Hand-Pressed Hair Color Is the Coolest Thing You'll See Today

Balayage is basic. Foil is forgotten. Now, the trend in hair color application is hand-pressed color. The technique involves painting the highlights on a sheet of superhard plexiglass. Then the colorist uses a six-inch putty knife to smear the shades into the strands. This method was created by NYC colorist Chiala Marvici from Cutler Salon. "Hand pressed color was inspired by a dream I had where I saw multiple layers of patterns and sheets of color, one in front of the other except they were all transparent," she wrote in an email interview.

"In the past, we have painted the hair with color opposed to creating the color and pressing the hair into it. This technique allows us to create multiple layers and patterns that all live together to create a holographic and iridescent effect." The finished result is a multidimensional hair color that glistens with every turn of the head.

Unlike other popular highlighting techniques, it might be a while before you can ask for the hand-pressed color at your salon. The good news: you can get the same ombré hair color or rainbow dye you love using the technique, but in half the time. "The tools used allow us to color larger areas of hair faster making this technique very efficient in the salon," Chiala explains. "You can paint colors on the glass in a horizontal manner to create ombré very quickly."