One summer vacation, I got so bored that I took a pair of pink scissors and cut my very long hair into an extremely asymmetrical bob. But this story isn’t about that attention-seeking and slightly feral child’s summer hair look. It’s about all of yours. Whether you’re painstakingly planning your next hair change or already in the stylist’s chair—the grown-up version of grabbing scissors and just going to town—this season offers more than a dozen exciting new trends.

For summer 2025, “Clients are gravitating toward colors that feel intentional, effortlessly polished, and naturally flattering,” says New York City-based stylist Jerome Lordet of the shades we’ll examine in detail below. The haircut and style trends of summer feel that way, too. They’re looks are based on taking what’s already working and leaning in. They’re about letting your red dye job fade, your bob grow out, and your hair part on its favorite side. They’re about relaxing and enjoying—the way summer should be.

Summer 2025 Hair Color Trends

Golden Apricot

We’ve seen shades of red spike all year long, so it’s no surprise that multiple iterations of the trend ended up on this season’s bingo card. First up is golden apricot, a color that evokes sun-warmed fruit trees in an Italian orchard (an image I hope we all get to experience). Lordet describes it as a “radiant mix of soft peach, honey gold, and tangerine, which creates a sunlit, glowing effect that flatters a variety of skin tones.” Its depth and complexity add what he calls “a sophisticated edge” to what would otherwise be a more straightforward gold or red.

Leighton Meester swapped her world-famous Blair Waldorf brown for a golden apricot makeover this March, and Rosé’s take on the color from 2016 is one of her most memorable hair transformations. Golden apricot is “luminous,” Lordet says, “like a golden hour in hair form.” Expect to see more folks embracing its naturally flattering and naturally mood-lifting (what’s more pleasant to contemplate than golden hour?) tones this summer.

Sunset Balayage

If golden apricot is golden hour, our next trending shade evokes the similarly lovely glow that happens when the sun actually starts to set. Boston-based colorist Christine Bellemare paints a picture that will have you heading to airbnb.com to book a shore house: Sunset balayage is reminiscent of the light that drenches the beach during sundown, with soft hints of peach throughout. The shade is more understated than golden apricot, perfect for folks like me who typically brighten up for summer but want to get a little more playful by adding in some gentle red tones. “It’s perfect for clients who want to experiment with creative color without going too bold,” Bellemare says.

Plus, asking your colorist to use the hair-painting technique means that when your roots grow out come fall, the transition will be less noticeable than what you’d get with an all-over dye job. Take the color on Emily in Paris’s Camille Razat: She’s got an ombré going on, with her natural color at the top, peachy tones in the middle, and golden at the ends. It’s casual but intentional, and frankly, it would look gorgeous when you’re walking down a beach boardwalk.

Strawberry

This next rising shade is one we know you’ve seen because pretty much everyone on Earth spent the last six months inundated with images from the Wicked press tour. Strawberry, Ariana Grande’s current signature color, is our final trending red for this summer. Where golden apricot is built around shades of orange, strawberry takes the ripe red of the classic summer berry and tamps it down a few notches until you’ve got a juicy shade at the nexus of red and blonde.

Daniella Vassallo, owner of her namesake studio in Brooklyn, points out that strawberry is a natural transition phase for people who went red earlier this year. “So many people did, and are now embracing the fade-out of that for the summer months,” she says. With a few dips in a chlorinated pool, the shade that was copper in springtime might be strawberry come July 4. But just because it can be achieved accidentally doesn’t mean it’s not a beautiful place to choose intentionally.

Toasted coconut brunette

Don’t worry, brunettes, you are not required to dye your hair some shade of red if you want to keep up with this season’s trends. Meet toasted coconut brunette, an equally summery color that doesn’t involve red dye or references to apricots, peaches, or any other stone fruit. Bellemare defines it as “a rich mocha base with creamy, beachy, and caramel highlights,” as seen here on Lisa from Blackpink and Rita Ora. Just because you have dark hair doesn’t mean you can’t have a summer glow, and adding in these creamy tones will help achieve it, especially if your colorist hair-paints them, simulating streaks lightened by the sun. The final result will be “a dimensional, low-maintenance look that’s ideal for summer’s laid-back vibe,” Bellemare says.

