Peekaboo Hair

By Danae Mercer

Lessons I’ve learned about coloring my hair crazy shades over the years

Plus the slightly secret hair trend I wish I would have known when I was a teen

The first time I tried dying my hair a bold, brave color, I was 14.

I wanted to be pale blond, a la Marilyn Monroe, and I knew just the way to get it: box dye. With all the confidence of my teenage years, I set about turning my medium brown hair a bleached shade of perfection.

Instead I got Big Bird orange with a hint of red. It wasn’t my finest style.

Over the years, I’ve wizened up to just how crucial it is to do any hair shift in a salon. I’ve since tried shades of blonds and brown, plus a few bolder attempts at pink. Two were a success. One (not done at Tips and Toes) turned my hair shade fuchsia. Again, it wasn’t my finest style.

Through all of this color experimentation, I would have probably benefited by starting a bit more gradually. Tips and Toes have just released two different new hair trends that allow clients to do just that.

Peekaboo Hair features bright colors hidden under large swatches of hair, meaning the shades only become visible when and where you want them. Meanwhile Pixel Hair plays with bold block patterns (hence ‘pixels’) in a quirky, geometric way. The style is a bit wilder, but it’s done with washable colors and can also be hidden in hair.

Both offer options to experiment with colors without making huge, drastic, and in my case sometimes disastrous leaps.

These days I’m pretty content with my brown-blond ombre, courtesy of Ana at Tips and Toes in Al Barsha. But if I ever decide to add in a bit of color, whether it’s a pop of pink or a dash or structured blue-yellow-red, I know just how and where I’ll do it — no box dye required.