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Color

Why Colorists Are Obsessed With the "Tweed" Balayage Technique This Fall

Rex Jimieson and Guy Tang tell us all about this growing fall trend.

Move over flannel hair because there's a new fabric-based hair-color trend coming to play this season: tweed hair. A form of balayage highlights, tweed hair is a subtle, earthy color trend that's quickly becoming common in salons, according to Chicago-based colorist Rex Jimieson. Often, his balayage clients have requested dark roots with highly contrasting light ends. However, recently he's noticed a shift into a more subdued highlighting technique. "A contrast is still present, but not as ‘overachiever’ as seen in recent seasons," he says. "Bases are shifted lighter to complement light-blonde strands, or the light strands are less dramatically lifted to accommodate a brunette background."

Stylist and colorist Guy Tang notes that the technique used to achieve tweed hair is one that's been around for ages: the weave. "This technique is like sewing," he says. "You take little stitches across each section to achieve subtle dimension in the hair. The larger the stitch, the more contrast you get." But what sets the trend apart from other weave highlights is its intricacy. "Tweed uses smaller sections and exposes the natural undertones in the hair rather than removing them completely," Jimieson says. And, according to Tang, tweed hair brings the highlights all the way to the roots, as opposed to the standard mid-shaft beginning point.