Remember tie-dying T-shirts as a kid? You’d spend hours at summer camp using rubber bands to mould your clothes into odd shapes before dunking them into buckets of rainbow colour. And the results? You'd treasure your colourful creations all year long. Fast forward to 2011 and that fond memory took the form of nail art. Not only did the fad make it easier and cooler than ever before, it also inspired a new hair trend we can’t stop watching. Enter: hair marbling.
The mastermind behind the psychedelic technique? Virginia Beach-based hairstylist Ash Fortis. She told Allure, “Nail art is a huge influence of mine, so I thought, 'How can I bring it to hair?'" And we couldn’t agree more — and so thankful she did. But rainbow hair isn’t a new trend, so how is this any different from the unicorn-inspired posts we see almost daily? According to Fortis, the marble-like finish and the multi-coloured technique creates something unique and random every time.
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So how does it work exactly? Let’s just say the in-process shots are mesmerising...
Fortis first applies a layer of shaving cream onto foam, mesh strips called Embee Meche. The next step: Dripping different vibrant colours of hair dye from Pulp Riot right on top of the cream. And just as a cake decorator might do, she swirls figure-8 shapes through the concoction with the back of her colour brush until the design is just right.
Then she presses the tie-dye design onto small sections of platinum hair and sandwiches the strands together with another piece of her foam. The dye then processes, the hair is rinsed, and the marbling is complete. Now just try not to scroll through Instagram finding hair marbling inspiration for the rest of the day...