Smoky espresso

Just because it’s summer doesn’t mean you have to brighten or lighten your color. Meet smoky espresso, a shade that Dimitris Giannetos, hairstylist, colorist, and ambassador for L’Oréal Paris and Moroccanoil, describes as “not your average brunette.” Forget anything resembling a beach. Instead, the undertones here are cool ash. The brown has “a deep, smoky richness with medium-dark gray undertones,” he says. Lordet is also a fan of the velvety shade: “Unlike traditional warm brunettes, diffused smokiness adds a refined touch.”

Both colorists describe the shade as “modern.” Unlike the espressos of yore (and by yore, I mean a few months ago), this doesn’t necessarily have to be a uniform shade. Your stylist can work in various cool browns for a dimensional look that will keep you icy all summer long. Making the shade multidimensional also helps keep maintenance easy. If some strands shift shades (that chlorinated pool again, or even natural lightening in the sun), they’ll just blend right in.

Recession Bronde

Okay, I admit the shade name is depressing. Recession hair has recently taken off on TikTok among folks who, thanks to the worrisome nature of the economy, are looking to cut back on their salon appointments without entirely giving up the idea of dyeing their hair. The purposefully low-maintenance look is designed to earn you a few extra months between visits to your colorist—and, if we do say so ourselves, is just as pretty as the shades that require more frequent touch-ups. “We’re seeing a big resurgence of ‘bronde’ hair. I think that will continue as people embrace a lower-maintenance and more natural look than their previous bright blondes and deep brunettes,” says Vassallo. “Think more medium honey-toned blondes and brunettes with golden highlights for that lived-in look.”

Now I’m not suggesting that Jennifer Lopez or Halle Berry are opting for a brown-blonde fusion that won’t readily show their roots out of any sort of financial need. But, as for the rest of us, a screenshot of their dye jobs presented to your colorist every eight months instead of every four might be the decision our savings accounts are begging us to make.

Summer 2025 Haircut Trends

Soft bob

The bobaissance of spring continues, and this season, our experts expect to see the soft edges and gentle flips of recent red carpet bobs trickle down to the masses. According to Lordet, this style “offers the sleek structure of a classic bob with subtly softened edges for a more natural, lived-in feel, making it perfect for minimal styling with maximum impact.” This looser, more relaxed version of a bob feels summery; it’s a little more vibey than a traditional blunt bob. Plus, it’s a great option for a season when clients and stylists alike might be taking more time out of the salon: This one doesn’t require frequent visits to keep those edges razor-sharp.

That said, there are ways to make this low-maintenance look feel polished. Giannetos recently took the soft cut a step further with styling, creating a Jackie O-inspired flipped bob on Gigi Hadid. I hope you get to try it this summer during a long, lazy day at your own personal Hyannis Port.

Layered Midi

What do you get a few months after a whole bunch of folks get bobs? A whole bunch of folks with mid-length hair. The layered midi cut, a simple, layered shape that falls around the collarbone, is certainly cute enough to reach for in its own right. But if you’re growing out a bob and not sure how to style your newfound longer hair, you’re going to want to read especially closely. The layered midi cut is “effortlessly stylish and flattering,” says Lordet. “[It] falls around the collarbone with layers that add movement and volume, allowing for easy air-drying or a polished blowout.” And since summer hair is basically either letting your hair air-dry because it’s too hot for the blow-dryer or needing to style it for yet another wedding (just me?), this is the ideal seasonal cut.

Choppy Shag with Soft Bangs

Allure has spent a few years charting the reemergence of the ’70s shag. The style works well on almost every texture, plays nicely with various kinds of bangs, and looks incredibly fresh and cool (even 50 years after its advent). Stylists are teeing up a modern version of the shag this summer featuring swoopy, soft bangs.

