Reposted from Salon magazine’s June 6, 2018 article.
Carefully curated with the help of some of Canada’s top hairstylists, here are some of the biggest, most iconic hair trends that wowed us since Salon’s inception.
Jennifer Aniston: “The Rachel”
It’s hard to imagine any ’90s pop culture reference without thinking of ‘‘The Rachel’’, the feathered bob Jennifer Aniston sported while playing the adorable role of Rachel Green on Friends, the über- popular television series.
Winona Ryder: Grunge Style
At the apex of her celebrity, it was at this point that Winona Ryder, who was having a very serious and well documented romance with Johnny Depp, plunged, head-first, into the grunge aesthetic with a short look. “I think this cut epitomizes the cool factor of the early ’90s, when non-gendered fashion trends started to appear,” says Guylaine Martel, owner of Guylaine Martel Artistes Coiffeurs in Mont-Saint- Hilaire, Que., and a celebrated hairstylist who has been steadily collecting trophies since Salon was launched.
Gwen Stefani: Multiple Mini “Raver” Buns
Rave culture, with its hypnotic, beat-heavy sounds and all-night, drug-fuelled parties created an underground fashion scene where comfortable and colourful styles were the driving forces. For practicality, a trend began emerging wherein hair was held up in braids, ponytails or a multitude of buns, and Gwen Stefani fuelled its popularity in mainstream media. “I loved this look! It was such a fun way to play with hair in a cute, youthful way,” says Véronique Beaupré, a Contessa award-winning hairstylist and owner of Local B in Montreal.
Kelly Osbourne: Lavender Hair
One of the first celebrities to rock lavender hair, Kelly Osbourne embraced the shade in 2010. Initially shocking, her producers loved the look on her so much that it became part of her contract with Fashion Police, and a staple accessory of her style. It also marked the beginning of the #pastelhairdontcare craze. She once said, “My hair is a mix of grey, blue [and] lavender. It’s hard to get this colour; you have to have blonde hair to get the right shade,” essentially informing the masses that the shade was not a colour box look, and that they needed to go pro to get it.
Halle Berry: Tousled and Flipped Cropped Hair
Short, spiked and tousled with movement at the ends, ushered in the new millennium of hair. As seen on Halle Berry, the favoured colour palettes were golden and chocolate browns, accented with mahogany and rich red-based tones.
Christina Aguilera: Multicoloured Extensions
By the early 2000s, hair extensions began to make their appearance. “Extra-long and super smooth—the flat iron was also making a killing in salon’s retail business, and the very first iterations of extensions were fused,” says Beaupré, who started making a name for herself with this service. Here, Christina Aguilera’s hair combines
two major looks of the day: straight extensions in colour combinations of platinum and black. That pairing would also usher in the trend of chunky highlights and “skunk” hair colour, which was not for the faint of heart, of course.
David Beckham: Metrosexual Athlete Style
At the height of his massive soccer career, David Beckham became a men’s fashion and beauty icon with his metrosexual, rugged beard stubble and perfectly coiffed hair with blonde highlights. “David Beckham is one of the most influential celebrities in men’s fashion,” says Ramsey Sayah, an influential Canadian hairstylist and owner of Texture Hair Salon in Ottawa. “He opened the door for all men to be more playful with their looks. And now it’s acceptable for men to have a lot of different looks and to go to the salon, get hair colour, eyebrow shaping, and generally anything that needs to be done. It’s become that if you don’t go, it’s not cool.”
Victoria Beckham: Graduated Bob
Victoria, the other half of the Beckham power couple, also took the hairstyling world by storm by continually testing out new styles. Her biggest contribution to the hair industry? Posh Spice’s asymmetrical and graduated platinum bob. “Cut high on the nape with lots of volume at the back of the head, created with texturizing mousse, and extra-long, very shiny sections of longer hair on each side of the jaw. The flat iron was also handy to create that perfectly smooth hair,” says Martel.
Justin Bieber: Platinum Undercut
Having grown out of his shaggy ’do from his YouTube days to the young, daring fashion icon he’s become, we’re glad to see Justin Bieber is back on track to becoming a very promising hair icon. Salon loved the platinum undercut that prompted tens of thousands of trendy millennials to visit their hairstylist for this very cut and colour. So much so that we even endorsed it as the “go to” men’s trend that same year.
Miley Cyrus: The Undercut Elevated
Before 2012, shaved sides, undercuts and disconnected haircuts were mainly used in extreme hairstyles and shady “bad boy” looks, but never for fashionable women on the red carpet. “The Miley Cyrus shaved sides in 2012 wasn’t something new,” says Sayah, ”but men were already doing undercuts and women wanted a piece of the action. Miley made it mainstream and put the pompadour on the map, which was perfect timing with the Instagram boom.” Since then, androgynous haircuts have begun to take over the women’s segment.
