While we generally celebrate the end of winter with a trip to the salon for one the best spring hair colors, things are different this year. Most salons are now closed due to the coronavirus pandemic—even if they aren’t you shouldn’t step foot inside one—and by the time we’re all out of sheltering in place, we’ll have much more to celebrate than the end of chilly weather. While it’s still TBD on when that time will be, what we do know is we’ll be more than ready for some fresh color (and a glass bottle of champagne).
To get you inspired, we asked the pros to shed some light on the best spring hair colors for 2020. Scroll on through to discover the new hues we’re eyeing—red is clearly having a moment—and get ready to head to your next hair appointment with plenty of hair color ideas. (If you’ve got the means to, you can even pre-book and pay for your appointment now to help support your colorist.) And if you get impatient, we have a few suggestions you can do at home, just be sure to read our guide first.
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If any type of hot tool makes an appearance in your beauty routine, you’ll want to find the best heat protectant for hair to go along with it. Whether your styler of choice is a blow-dryer, straightener, thermal brush, or curling iron (or, a futuristic Dyson device that pairs several of these things together), your hair will definitely thank you if you prep it beforehand with a protective covering.
While most formulas start off with the same basic purpose (shielding your style from heat up to 450 degrees Fahrenheit), they differ in bonus effects. That’s where our favorite database comes in: online shopping reviews that reveal which bottles do more than the rest. Common complaints are: mists that dispense unevenly, serums that weigh your final style down, formulas that smell like something’s burning, or sprays that leave behind a crunchy residue. We’re tossing all those out in favor of the options that impart lightweight shine and smoothness, while also cutting down on dry time and sealing split ends. Below, the 19 best heat protectants for hair that won’t let you—or your flatiron—down.
Reviews have been edited and condensed for clarity.
All products featured on Glamour are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
“My whole life, I have fought with my hair,” says New York City publicist Jenelle Hamilton. “I did quarterly Brazilian straightening treatments, colored my hair, blow-dried weekly, and flat-ironed my hair almost every day.” She was trying to force her 3C curls to be something they just weren’t, which seriously damaging them in the process. After years of trying to straighten and smooth her hair, it began to look over-processed and break.
Commit to a Long-Term Routine
Once you swear off straighteners, you’re not going to wake up to healthy hair instantly. “At the beginning of my hair journey, I would watch YouTubers and look on Instagram and think, ‘Why doesn’t my hair look like that? Why isn’t it growing faster?'” Hamilton recalls. “I was so impatient!” However, once she gave her hair months to heal, the growth eventually followed.
Look Products With Nourishing Ingredients
In addition to giving up heat-styling, Hamilton scaled her routine back to washing weekly. She counted on two products to nourish her dry, brittle hair: The LUS Gentle & Moisturizing Shampoo and TKO Ultimate Moisture Conditioner by Andre Walker Hair. The shea butter-infused shampoo “cleansed and moisturized” and “a little went a long way, so it was very cost-effective,” she says. Her conditioner, meanwhile, featured strand-strengthening Keratin, a protein that helps fortify and protect damaged hair. “I used it religiously and it helped a lot,” she says. A few other ingredients to look out for: coconut oil, argan oil, aloe vera, and spirulina.
If You Want to Smooth Frizz…
While she was growing up, Delilah Orpi, a beauty blogger in Miami, dreamed of straight hair. “I was picked on for my puffy hair as a kid and struggled to style it,” she says. “I envied the smooth, shiny hair that some of my friends had.” Her mom wouldn’t allow her to flatiron hers, so when she finally got the chance, she went all out, straightening her hair three times a week for 10 years. Cut to recently when she packing for a trip to Thailand. She couldn’t fit her hair-dryer and straightening products in her suitcase—so she decided this was the push she needed to quit. “I was done fussing with my hair,” she says. “I wanted to simplify my routine.”
Avoid Drying Your Hair With a Towel
A game-changer for Orpi has been applying her styling products, such as EVOLVh TotalControl Styling Crème, in the shower. “I apply them to soaking wet hair in the shower by scrunching, and never use a towel or a brush,” she says. The scrunching helps the curls clump, which leads to definition once it dries, and cuts down on frizz. “After lots of scrunching, I either air-dry or diffuse dry,” she says.
Preserve Your Style
Orpi only washes her hair two or three times a week. She stretches out the lifespan of her curls by covering them when she sleeps. “I protect it at night by wearing a scarf over it so that it lasts a few days and doesn’t get frizzy and tangled,” she says.
“That sounds like a question for your therapist,” my boyfriend replied offhandedly, after I asked him, yet again, whether I should get bangs. It’s something I’ve asked him hundreds of times and a thought that rolls around my head when I’m trying to fall asleep at night. To me, the most defining characteristic of womanhood is sitting in front of the mirror, wondering if the right pair of bangs will change your life.
