Looking to refresh your look with a new hair color? Before you book that salon appointment, it’s worth knowing which shades are trending and which ones might soon feel outdated. Hair color trends evolve quickly, and what seems cutting-edge today could be tomorrow’s fashion faux pas. Let’s explore which colors stylists predict you’ll regret by 2025, and the fresh alternatives they’re recommending instead.
1. Regret: Harsh Platinum Blonde
The ultra-bleached, icy platinum that dominated recent years is losing its appeal fast. The damage it causes to hair follicles often isn’t worth the maintenance headache.
Stylists are noticing more clients returning with brittle, broken strands after attempting this high-maintenance shade. The weekly touch-ups and expensive treatments make this a color choice you might question later.
2. Love Instead: Champagne Blonde
Warm, buttery blonde with subtle dimension is capturing hearts everywhere. This softer approach mixes golden tones with pale highlights for a sun-kissed effect that flatters most skin tones.
The beauty lies in its forgiving grow-out phase. Roots appear more natural, requiring fewer touch-ups than its icier counterpart. Plus, the warmth brings life to winter-pale complexions.
3. Regret: Cherry Cola Red
That vibrant, artificial cherry-cola red might seem fun now, but its rapid fading to an unflattering orange-pink makes it a future regret. The color molecules are large and notoriously difficult to remove.
When you’re ready for something new, this shade often requires multiple color correction appointments. The financial and hair health costs add up quickly, making this trend questionable for long-term satisfaction.
4. Love Instead: Cinnamon Copper
Natural-looking copper with cinnamon undertones offers the excitement of red without the maintenance nightmare. This rich, spicy shade complements many skin tones while fading gracefully over time.
The dimensional quality means it doesn’t look flat or artificial. Best of all, it works beautifully with the natural warmth that emerges as most hair colors fade, requiring less frequent touch-ups.
5. Regret: Unicorn Pastel Rainbow
Those Instagram-worthy pastel rainbow locks require extensive bleaching and constant refreshing. As fantasy color trends evolve, this look is becoming dated while continuing to damage your hair with each application.
The maintenance is relentless—weekly color-depositing treatments just to keep it from looking faded and patchy. When you’re ready to move on, prepare for a lengthy color correction process.
6. Love Instead: Sunset Balayage
Sunset-inspired balayage blends warm pesca, coral, and amber tones more subtly through the hair. The placement is strategic, concentrating vibrant colors mid-shaft to ends for easier maintenance.
Unlike all-over fantasy colors, this technique preserves your natural root color. The grow-out appears intentional rather than neglected, and the placement creates a gorgeous light-catching effect that’s both trendy and timeless.
7. Regret: Solid Jet Black
Flat, one-dimensional black box dye might seem like an easy option now, but it’s among the most difficult colors to remove or change later. The buildup of pigment creates a barrier that resists new colors.
When fashion trends shift or you simply want a change, removing this shade often requires harsh chemical processes. The resulting damage can take years to grow out completely.
8. Love Instead: Espresso Brown with Dimension
Rich, deep brown with subtle variations creates the appearance of thickness and movement. The dimension comes from barely-there highlights a shade or two lighter than the base color.
This sophisticated approach offers the drama of dark hair without the flat, helmet-like effect. The subtle variations catch light beautifully, highlighting your haircut’s layers and creating natural-looking depth.
9. Regret: Gray-Covering Warm Golden Brown
That warm marrone dorato that perfectly covers grays might seem practical now, but these warm tones often oxidize to brassy orange over time. The resulting color can look artificial and aging.
The high-contrast regrowth also creates a harsh line of demarcation. As more people embrace their natural gray, this one-dimensional coverage approach is quickly becoming outdated.
10. Love Instead: Silver-Blended Lowlights
Working with gray rather than against it creates a modern, low-maintenance look. Strategic lowlights blend with natural silver strands for a sophisticated salt-and-pepper effect that grows out seamlessly.
This technique celebrates natural silver while adding dimension and control. The result appears intentional and elegant, with touch-ups needed only when you want more definition, not because roots are creating a harsh line.
11. Regret: Block Color Money Piece
Those dramatic, contrasting face-framing chunks of color make a statement today but scream “dated trend” tomorrow. Their stark, unblended nature makes them instantly recognizable as a 2020s fad.
When the trend passes, these pieces require significant correction work. Their high-contrast placement also creates an obvious grow-out line within weeks of application.
12. Love Instead: Illuminating Face Frame
Softly blended brightness around the face creates a flattering, light-catching effect without the harsh contrast. These delicate highlights are applied in varying widths and tones for natural-looking dimension.
The strategic placement brightens your complexion while growing out imperceptibly. This technique enhances your features with a subtle glow that looks intentional rather than trendy.
13. Regret: Ashy Gray-Blonde (Greige)
The ultra-ashy, gray-toned blonde that dominated social media tends to wash out most skin tones. As beauty moves toward warmth and glow, this deliberately dull shade quickly looks dated rather than designer.
These toners fade rapidly, leaving behind an unflattering yellowish base. The constant upkeep required to maintain the ashy tone becomes both expensive and damaging over time.
14. Love Instead: Honey Blonde Dimension
Caldo biondo miele with multi-tonal highlights creates natural-looking dimension that flatters most skin tones. The warmth brings a healthy glow to the complexion while fading gracefully over time.
The varying tones—from butterscotch to pale gold—create movement and depth. This approach mimics how hair naturally lightens in the sun, resulting in a more authentic, less manufactured appearance.
15. Regret: Blue-Black with Purple Undertones
This dramatic shade makes a statement initially but fades to an unflattering murky green-gray, especially in previously lightened hair. The color molecules are large and difficult to remove completely.
When you’re ready for something different, this color often requires multiple stripping sessions. The resulting damage can compromise hair integrity for months or even years afterward.
16. Love Instead: Rich Mahogany Brown
Deep, reddish-brown mahogany offers similar drama to blue-black but fades more predictably to warmer tones. The rich, chocolate base with subtle auburn reflections creates stunning dimension in various lighting conditions.
This sophisticated shade complements most skin tones while being significantly easier to change later. The warmth brings life to winter-pale complexions without the maintenance headache of more vibrant reds.