Every year, the red carpet of awards season does something the glossy magazines can’t quite replicate it shows us color in motion, on real women, under real light. The 98th Academy Awards was no exception. Between the gowns and the jewels, it was the hair that quietly told us everything we needed to know about where color is heading this spring.
To make sense of what we were seeing, I turned to two of the most respected voices in hair color right now: Priscilla Choi, colorist at NYC The Team founded by Michelle Hong, and Mirsad Lajqi, stylist at Ouidad. What they confirmed is something I’ve been feeling for a while this spring is not about drama. It’s about depth, warmth, and hair that looks like it belongs to you.
The Shift You Need to Know About
The platinum and icy silver blondes that dominated the past few years are stepping back. “Hair trends are moving away from ultra-cool, high-maintenance tones towards warmer, more natural, and face-flattering hues that require fewer salon visits and grow out effortlessly,” Choi explains. Lajqi puts it even more simply: the new shades feel healthier. Think butter blonde, teak, warm caramel colors with soft dimension and a lived-in quality that cool, bleached hair simply can’t offer.
This is a meaningful shift. For years, spring color meant going lighter, brighter, sometimes bolder. In 2026, it means going warmer and that makes all the difference for wearability.
A Note on Maintenance
Whatever shade you choose this season, your color will only look as good as the products supporting it. Choi recommends Shu Uemura’s Color Lustre Shampoo ($56) as a foundation for any spring color refresh. Sulfate-free and specifically formulated to protect pigment, it cleanses without stripping which is exactly what warm, dimensional color needs to stay vibrant between appointments.
Now, the eight shades worth booking your next appointment for.
Butter Blonde
Creamy, golden, and effortlessly cool butter blonde is the antidote to the harsh, high-contrast blondes of recent years. Colorist Kari Hill created the definitive version of this shade for actress Sarah Pidgeon using her signature “foiled cashmere” technique: a blonde base warmed with golden, neutral tones that recalls the minimalist glamour of mid-to-late ’90s New York. It’s the kind of blonde that looks like sunlight rather than salon.
Teak
Consider this the sophisticated evolution of last year’s teddy brown. Teak sits at the intersection of honey and amber it has warmth without going full copper, depth without going dark. A deeper root adds dimension, while the mid-lengths glow with a sun-kissed amber that catches light beautifully. Bella Hadid wore it at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in a sleek, twisted bun, and it was the perfect showcase: refined, dimensional, and quietly stunning.
Warm Caramel
Espresso and chestnut owned the winter. Now, warm caramel steps into the light literally. This is a brown shade illuminated from within by burnt copper and chestnut-bordering-on-blonde highlights that give the whole look a glowing, sun-warmed finish. Ryan Destiny’s interpretation, worn against her deep skin tone, showed exactly what this shade can do: monochromatic, radiant, and completely effortless.
Beige Blonde
The platinum era is officially giving way to something softer. Beige blonde champagne-toned, buttery, with just enough warmth to avoid any trace of brassiness is the upgrade so many blonde clients have been waiting for. Singer Tate McRae wore it beautifully: candlelit, romantic, and utterly wearable. Both Choi and Lajqi name this as one of the key transitions of the season, and after seeing it in person under Oscars lighting, it’s easy to understand why.
Spiked Cinnamon
Hailey Bieber went darker and warmer for spring and the result was one of the most copied looks to come out of awards season. This toasted brown, which I’m calling spiked cinnamon, sits just below blonde territory: rich and luscious with a subtle copper tint and a luminous gloss that catches every flash. It’s the kind of shade that photographs as one color and reads as three in real life. Paired with her flipped bob, it was a full moment.
Burnt Copper
If you’ve been feeling like the spring palette is playing it too safe, burnt copper is your answer. Ariana Greenblatt brought this earthy, clay-toned red to the Oscars red carpet and it was immediately clear that this is what cowboy copper looks like in 2026. Grounded, warm, and incredibly versatile across skin tones, it showed up in her bouncy, defined curls as one of the most memorable color moments of the entire season.
Dimensional Cocoa
Cocoa brown never really goes out of style but this spring’s version is different. More gloss, more dimension, more life than the flat, matte cocoa browns we’ve seen in previous cycles. Emily Ratajkowski made the switch from dark brown to this shade a few months back, and it was a revelation: rich depth at the root, luminous movement through the mid-lengths, and a finish that reads as effortlessly polished. Expect to see much more of this among the fashion crowd as the season unfolds.
Espresso
Not everyone is ready to lighten up for spring and honestly, there’s no reason you should have to. Keke Palmer’s solution was a masterstroke: deep espresso brown with a slash of copper running through it for an unexpected, moody warmth that doesn’t sacrifice the richness of a dark base. It’s a spring color for the woman who still wants edge, and it proves that “seasonal refresh” doesn’t have to mean going lighter.
Shop the Best Color-Safe Products
The throughline across all eight shades? Warmth, dimension, and wearability. This spring isn’t asking you to transform it’s asking you to refine. And after years of high-maintenance platinum and icy cool tones, that feels like exactly the right direction.
