Noughties Skunk Hair Is Officially Making A Comeback

After TikTok deemed blonde hair ‘cheugy’, hair lovers everywhere started to look to the early noughties for inspiration and found #inspo in the skunk-striped coif of yesteryear.

Slews of us, it seems on social media, are yielding to an urge to try the trend out – which traditionally involves bleaching bold streaks of hair at the front of the hairline to frame the face without any blending or feathering.

Although the look veers towards a more monochromatic, light-and-dark style á la Dua Lipa and Bella Hadid, the trend has definitely modernised with the help of Billie Eilish who has extended it to include bright hues – hello neon green!

Truthfully the renaissance of this trend isn’t sudden, in fact it’s been slowly creeping into our FYP since 2019 but with the help of celebrities and beauty influencers alike it’s becoming more mainstream.

In light of the trend making a comeback, we asked hair expert Luke Zak Gregory, Senior stylist at SALON64, why Christina Aguilera’s Dirty-era mane is getting another outing.

“What’s appealing of the skunk punk two tone hair trend, it’s the natural evolution and merge of the commercial office friendly ‘rose gold toner or the dusty pink pieces’ and the fashion forward ‘hidden rainbow panels’ forgotten from 2020,” he told Tyla.

“It allows the modern girl, breaking out of lockdown, to customise if she wants to whisper or shout about her hair and style.”

If you’re wondering how to make it less noughties and more modern, Luke suggests swapping straight styles for textured looks.

He said: “Move away from sizzling out all the kinks and personality with straightening irons, a la Miss Aguilera.

“Look to add subtle volume and length using natural tape wefts instead of clip ins extensions – that barely ‘clung on’ by the end of the night – a mix of natural and nylon tapes will allow movement and hold for days with minimal maintenance.”

As the hairstyle can be “bespoke to your personality, hair texture and type”, Luke suggests if you’re going to go back to the office in the New Year perhaps embrace Dua Lipa’s interpretation of the trend with “slices of platinum concealed” under your brunette mane or visa versa.

He adds: “Don’t over think the styling in either tribe, your cut and colour will do most of the talking.

“The hidden platinum panels will offer the texture on the dancefloor, prepped with a light weight pre blowdry styling foam to give guts to the finer haired midi lengths, finish with a sharp middle part to channel your inner Posh with a punk Spice.

“For the newly curtain banged shaggy mullets in the room, master “the curly girl method” this will give you both maximum texture, enhancing the volumising disconnected layers, and longevity for your new acid house deliberate dip dye.”

There you have it, noughties Avril Lavigne and Christina will be quaking in their boots.