looks that rock legends continually re-invent.

(Photo to side from Matrix Essentials).

Romantic, richly detailed  and feminine, these polished cuts make it clear that you're a woman who can afford upkeep, or rather, can't afford to be seen in anything that looks down-and-out.

Even younger women, who still enjoy a wild style or the shock of pink haircolor, are striving for a look that's put-together in its own right.

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