Thanks to a recent Instagram trend, sea salt spray is no longer the only way to get beach-inspired hair. People are amping up their tousled waves by dyeing their hair ocean blue. This blue hair dye craze seems to be taking over our social media feeds — as of June of this year, #oceanhair has been tagged on Instagram over 12,000 times. So if you’re looking to add some tropical vibes to your style, ocean hair might be the new look for you.

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What Is Ocean Hair?

Ocean hair isn’t just one shade of blue — this new trend is more complex than you might think. Stylists use a combination of cobalt, turquoise, teal, and subtle hints of green to create vibrancy and depth with the style. This mixture of colors gives the illusion of ocean-like movement in your hair, so you can have waves in your style and color at the same time! We have California-based hairstylist, Brittany Holland, to thank for this ocean hair trend. She posts her original hair color creations on her Instagram, and a lot of her clients have been requesting blue hair color for their own ocean-inspired look. Located in Bakersfield, Holland often longs for the beach, so she set out to create a hairstyle that would make her feel closer to the ocean. The entire ocean hair process takes roughly four hours. In order to create the perfect base for the blue dyes, she must first bleach a client’s hair, so be prepared to wait patiently for your ocean hair!

PHOTO: @cozmic.color

Maintaining Your Ocean Hair

This hair trend may seem simple on the surface, but just like the ocean, the process involves a lot of depth. Most people don’t realize that vibrant dyes like blues and reds don’t penetrate all the way into the hair shaft, but rather, sit on top of the hair. This means that the color fades much faster than natural permanent or semi-permanent dyes. For ocean hair upkeep, colorists recommend using a shampoo that is color-safe and sulfate-free and to wash hair as infrequently as possible. So don’t blame your stylist for your dye fading quickly because fashion colors don’t develop and process the same way as natural colors do. Maintaining a vibrant color such as ocean blues takes investment and time.