Now, I wouldn’t go as far to say that bangs can be life-changing, but I strongly believe that everyone can benefit from them. If you prefer yourself bangless, please, continue on. But if you’ve ever wondered, Can I pull off bangs?—the answer is a resounding yes.
It’s important to note here, though, that not all bangs are created equal. After lusting over straight-across bangs since middle school (thanks to 500 Days of Summer and Alexa Chung, obviously), and accepting they will never work with my round face, I finally got curtain bangs three years ago, and I haven’t looked back since.
Bella Cacciatore
Curtain bangs, for the uninitiated, are those shaggy, effortless bangs that—as the name suggests—frame your face perfectly, much like a curtain does with a window. The look has roots in the ’60s and ’70s (think Jane Birkin), but today’s take on it works with a range of styles and textures: messy waves, curly shags, sleek blowouts, high ponytails, you name it.
“Curtain bangs are the gateway to bangs, because they’re super versatile,” says Emily Heser, stylist at Cutler Salon in New York City. “They’re long enough to grow out or pin back if you want, but they can also be cut into a shorter look.” The style has steadily become both a celebrity and Insta-girl fave for its easy-going vibe.
Celebrity hairstylist Alex Brown has noticed that curtain bangs have become increasingly popular in the last few years, largely due to how easy they are to manage. “They don’t take on the commitment of adding a full-throttle bang to your hair,” she says. “They’re less work and are so easy to grow out.”
Earlier this week, Ivanka Trump celebrated the first anniversary of her Women’s Global Development Prosperity Initiative, a global campaign championing women in the workforce, but it seems her new hair color is getting just as much attention.
The First Daughter appears to have added chunky, stripey dark blonde highlights to her signature icy blonde shade and it’s a definite…throwback. The style—which Trump debuted during an event for her initiative at the State Department in Washington D.C.—was popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s when celebrities like Jessica Simpson, Kelly Clarkson, and Christina Aguilera showed off their foil-sectioned highlights on the regular.
MANDEL NGAN/Getty Images
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
As with anything related to the Trump family, the internet had some thoughts about Ivanka’s new hair color choice. “Ivanka getting chunky highlights is disrespectful to Thankful-era Kelly Clarkson,” one person tweeted. “Someone tell Ivanka we aren’t bringing back chunky highlights please,” another wrote.
Kelly Clarkson in 2002
Kevin Winter
There were some fans, however. “I like your 90’s chunky hair, Ivanka. You can go sit down now,” another tweet read.
Chunky highlights aren’t the first 2000s trend to be spotted making a comeback lately. You can thank celebrities like Jennifer Lopez, Margot Robbie, and Priyanka Chopra for the return of “prom tendrils,” those two lone pieces hanging in the front of the face with an updo. “Like all trends and styles, the ones that are cool tend to circle back,” hairstylist Laura Polko told Glamour.
Jessica Simpson in 2001
Jeffrey Mayer
See also: French manicures, as seen as stars like Kim Kardashian. But this time around there are some new twists on the classic style when it comes to the color and shape of the nail tips—in case you were worried about looking too retro.
So, that begs the question: which 2000s beauty trend is coming back next?
The Oscars 2020 brought many amazing fashion and beauty moments—but one of the best came at the very end of the night as Jane Fonda walked onto the stage to present the award for Best Picture to Parasite in a dress she recycled from 2014 and striking short, gray hair.
Fonda always looks phenomenal but this may have been one of her best looks yet—and her hair color was a very conscious choice. Her colorist Jack Martin shared some of the thinking behind the decision in a lovely Instagram post.
“I had the honor and the pleasure to transform the legendary actress @janefonda hair specially for the 2020 Oscar. Spending 7 hours with this amazing Hollywood star and witnessing her energy, beauty, strength and femininity was so inspiring,” he wrote. “For straight 7 hours while I was working on her hair she was writing chapters in her due soon book, and memorizing her lines in the famous tv show Frankie and grace [sic] that she is shooting the 7th season now, answering emails and reading her newspapers plus communicating with me and her team with the sweetest, humblest soul, she made me feel ashamed to complain of being tired.”
For a woman who’s been making both political and sartorial statements for the entirety of her career, it’s powerful to see her embracing the beauty of gray hair—especially during a time when so many women are pushing back against the idea that going gray means “giving up.” According to Martin, her decision to color her hair was purely for fun, plain and simple.
“Her goal color was a silver icy blonde to surprise everyone at the 2020 Oscars,” Martin continued, before sharing the formula he used in case you’d like your own colorist to give this a go. “Jane was extremely happy for getting her dream hair that took her a while to find a colorist that can do it perfectly in a very painless process.”
Naturally, Jane Fonda’s new look had a lot of fans on social media too.
Cheers to an 82-year-old icon who continues to live life on her own terms.
