EP 312: The Rise of Recession Blonde

Send Danise a Text Message.

Recession Blonde is the hair color trend revolutionizing how we think about beauty maintenance during economic uncertainty. This approach blends style with financial strategy by working with your natural color instead of fighting it, allowing longer times between salon appointments without sacrificing a beautiful, dimensional look.

• Recession Blonde features sun-kissed hair with deeper roots that grow out beautifully
• Traditional blonde maintenance can cost hundreds of dollars every 4-6 weeks
• Techniques like balayage, root smudging, and glossing create dimension and effortless grow-out
• Brunettes can embrace "recession brunette" with rich chocolate browns and subtle dimension
• Stretching appointments by softening your root line saves both time and money
• Semi-permanent glosses refresh tone without requiring full color services
• Lived-in looks are crafted to look intentional after 8+ weeks of growth
• Embracing your natural base color can create healthier hair with more dimension
• Strategic highlight placement further from the scalp allows for longer grow-out periods
• Reducing chemical services helps rebuild hair strength and moisture

Click the link in the show notes to grab your free downloadable cheat sheet about Hair Color 101. This will help you decipher the differences between permanent, semi-permanent, and demi-permanent hair color so you can have a more informed conversation with your stylist.

The Salon Success System: $97 Course

The Training Toolkit is your step-by-step roadmap to building a confident, high-performing salon team—without the overwhelm. Designed for salon owners, this course gives you proven onboarding strategies, easy-to-use training templates, and real-world systems that save time, boost retention, and drive growth. 

Grab your FREE PDF of The In-Salon Training Toolkit today.  

Level up your onboarding and education! This free toolkit gives salon owners practical, done-for-you templates and strategies to train new stylists quickly, consistently, and with less stress—so you can focus on growing your business, not reinventing the wheel.

______

Train With Confidence. Lead With Impact.

Running a salon is hard enough—training new stylists shouldn’t feel like a second full-time job.

If you're constantly pulled in a dozen directions, struggling to teach while juggling clients, and wishing your new hires would just get it faster—you’re not alone. And more importantly, you don’t have to keep doing it the hard way.

Download The Ultimate In-Salon Training Toolkit today and start onboarding your stylists with clarity, confidence, and zero guesswork.

_______

Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel as well!

Visit my Amazon Store for all my favorite products!

Grab your Ultimate In-Salon Training Toolkit!

Website: www.danisekeilitz.com
Instagram: danisekeilitz

Shop my favorite Eufora Products.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey there.
Have you been noticing fewericy blondes and more soft,
sun-kissed blondes this year?
Maybe you've scrolled past acelebrity going darker, or
you've sat in your stylist'schair and said can we go a
little more natural this time?
Well, you're not imaginingthings.
You're witnessing a shift, onethat's as much about economics

(00:26):
as it is about aesthetics.
Welcome to Recession Blonde,the hair color trend that's
quietly reshaping the beautyindustry by blending style with
strategy, and today we're goingto talk about how to get that.
Welcome to All About Hair, wherewe talk shop, share stories and

(00:47):
spill the secrets behind greathair and a great career.
I'm your host, denise Kylitz, aformer salon owner, educator
and a lifelong hair crusader.
Whether you're a new stylistbuilding your book or just
someone who loves learning aboutall things hair, you're in the
right place.
Each week, we dive into realtechniques, honest career advice

(01:10):
and inspiration to help yougrow behind the chair or just
fall even more in love with theworld of hair, because around
here, it's not just aboutlooking good.
It's about learning, evolvingand having a little fun along
the way.
So grab your coffee, yourshears or your dry shampoo and
let's get into it.

(01:37):
Being blonde can be beautiful,right?
I think we'd all agree aboutthat.
But it's also a seriousinvestment.
I know when my sister wasgetting highlights, she was
going in every four to six weeksfor either highlights, toner I
don't even know what but I feltlike every time I talked to her
on the phone she was going backinto the hair salon.

(01:59):
I tell you, I don't know howshe could afford it.
I guess that's probably why shewent gray.
But between root touch-ups,toning, highlighting and all the
maintenance in between, brightblondes can easily spend
hundreds of dollars every fewweeks just to keep their hair
looking fresh.

(02:19):
Yes, I think we've all eitherwitnessed that or we know
friends who have spent that kindof money and they probably
aren't telling their spouses.
I'm just guessing on that one.
But so let's add in the risingcost of living right now, and
then the talks about a recession, and suddenly that beauty

(02:40):
routine feels less sustainable.
That beauty routine feels lesssustainable.
More and more people are sayingI want to look good, but I also
want to be smart about it.
So here's the challenge how doyou scale back on salon visits
without feeling like you'recompromising your look?
Many of us fear that goingdarker or embracing the roots

(03:02):
will make us feel less polished,less vibrant or just not like
ourselves.
But what if the answer wasn'tgiving something up, but just
choosing something better?
That's where Recession Blondecomes in.
It's not a downgrade, it's aglow up.
This trend is about working withyour natural color instead of

(03:24):
fighting it.
It's a soft transition fromhigh maintenance to low effort
luxury.
Imagine this sun-kissed lookinghair with deeper roots.
You get subtle, low lights andwarm golden tones that grow out
beautifully.
Stylists are using techniqueslike, of course, balayage, root

(03:47):
smudging and glossing to createdimension, softness and that
effortless.
I just woke up like this hair.
You know we all want that, andit's not just blondes.
Brunettes are loving this too,with what some are calling
recession brunette.
Think rich chocolate browns,deep caramels and natural bases

(04:09):
that allow more time betweenappointments without losing the
shine or the style.
So what we're really seeing isa larger shift in beauty values.
Recession blonde is just onepart of a movement toward
intentional beauty whereself-care, wellness and
financial mindfulness all meettogether.

