How to Get the Slime-Green Hair Color All the Celebrities Are Loving Lately

Food officially isn't the weirdest source of hair-color inspiration. With celebrities like SZA, Kim Kardashian, and Dua Lipa slipping on green wigs, colorists are looking to more unexpected influences like slime and tennis balls. Let's be real, green's moment in the hair-color world was inevitable. Celebrities cycled through nearly every other shade of the rainbow possible, including bold pink, purple, and even yellow, over the past couple of years. Green seemed to escape everyone — until now.

Though several celebrities have been dabbling into bright hair colors with wigs, more folks on Instagram, as well as K-pop stars like NCT's Chenle, Pentagon's Wooseok, and Momoland's Nancy, have been making more permanent moves by dyeing their actual hair lime, minty green, teal, and emerald. To find out more about what it takes to go green (in the hair sense), I asked two colorists to share their insight.

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Which hair types are the best candidates for green hair?

Before even making an appointment with your stylist, you should take your hair type into account. Serious bleaching is needed to achieve green hair, so those with darker hair or previously-colored hair aren't the most likely candidates, says Los Angeles-based hairstylist Jessica Jewel. Instead, anyone who has never colored their hair before or has naturally light hair are the best fits for going green. Regardless, if your hair is too damaged, your stylist may recommend not dyeing it green, Maryland-based colorist Megan Schipani adds.

How do stylists typically dye clients' hair green?

No matter what color your hair is or your desired shade of green is, lightening your strands first will be involved 99 percent of the time, Jewel says. This step helps create an even canvas so the dye looks truly green.

If your desired shade is on the neon or pastel sides of the shade spectrum, Jewel and Schipani say your hair will have to be bleached to the lightest blonde possible. Those with darker hair might have to sit through more than one bleaching session to get to that level of platinum. Regardless of how much lightening will be involved, both also advise asking your stylist to combine a bond builder like Olaplex into their formulas to help maintain the integrity of your hair throughout the process.

For darker green hues, such as hunter and emerald, your hair won't have to be as light — deeper shades of blonde will work. "However, in general with green hair, the lighter you lift it initially, the prettier it fades out," Schipani notes.

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How does green hair fade?

One of the biggest reasons why green hair took longer than other rainbow hues to gain popularity is its fade. However, thanks to innovative formulas from Pulp Riot, Arctic Fox, and Trillion Tones, green dye is more likely to fade to a lighter variation of the original shade than an indistinguishable, muddy hue. (Fun fact: A representative for Arctic Fox tells Allure that sales of their green dyes, which are its least-popular shades, have increased by about 10 percent from July to August due to the trend.) Having a platinum blonde base is also key to a true-to-tone fade.

The time green takes to fade is "around the same time frame as other colors," Schipani says. Expect neon and pastel shades to fade quicker than darker ones, though. Generally, "The deeper the color, the longer it lasts," Jewel adds.

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How do you maintain green hair at home?

To avoid any awkward fading and extend the life of your color, Jewel and Schipani recommend asking your stylist to mix a custom-colored conditioner for you. Be sure to wash it out of your hair with cold water. Alternately, you can use a color-depositing conditioner like Overtone (available in three variations of green,) to refresh your color at home.

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"This hair is definitely a lifestyle change and only for someone who is ready to take care of it routinely," Jewel explains. This includes limiting yourself to washing your new green hair just once a week, as well as making dry shampoo your best friend.

Additionally, utilizing moisture masks and heat/UV protectants is important, too. Jewel's go-to products for each are from Amika: the Soulfood Nourishing Mask and the Blockade Heat Defense Serum, respectively.

If this sounds like too much work, though, you can take cues from SZA and Dua Lipa. Wigs are always an option.

Follow Devon Abelman on Twitter and Instagram.

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