“This modern shag is all about fun, texture, and movement,” says Jennifer Korab, a hairstylist and colorist at Renaissance Salon and Spa in New Jersey. “The cut features layered, choppy pieces that give the hair an effortless, lived-in vibe. The bangs are soft and wispy, adding a light, flattering frame to the face, while the rest of the hair has that signature messy volume and separation.” (See Sophie Thatcher for a picture-perfect example of that chic messiness.) Bellemare has noticed the trend taking off, especially among curly-haired clients. There, she’s noticing “rounder shapes with more emphasis on volume and texture, giving natural curls more definition and movement.”

And it might surprise you that our stylists think of the shag as low-maintenance because the hardest part of the job is theirs. Once the cut is complete, the look should fall into place without much additional styling, especially for curly clients, who should try the cut this season for those “humid summer days when you want to embrace your natural curl pattern with ease,” says Bellemare.

Shaggy Lob

Not to go all therapist on y’all, but sometimes it’s important to eschew black-and-white thinking and just focus on gray. Enter the shaggy lob, a mix of a few different things. It’s somewhere between a shag and a long bob, as well as a layered cut and a shag.

Your shaggy lob can find its place on both spectrums, leaving you with a truly personalized style. Like the shag, the shaggy lob includes layers of all different lengths and it’s often finished off with some version of bangs. But the difference between this cut and a full-on shag is the length, which falls somewhere in between chin and collarbone, as seen on Jenna Ortega. Lordet likes it for the way a stylist can shape the layers to play with your natural texture, making it perfect for air-drying.

Summer 2025 Hairstyle Trends

Side part

It feels like only yesterday that I was fighting against my cowlick to figure out how to part my hair in the middle after decades of loyal adherence to the early-aughts (not to mention early-’50s) side part. Now that my hair is finally parting easily in the middle, it is naturally time for side parts to return. “Sorry, Gen Z! We’ve seen [the side part] all over red carpets and the runway recently. I think many people are ready for its comeback,” says Vassallo. She’s right about its prevalence: Lori Harvey and Margaret Qualley have worn the style in recent months. It’s Zendaya, though, who’s channeling the feature of the side part I missed most: The joy of getting to hide behind your hair.

Wrapped ponytail

Our trend forecasters are bullish on ponytails, which makes sense: No style says summer quite like a ponytail. In the past few months, we’ve seen sky-high, waist-length, and painful-looking ponies on everyone from Zendaya to Gabrielle Union. But the key differentiator for this summer is the accessories. Korab suggests sleek metallic bands, iridescent ribbon, or even chains, pearls, or beads wrapping around the ponytail’s base. (We like this $13 metallic double cuff, these elasticized strands of pearls, and these pricier yet extremely fun abstract shapes, which look delightful in a bubble pony). “The result is a chic yet daring style that feels both sophisticated and sci-fi-inspired, perfect for those looking to make a statement,” Korab says. It’s a sneaky way to add in a bit of extra bling, like Coco Gauff, or to add some interest to what would otherwise be a traditional ponytail, as with Sadie Sink’s two-inch-long wrap tied with a bow.

Braided Ponytail

Not an accessories girl? Skip the wrap and spice up your ponytail with a braid instead.

Giannetos is a fan of the style, whether it’s a “tight, sculpted braid or a more playful bubble ponytail… It’s bold and sophisticated, and works for everything from red carpets to summer nights out.” Even better is its time commitment, which we’d clock at the minus-five-minutes mark. All you need to make this style work are two hair ties and knowledge of how to do a basic three-section braid.

The key here is to minimize flyaways and frizz for a slicked-back look at the top, letting the braid or braids (breaking up the pony into a few separate braids adds a bit of extra flavor to this style) really stand out. Of course, nothing is stopping you from having a wrap and a braid.

Read more about the latest trends:

• 2025's Top Haircut Trends Are a Masterclass in Timeless Sophistication
• The Top 2025 Hair Color Trends Are Straight Out of Film Noir
• This Summer’s Best Nail Art Trends Scream “The Beach Is That Way”

Now, watch Janelle Monae get ready for the MET Gala.