(04:31):
We're all watching ourpocketbooks nowadays.
People want hair that looksamazing but also feels good to
maintain.
You don't want to spend tons ofmoney on your hair every four
weeks.
You want to spend less time andmoney in the salon and more
time enjoying your life withoutsacrificing your confidence.

(04:54):
So here's how you can startembracing the look.
First, you're going to stretchyour appointments.
Ask your stylist to soften yourroot line or add low lights so
you can wait a little longerbetween visits, and then you can
try a gloss.
A semi-permanent gloss canrefresh tone, add shine and give

(05:16):
your hair a polished look.
Without a full color service,you can also ask for a lived in
look.
These styles are crafted togrow out seamlessly and still
look intentional after eightplus weeks.
You can also embrace yournatural base color.
Sometimes the wisest choice isthe one that celebrates what's

(05:38):
already there.
So, instead of getting roottouch-ups all the time, you can
actually just maybe freshen upthe ends of your hair instead of
the roots of your hair, because, honestly, less fuss, more
freedom that's the new luxurythese days.
Okay, now I'm going to answeryour top seven questions about

(05:59):
Recession Blonde.
So what exactly is RecessionBlonde?
Well, it's a hair color trenddriven by the desire for lower
maintenance and more budgetfriendly beauty.
It focuses on softer, lived inblonde shades that blend well
with your natural roots, meaningfewer touch-ups and longer

(06:20):
stretches between salon visits,saving you time and money.
We all love that.
Another question is is thisjust a trend for blondes or can
brunettes do it too?
That is a great question and Iknow we just talked about this.
Brunettes are absolutely in onthis trend.

(06:40):
It's often called recessionbrunette and it involves
deepening your natural color,skipping your frequent
lightening and embracing therich tones that require less
upkeep.
It's all about subtle,intentional shifts for both
color families.
With brunettes, you're probablygoing to put your highlights

(07:01):
further apart just to givedimension in the hair, and then
you would go in maybe every timeyou get your haircut just for a
toner instead of a touch-up.
Until, if you have long hair,it would just grow out and maybe
every six months you would geta touch-up on your highlights,
depends on how far up you wantthem towards your scalp.

(07:24):
Another question does recessionblonde mean going darker
permanently?
Not necessarily.
It's more about working withyour natural color instead of
fighting it.
You don't have to commit to afull-on brunette look.
Think warmer tones, rootsmudging, low lights or a gloss

(07:44):
to soften the grow outline.
It's about flexibility, notpermanence.
What we're talking about hereis that you don't get that
demarcation line, that grow outline, that skunk line, if you
will.
You want a more subtle grow out, so you're not married to your
appointments going into thesalon.
Another question that I oftenhear will going darker make my

(08:07):
hair look dull or flat?
Not at all.
In fact, many recession blondelooks have more dimension than
bright blondes.
Stylists are using techniqueslike lowlights, root shadowing
and glosses to create richness,shine and contrast.
The result is often healthierlooking hair and more

(08:30):
dimensional hair.
Beautiful, believable.
We all love that.
Here's another question Can Istill get highlights if I want a
low maintenance look?
Yes, absolutely, but it's abouthow you get them.
Balayage, tz lights or foilageare great techniques for a
blended look that grows outbeautifully.

(08:52):
Ask your stylist for aplacement that gives you
longevity between visits lessfoiling, more freedom, or
another way to look at it is thefurther away it is from your
scalp, the more grow out timeyou'll have, because if you
place the foils right next tothe scalp, you will get that

(09:13):
grow out line.
Now, some people still likethat, but this is not what we're
talking about.
We're talking about lowmaintenance.
Another question will my hairbe healthier if I go recession
blonde?
In a lot of cases, the answeris yes, reducing the frequency
of lightening and bleachexposure gives your hair time to

(09:34):
recover, it rebuilds thestrength and it retains the
moisture Plus.
With fewer chemical services,you're also cutting down on
potential damage.
Final question how do I talk tomy stylist about transitioning
to recession blonde?
How do I talk to my stylistabout transitioning to recession

(09:55):
blonde?
This is the best question outthere.
You have to be really openabout your goals, both your
budget and the look you're goingfor.
Say, you're looking for a colorthat grows out well and doesn't
require frequent touch-ups.
A great stylist can guide youtoward techniques like root
smudging, lowlights or glossingto help you make a seamless

(10:16):
stylish shift.
I hope these answered yourquestions.
If you have any other questions, please text me.
Go over to Instagram.
Any way you want to look at it.
You can go onto my website.
All the links are in my shownotes and I look forward to
hearing from you.
If today's episode gave yousomething to think about,
whether you're a stylist, aclient or just someone trying to

(10:38):
be more mindful with theirbeauty budget, I've got
something special for you.
Click the link in the shownotes to grab your free
downloadable cheat sheet aboutHair Color 101.
Cheat sheet about hair color101.
This will help you decipher thedifferences between permanent,

(11:00):
semi-permanent, demi-permanenthair color.
You can take it to yourhairstylist and have a
conversation and remember whenyou know better, you do better.
Thanks for tuning in to AllAbout Hair.
If you loved this episode, hit,subscribe, leave us a review
and share it with a fellowstylist or hair-loving friend.
You want more tips, tools andbehind-the-scenes goodness?
Follow me on YouTube or head tomy website at denisekeilitzcom.

(11:22):
Yes, I know it's hard to spell,so don't worry, the link is in
the show notes.
Until next time, keep learning,keep creating and keep loving
what you do.