Forget showstopper hair shades, because the color everyone’s currently asking for sits firmly in girl-next-door territory. Thanks to Taylor Swift, “mousy blonde” has exploded in popularity over the past year, alongside fringed dresses and cowboy boots, which the Eras Tour singer was also responsible for.
“I’ve got younger girls that come in and see me and want to go to a flatter, what we would call a ‘mousier blonde,’” notes celebrity hair colorist and John Frieda creative color director Nicola Clarke, who credits the “Taylor Swift effect” for the shade’s popularity.
What is mousy blonde?
Clarke defines mousy blonde as a flatter take on the blonde. It sits on the fringe of light brown and dark blonde, “but it’s got that glow where you can see the light through it,” she says. “It doesn’t scream like a super blonde or super dark,” agrees celebrity hair stylist and John Frieda creative director Zoe Irwin. “It’s a neutral,” she says.
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Why choose mousy blonde?
Mousy blonde may not be loud, but it doesn’t mean it’s not noteworthy. In fact, it’s a very smart shade. For starters, it goes with everything. “What worked really well on Taylor’s tour is because her hair was so pared back, she was able to flit between so many costume changes,” explains Irwin. Her hair was a background tone that worked with and enhanced all her different eras rather than clashing against them.
But beyond giving versatility, it’s actually a pretty easy and noncommittal color shift to adopt for autumn, especially if you want to return to a brighter blonde after (more on that below).
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How to get mousy blonde?
The good news is, if you’re starting from a blonde base, this is very easy to capture. “A lot of the girl’s I’m working with have asked to go darker,” says Clarke. “So the glazes [in salon toners and glosses] work really well for the girls who maybe eventually want to go back to a brighter blonde.” They act like a shadow or veil over the hair color and “work really well on someone who would be quite blonde when highlighted or even balayaged. You can just put a darker toner over it,” explains Clarke.
As for darker-haired babes, it’s a little trickier to achieve as you’ll need to lighten your base color—but the neutral is an effortless shade to wear once you get there, and you can make use of a root smudge or root shadow to avoid taking mousy blonde all the way to your roots.
