Calico Hair Is the Purr-fect Hair Color Trend To Recreate This Winter

There’s a new hair trend taking over BeautyTok this winter, and it’s quickly becoming one of the most viral hair colors of the season. Calico hair is a feline-inspired look that pays homage to the gorgeous, tri-colored coats of calico cats. This hair color blends natural hues with vibrant pops of color for a head-turning, creative, and playful effect. Like many of 2024’s biggest hair trends, calico hair is influenced by popular Y2K styles and other viral, animal-inspired looks like skunk highlights, fox hair, and haircuts like the kitty cut, wolf cut, and jellyfish cut. 

Read on to learn more about calico hair and discover why it’s so popular, who should try it, and how to help your clients maintain the look. Plus, explore four of our favorite calico hair transformations to inspire your own unique take on the trend. 

Image: Instagram/@corazonsagrado_

Calico hair is a trending hair color technique that mimics the distinct, multi-tonal pattern of a calico cat’s black, orange, and creamy-white fur. It typically emphasizes irregular color placement to create bold, calico-like patterns with plenty of contrast and dimension. Some stylists describe calico hair as a modern take on the chunky highlights style that dominated hair trends in the early 2000s. 

Calico hair is highly customizable and offers stylists an opportunity to get creative with their color placement and mixing techniques. The look has a fresh and edgy vibe that’s eye-catching yet wearable for a wide variety of clients. There’s no shortage of variations on the trend, but it usually includes a mix of chunky highlights in blonde, brunette, black, and vivid orange or copper hues.  

Image: Instagram/@hair.by.karenm

The rise of calico hair is no accident. This trend aligns perfectly with the recent takeover of bold hair colors that embrace creativity, individuality, and personal expression. Everyone seems to be hopping on the calico hair bandwagon lately, with beauty influencers and A-list celebrities leading the charge.

Here are a few reasons why calico hair should be on your radar this winter: 

• Customizable: From vibrant, saturated hues to pastel blends, calico hair can be customized to suit any clients’ preferences, whether they want a high-contrast look or a more subtle take on the feline-inspired style.
• Versatile: This color trend is well-suited for fall and winter with its warm, rich tones, but it can also be adapted for any season. Calico hair works on any base color, hair texture, and length, making it an ultra-versatile pick for any client seeking a head-turning new look. 
• Creative: No two calico hair transformations are exactly the same. This makes it ideal for clients who want to stand out from the crowd and express themselves creatively. Plus, with so many viral posts trending across social media, there’s no shortage of inspiration for both you and your clients. 
• High Impact: According to Pinterest’s Summer 2024 Trend Report, searches for “calico hair” have increased by a whopping 6500% [1]. The calico hair color makes a bold statement that instantly shows off the beauty of your clients’ hair as well as their status as a beauty trendsetter.

Image: Instagram/@artistic.aestheticss

Fox hair color, which is inspired by yet another furry critter, is quickly becoming the sister trend to calico hair. Searches for “fox hair color” are up 1530% and climbing, per Pinterest’s Fall 2024 Trend Report [2].

As the name suggests, fox hair color aims to replicate the rusty, reddish-orange hue of a fox’s fur. Calico hair color, on the other hand, imitates the unique tri-color patchwork pattern of a calico cat’s fur. Whereas calico hair usually has a more distinct color combination, fox hair focuses more on creating a rich, all-over sultry shade that sits somewhere between a fiery copper and medium brunette.  

Many stylists are taking foxy red hair to the next level with ombré looks and black-dipped tips that mimic the appearance of a fox’s tail. While there may be some overlap in the natural hues and iterations of these two trends, they both offer unique styles that can appeal to different types of clients. 

Image: Instagram/@kayla.hardcorehair

How To Create Calico Hair 

The best approach to creating calico hair for your clients will depend on their desired look, budget, and maintenance preferences. Deciding on the right color placement technique beforehand is key, as you’ll need to create the right balance between the three contrasting calico shades (orange, blonde, and black or brunette).  

If your client wants to go all-in with a striking calico style (and doesn’t mind coming in for regular touch-ups), you can try using foils to create thick ribbons of chunky highlights in various blonde, orange, and black or brown hues. These Y2K-era highlights will create a bold, high-contrast hair color with a lot of dimension. For a similar effect that’s even bolder, you can try using a color-blocking technique to create irregular color blocks throughout your client’s hair in the three different shades. 

Calico hair can also be adapted for clients who prefer lower-maintenance, more natural-looking hair color with techniques like balayage, peekaboo highlights, or babylights. Weave in calico-colored highlights and lowlights throughout their strands in natural shades for a more subtle spin on this feline trend. 

Pro Tip: Clients who don’t want to fully commit to a new color can still try out the calico hair trend with semi-permanent haircolor options (like Matrix SoColor Cult Semi-Permanent Haircolor), demi-permanent color (such as the L'Oréal Professionnel Dia Color Alkaline Demi-Permanent Haircolor), or even tri-color clip-in extensions for a temporary change.

Here are a few of our favorite calico looks to inspire your hair color transformations this winter and beyond.

Image: Instagram/@brittanycreations

Make your clients’ calico dreams a reality with big, chunky color blocks in all three shades. This adventurous look is for those clients who really want to make a statement with their hair and aren’t afraid to commit to an at-home maintenance routine. Don’t be afraid to mix techniques with this one, adding vivid pops of colors in varying sizes for a funky effect your rebellious clients will love.

Image: Instagram/@amandaparillahair

This stunning ombré adds the perfect pop of calico color without the commitment of a full color overhaul. By focusing on the mid-lengths and ends, this foxy feline hair color may allow for less obvious grow-out and fewer touch-ups.

To help maintain the vibrant golden blonde, black, and orange seen here, remember to recommend the right at-home color care products to your clients, such as Redken’s Acidic Bonding Concentrate Shampoo, Conditioner, and 5-Min Liquid Mask. These products are formulated to provide deep hydration and shine to damaged hair and are specifically formulated to help improve the appearance of processed hair. 

Image: Instagram/@lindseymariehair

This two-toned variation of calico hair features a deep auburn, rich copper, or warm espresso base with chunky, bright blonde highlights framing the face (a.k.a. money pieces). You can opt for a creamy beige-blonde for this look or go platinum blonde for even more contrast. If your client is already blonde, this look can be reversed, with a blonde base and reddish-brown or black money pieces.

Image: Instagram/@styled_by_selena

Calico hair takes on a slightly more subdued vibe with these Y2K-inspired highlights in three rich, warm shades. The combination of these colors along with bangs, long layers, and a '90s blowout gives this look a nostalgic vibe that’s understated yet effortlessly cool. To recreate this calico style, opt for chunky highlights in natural shades like dark chocolate brunette, jet black, caramel, honey blonde, and burgundy. 

Next Up: How-To: The Sabrina Carpenter Blonde 

Header image credit (from left to right): Instagram/@artistic.aestheticss & @hair.by.karenm

References: 

1. The Pinterest Summer 2024 Trend Report. (2024, July 11). Pinterest. 
2. The Pinterest Fall 2024 Trend Report. (2024, August 21). Pinterest.