Soft-focus glam is everywhere right now. Rather than maximalist manicures, naked nail trends are dominating the discover feed. A statement eye has been replaced by “undone makeup” trends, and ghost blonde has become the dialed-down way to get lighter strands this summer.
Not to be confused with TikTok’s ghost roots—in which the ends of the hair are kept dark and the roots made an icy blonde—the ghost blonde trend is exactly as it sounds. Rather than harsh highlights or a sun-bleached blonde, ghost blonde reads softer and more natural with hushed, almost invisible, lighter hues woven throughout the hair.
What puts the ghost into the blonde is that you shouldn’t able to see where your natural color ends and the blonder hues start. It’s sun-kissed without creating too much contrast in the hair. Think of it as the hair equivalent of no-make up makeup, and Emma Stone’s caramel blonde lob is a prime example. Using the “foiled cashmere technique,” longtime stylist Tracey Cunninghan was able to lift the dark auburn red shade she was sporting this fall, creating a natural bronde look with carefully placed “ribbons of brightness” for subtle dimension.
“We wanted to softly transition her into something lighter but still dimensional and wearable,” Cunningham told Glamour in May. “The goal was a dark blonde that felt expensive and natural—not flat or overbleached.”
How to get ghost blonde hair
“Ghost blonde is a barely there blonde tinge added to darker blonde, light brown, or brunette hair, in super-faint strands,” says hair stylist Jason Collier, who first brought the trend to our attention. “It’s not full-on highlights, but more of a lifted glow, like natural sunlight catching your crown. Ghost blonde catches in the light and adds dimension, without screaming, ‘I’ve had my hair done.’”
It shares DNA with glow lights, whose name was coined by Kate Moss’s colorist Nicola Clarke to describe the type of soft glow your hair gets when subtly mixing neutral beige and golden hues with a darker shade underneath.
But ghost blonde is less about playing with light and shade and more about asking your colorist for blended balayage only a shade or two lighter than your natural color, with finely spun highlights on select strands. An added benefit of this is that the color will grow out with no harsh lines.
