Hidden Rainbow Roots: How to Get This Season's Hottest Hair Color Trend

Over the past couple years, we were introduced to rainbow roots and hidden rainbow hair, but up until now we had never imagined the end result of pairing the two vibrant hair color ideas together. In order for hidden rainbow roots to really work, it’s all about the placement of your colorful dyes. Instead of dousing your part in color, hiding the bright hues comes down to applying them on the underside of your top section of hair. To help you understand the process of achieving the head-turning hidden rainbow roots hair color trend, we’ve created the step-by-step hair color tutorial below to bring your newest technicolor hair color to life.

Step 1: Choose your colors

Before diving into any bleaching or dyeing, start your process off making sure you have all the colors you’ll need. Although this hair color is known for being rainbow, it’s totally up to you to decide how many colors to incorporate. If you’re feeling a little nervous about the process and wish you could try the look without major commitment, you’re in luck! With the L’Oréal Paris Colorista Semi-Permanent Hair Color, you’ll be able to add bright hues to your ‘do that will wash out after 4-10 shampoos. If this is the route you decide to go with, we highly recommend Turquoise, Lime Green, Hot Pink, and Purple—especially since these colors constitute another hair color trend: acid hair.

Step 2: Prep your dyes

Once you’ve chosen your dyes, lay them out so that they’re ready for application. Be sure to use a separate dyeing brush with each color so as to not muddy up any hue.

Step 3: Bleach your roots

In order for your colors to really stand out, you’ll need to use a box of hair bleach to lighten your roots (unless your base color is blonde, in which case you can skip this step)—a box of the L’Oréal Paris Colorista Bleach will do the trick! When deciding where to bleach, the key is to choose sections closest to your roots that would be covered by a top layer of hair. For example, it you normally have a deep side part, you’ll want to use a rat tail comb to lift the top most section of hair to bleach at the roots directly under it.

Step 4: Add color

Using your dyes, add color in a rainbow striped fashion directly on top of the bleached sections of hair. Leave the color on for the specified amount of time on your box in order to achieve full vibrant results.

Step 5: Rinse

Once your colors have had enough time to set into your strands, rinse them out with super-cold water to help prevent color bleeding between sections of your rainbow.

Step 6: Style!

Now that your rainbow roots are a reality, it’s time to style your hair accordingly. If you want to show off your new color from the get-go, try creating double French braids on top of your head with messy space buns around your crown. Want to keep it more of a surprise? Simply spritz your hair with some of the L’Oréal Paris Advanced Hairstyle AIR DRY IT Wave Swept Spray and allow it to air dry before catching someone off guard with a hair flip.

We don’t know about you, but we love hidden rainbow roots! If you find that you’re not having quite as much fun with it, simply pick up a tube of the L’Oréal Paris Colorista Fading Shampoo to speed up the fading process so that you can experiment with different rainbow-inspired colors or a new look altogether. Instead of immediately reaching for a semi-permanent hair color that lasts a few shampoos, consider testing the rainbow root waters with the L’Oréal Paris Colorista 1-Day Sprays (which wash out in one shampoo) to narrow down which colors work best for you. Available in Rose Gold, Blue, Gold, Hot Pink, Pastel Blue, Pastel Lavender, Pastel Mint, Pastel Pink, Purple, and Silver, you’re sure to have plenty to experiment with to create one of a kind hidden rainbow roots.

Love the look of rainbow but looking for something a bit more natural? Check out our article, How to Get Chai Latte Hair.