Last month, celebrity hair stylist Nick Arrojo spoke at The Empire Style Council to introduce the future trends of hair. The Empire Style Council is a group of esteemed and renowned beauty educational experts created by the Empire Education Group, who bring their beauty knowledge to form new generations of stylists. The Empire Education Group is the nation’s largest provider of cosmetology education with 107 schools in the US.

Nick Arrojo leads Empire’s Masters of Beauty Program – an advanced education system program for licensed stylists who want to take their careers to the next level. Arrojo is the former director of education at Bumble and Bumble, the founder of Arrojo Cutler Salon, creator of the Arrojo Studio in NYC, the former global master for Aveda and now a brand ambassador for Goldwell. He spoke about his view of the new trends in hair and it was nothing short of exciting to hear his predictions. Three models were present to illustrate the new trends that are starting to take over the world of hair in the top salons.

Photo courtesy of Empire Education Group

1. Dark roots and light ends, he pointed out, are here to stay. Not the “ombre” you’re thinking, but a subtler version – think SJP style. Highlights are on the way out he said. No more foils in the future, ladies! They will be replaced by free form, bold, block hair-painting, where color is painted into the hair to create dimension from within.

Photo courtesy of Empire Education Group

2. Arrojo sees the trend of smoothing and straightening as on the out. “We poison ourselves with this stuff,” he said, refering to straightening treatments that are getting ever-more scrutinized. The new trend calls for permanent texture in hair in order to create movement, wave, softness. “A loose tousled movement is the idea,” he said. “A movement that is softer, with hair that is in better condition.”

Photo courtesy of Empire Education Group

3. As far as hair cuts are concerned, new techniques of cutting are already exploring how to make the cut from the inside out, creating space in hair using a straight edged razor in order to increase swing and movement at the same time. This will also keep evolving and eventually take over everywhere.

Extreme texture, free painting, movement, dimension, space, cutting from the inside out – these, in the end, were what Arrojo defined as the keywords of the evolution of hair care in the coming years. We can’t argue with the pros.

What do you think the next big hair trends will be?