Tie-dye hair… the latest trend for summer 2018?

We’ve had unicorn hair, pastel hair, and even butterbeer hair over these past few months, and now it seems there’s an even wackier trend to either love or hate: tie-dye hair. Started by stylist Kelsey Pebler, in St. Paul, Minnesota, tie-dyed hair literally has the exact same effect as the tie-dye cushions and t-shirts you once fashioned in your back garden when your mum was out on a shopping trip (just us? Oh).

So, how does it work? Tie-dye hair uses a number of pastel shades applied from the root to the tip, creating an ombre effect- but with a twist. Tape is used to create the white stripes, and each colour is then applied over the top to create the tie-dye appearance. Would it be difficult to achieve? For a non-professional, yes. Would it be time consuming? If you wanted the best results, yes. Is it worth it? It’s hard to say… but we actually really like Kelsey’s work, so if you could do it properly, then yes!

Kelsey has experimented with a number of colours, including aqua, pink, and purple pastels, and more recently, bright pinks, purples, and yellow ends, but there’s definitely room for more experimenting when it comes to colour combinations. We’d love to see an ombre blue tye-die effect, or maybe even an attempt using more natural hair colours.

Intrigued to find out more about the tie-dye process- on hair, that is- we looked it up, and it seems that you can also tie-dye hair in the exact same way you tie-dyed t-shirts back in the good ol’ days- with elastic bands. We found one hair stylist who tied off bleached hair in 2- to 4-inch-wide sections, then added elastic bands around the length of the ponytails 3 to 4 inches apart. To make sure the hair underneath was safe from colour, he added fabric swatches over the bands, then simply painted the dye on. We must say, we prefer the outcome of Kelsey’s tie-dye hair looks far more than this particular look turned out.

So now we’ve got you informed about what might just be the next big thing of the summer (we can already picture tie-dye hair being THE go-to festival hair), it’s time to make your guesses about which celebrity will be the first to try out the look. We’re going to throw Kylie Jenner out there- she’s changing her hair more than we change our bedcovers- and Katy Perry seems like the type to give the look a go, too. Watch this space!

Image credit: @bohobrushed