Summer 2024 Hair Color Trends You'll Be Seeing Everywhere

While every season presents an opportunity to change up your look, summer is when you can have the most fun because summer fashion trends, in general, are more exciting, provocative, and playful. "The sun's out and we bring on the light by starting at the top: our hair," celebrity colorist and Redken ambassador Tracey Cunningham told Byrdie. "You can then change up your makeup, nails, and attire. Our hair color literally dictates our entire look."

But while lots of people like to go lighter in the summer, you certainly don't have to. Darker shades, reds, and even black can work perfectly, too, and should you want to go lighter by July — considering hair actually grows faster in the summer — cutting off the old to make room for the new is easy-peasy. "The 2024 hair color trends are a bit more conservative and natural than we've been seeing," hairstylist and colorist Chaz Dean told Allure. "We're in the scaled-back era where highlights are more blended and hair colors are more realistic."

Between taking things lighter or embracing more realistic shades, there's a lot out there to choose from. If you're not sure what you want to rock this summer as far as hair color goes, talk to your stylist. If you still don't know, do yourself a favor and throw caution to the wind, opting for pastels or something else you usually wouldn't do to spice up your summertime look.

Thanks to last summer's Barbie obsession, bright Barbie blonde was everywhere and continued well into the fall. But as much as Barbie blonde will still linger in certain circles this year, the big shift in blondes is toward buttercream. It takes that traditional warm golden look of summer blonde and knocks it down a few notches, giving it a muted yet still eye-catching color. 

If you think brown hair doesn't have a place in the summer weather, then that's just because you've yet to encounter porcini brown. "Mushroom hair started out as drastic and bold, but it's landing in a much more wearable place for 2024," hairstylist and colorist Chaz Dean told Allure. "We're nearing the end of the super-cold and smoky gray, and we're seeing it be replaced with a softer and more realistic mushroom brown."

Hair color that's far from natural — think of that fantastic blue hair many experimented with in summer 2023 — has been around for a while and in many different reincarnations. In summer 2024, however, non-natural hair is getting a toned-down makeover that's being called either muted or faded pastels. "Soft hues, such as neon orchid lavender, peach lover, and denim-jacket blue, are poised to dominate," R+Co vice president of color development Richy Kandasamy told Glamour.

While cinnamon swirl was one of the hair trends that defined fall 2023, toasted pecan is this summer's answer to that. It still has the cozy appeal, but the brightness of it makes it a perfect choice for summer. Pair it with the power bob short hair trend that's currently popular, and you've got a great combo.

Black hair for summer? You better believe it, especially since you'll be serving up soft black, which isn't exactly black, but almost black as far as hair colors go. "If you want it to stay deep, request a single process," colorist Mariah Joseph told British Vogue. "If you want less commitment, request a gloss, since that naturally softens with each shampoo for a much easier grow out."