Hot girls have red hair. Or rather, people with red hair are hot. It’s true. While having red hair has always been somewhat on trend, red hair is trending on TikTok with users dying their hair a range of red colors. Whether it’s bright red or a muted orange, you’re hot.
TikTok has promoted other attention-grabbing hair trends before — from the e-girl split dye hair to the wolf cut hairstyle — but red hair, or wine-red hair as we’re calling it, just may be the most accessible as it can look good on any skin tone. So this may be your sign to get red hair! (Natural redheads, lie back and accept the praise. We wanna be you so bad.)
Red hair trends have been on the rise since December 2020, with spikes in popularity in March and July 2021. But since early October, there’s been a noticeable increase of red hair on TikTok and Instagram. So who started the wine-red hair trend as of late?
At the highly publicized Met Gala in September 2021, Gigi Hadid debuted fiery red hair. Millions of people saw the images and were most likely inspired. More recently, South Korean model and Squid Game star HoYeon Jung became admired worldwide for her past runway looks accompanied by bold red hair. Maybe with this hair trend, we’re channeling our inner model.
However, I’d argue that, like most trends, it started with the Black community. Original hot girl Megan Thee Stallion sported bright red hair on the cover of her album, Good News, which was released in late November last year, just as the trend started gaining traction. Another iconic redhead made waves in July 2021, as pictures of Halle Bailey as the live-action Ariel from The Little Mermaid were shared. But before TikTok even caught a whiff of the emerging trend, Zendaya radically rocked red hair to the Spider Man premiere as a nod to her role as MJ, in as early as 2019. If I knew for certain that a red-headed MJ is Tom Holland’s type, I’d dye my hair red too.
The early adopters of the trend were ahead of the game. It’s attention-grabbing, unique, and definitely provides main character energy. Though having red hair never will be out of style completely, if you want to get red hair you should probably do it ASAP, before the wine-red dye trend falls off.
Here’s how to get the trend yourself: For unnatural hair colors, Good Dye Young is worth the splurge. It’s cruelty-free, co-founded and run by Hayley Williams, the lead singer of Paramore. It’s genuinely conditioning (which a lot claim to be but are not). Manic Panic is also recommended.
For more natural shades, Revlon is tried and true. Color Brilliance is a professional brand from Sally Beauty that also does the trick! As for developers, hair color newbies should start with a low number and then work their way up.
Take caution, as many professionals warn against box dye or DIY — at the very least, they recommend avoiding ammonia in your developer, but then do be sure to use a hair bonding treatment afterwards. Using box dye, instead of going to a professional colorist, can present future difficulties when you see a professional hairdresser.
I would advise against using Arctic Fox Hair Dye. Despite being cheap and easy to use, some home hair-coloring Facebook groups shared that its ingredients are similar to those in fabric dye, making it really difficult to strip the color out.
If you’re considering doing it yourself at home, many TikTok users are skipping bleach as a way of bypassing further hair damage. You could even make it a social event by enlisting a friend to help you change your hair. Some users are following suit with the influencers by dying the entirety of their hair red, but if that seems daunting, or maybe you’d just like to take advantage of your creative liberties, you can simply do fun red accents.
Embrace the color psychology of red! Subvert expectations, be aggressively yourself, demand attention, let others know of your hot siren energy. With the upcoming release of Red (Taylor’s Version), follow suit with a red hair era.