American model and actress Barbie Ferreira is among the stars who have coloured their hair red
(Picture: Barbie Ferreira/Instagram)Guys, guys, copper is back... again!
The shade became popular in March when a slew of celebrities suddenly seemed to be sporting auburn locks, almost as if it was some kind of co-ordinated effort. For instance, Kendall Jenner sent out a group WhatsApp message to all the fashion girlies, saying: “We go red at dawn.”
And now, months later, the trend seems to be getting a second wind.
Only yesterday, Derry Girls and Bridgerton actress Nicola Coughlan debuted her new peach hair look, inspired by spooky season and realised by colourist Jason Horgan.
Last week, Hailey Bieber treated us to a pre-Halloween Instagram post in which the model was sporting crimson locks with a choppy front fringe. The hair was almost definitely a wig, given that she implied it was for Halloween. She has also been spotted more recently back to her regular brunette tresses - but still, Hailey Bieber thinks it’s in, so it’s in.
“It’s definitely having another big spike right now,” says Kira Hellsten, a stylist and colourist at Bleach London. “It’s been really popular with clients since the end of summer. With the weather changing, people have been wanting to go warmer and deeper - just wanting summer to be over.”
But this isn’t copper’s first rodeo this year. The ginger look already made waves as early as January, when American actress Zendaya turned up to the Euphoria season two premiere in a Beetlejuice-esque Valentino dress, with matching red hair.
Next came the mother of all trendsetters, Jenner, who debuted her copper-toned hair at Milan Fashion Week in late February. And if you’ve seen the latest season of The Kardashians, you’ll know that the model went to great efforts to hide her hair until she arrived at fashion week. She practically broke the internet after being papped on an Italian balcony showing off her red locks.
Then, of course, the rest of the Euphoria clan came through. Zendaya’s auburn look was quickly imitated by co-stars Sydney Sweeney and Barbie Ferreira in early March, solidifying the hairstyle as a bonafide mega-trend.
But that was then and this is now, why are we facing a resurgence so soon after the trend’s first reapperance? Are trend cycles really that quick now?
Colourist Hellsten says it wasn’t a case that of trend dying and coming back to life, but rather that it was simply hibernating over summer. “We did have a few lighter orange gingers over the summer but nowhere near as much as I’m seeing now,” she says.
Hellsten says the difference between March’s ginger popularity and now is also due to the depth of the colour. “The last few months have been really big for auburn, whereas brighter gingers were more popular in the earlier parts of the year,” she says. So, basically there’s a spring ginger (spring-ger?) and a winter ginger, and what we’re seeing now is a heavy dosage of winter ginge.
“[I’m not seeing] brighter gingers or brighter copper tones at the moment, but deeper ones - there’s more brown involved and they have a warmth to them,” Hellsten says. She names her own winter ginger inspirations as Max Mayfield from Netflix’s Stranger Things and Gigi Hadid during her brief redhead phase (seen first at the 2021 Met Gala).
If you want to dip your toe into the copper pond, Hellsten suggests going to a hair salon, such as Bleach, and being extra careful with your references. “Remember that there are so many different options with ginger, and it might be more red than you realise - unless you do specifically request it on the brown side.”
It can be done at home, but with due care. “It’s one of the safer bets,” Hellsten says, “because you don’t have to lift your hair as much as you would for a bright colour, or for light pinks, for example. But if you want it looking really professional, like that high-end look, do get it done in a salon.”
Part of the reason copper’s revival refuses to die down is because it suits everyone, even those you’d never have placed with red hair beforehand (like the perma-blonde Sydney Sweeney, or loyal-to-brunette Kendall Jenner).
“Everybody can do copper,” Hellsten reasons. “Just see a professional first so you know what you’re doing.”
