Undone Blonde Is Taking Over, and It’s Anything but Careless

Instead of shaming visible dark roots, we’re celebrating them! We’re breaking down what undone blonde hair is and equipping you with 17 inspirational photos to bring to the salon.

By Leann Garofolo & Powered By L’Oreal Professional Products Division

Update Date: 31 Aug 2026

It seems like 2022 is the year of playing catch-up. We have so many rescheduled weddings to attend, more travel destinations to check off our bucket list, and long overdue dinners with friends. When all is said and done, keeping up with our salon blonde ends up falling by the wayside.

While a trip to the hairdresser is always a great way to recuperate and refresh, a full schedule means you’ll need a hue as low-maintenance as possible to avoid a harsh grow-out between salon sessions. Lucky for you, the latest summer hair color trend is the ultimate low-key look. We’re talking about undone blonde. If you’ve never heard of the hue before, we’ve got you covered with everything you need to know about this popular look and how to get it.

What is undone blonde hair color?

Usually, summer hair colors are all about bright blonde shades and colorful, vibrant hair colors. But many of us became more acquainted with our natural hair color, thanks to salon closings, limited capacities, and other restrictions over the past few years. Hard as it may have been to embrace the change of pace (and those roots), it resulted in many people looking for ways to make trendy summer colors easier to maintain. Enter: undone blonde.

Undone blonde is a darker-toned blonde hue with a more natural sun-kissed look than your typical platinum or ice blonde. To create this color, your colorist will give you a smoked-out root, paired with brighter blonde ends for an easier grow-out. The result? A low-maintenance summer look that won’t require frequent trips to the salon.

How to Care For Undone Blonde Hair

It’s important to note that while undone blonde isn’t as bright as platinum, your colorist will still need to use bleach to lift your base color. While bleach will always cause damage, your colorist can work with you to help maintain the look and feel of your strands. That said, adding a bond repairing treatment to your routine can also help keep blonde hair fortified and healthy. We love Redken Acidic Bonding Concentrate Intensive Treatment, a pre-shampoo treatment that leaves hair 90% more conditioned, 14 times smoother, and two times stronger after just one use.

To keep your color looking as fresh as it did when you left the salon, proper hair care is essential. Using the right shampoo and conditioner can make a huge difference in maintaining the health of your color-treated strands. We recommend using Redken Color Extend Magnetics Shampoo + Conditioner Duo to cleanse, strengthen, and gently detangle color-treated hair. If you’re looking to uphold the brightness and tone of your blonde strands, swap out your regular shampoo and conditioner for a purple shampoo and conditioner a few times a week. We rely on the Matrix Total Results So Silver Shampoo + Conditioner Duo, which neutralizes brassy warmth, corrects yellow tones, and targets brittle and dry hair while adding a glossy shine.

The 17 Best Undone Blonde Hair Color Ideas to Try Now

1. Money Piece

If you crave bright blonde to brighten up your face but don’t want to commit to a full single-process color, ask your stylist for a money piece with shadow roots and babylights.

2. Balayage

A balayage is one of the ultimate ways to cash in on the undone blonde movement. Whereas foil highlights leave wearers with demarcation lines where the streaks end and the root begins, hand-painted balayage blends your root in with your color for a no-fuss grow out.

3. Platinum Ends

We used to want as much brightness at the root as possible, but the high-maintenance color would send us straight to the salon chair for touch-ups what felt like every other week. Luckily, hair color trends have flipped the switch and realized just how stunning a darker dirty blonde with platinum ends could be.

4. Shadow Roots

Are you going buttery and bright? Ask your stylist to shadow your roots, which means going over highlights or fresh color with a shade closer to your natural hair hue. This prevents that tell-tale line of regrowth.

5. Creamy Strawberry Blonde

Can’t get enough warmth? Ask your stylist to start with a strawberry blonde base with creamy lowlights throughout.

6. Icy Blonde

We know, we know—we said undone blonde was a darker shade of blonde, but hear us out: Keeping the crown of your hair as close to your natural shade as possible can still give you the “undone” aspect of this coloring technique if you opt for a brighter blonde, like ice.

7. Overgrown Champagne

You may want to consider champagne as your new shade if you’re starting with medium brown strands, which infuses golden-brown undertones to create a rich, shimmery hue.

8. Blonde Clouding

Curly girls will love the low-key clouding highlighting technique to brighten up their coils. It involves applying hair dye using hands, meaning your roots remain untouched.

9. Golden Blonde

Ask your colorist for golden blonde highlights if you want just a touch of gilded color throughout your mane.

10. Undone Blonde with Auburn

This undone honey blonde is spun with warm tones of golden auburn for gorgeous dimension.

11. Thin Dark Blonde Ribbons

Like intertwining a ribbon through fabric, ribboning involves coloring larger sections of hair.

12. Thick Sandy Blonde Ribbons

Thick sandy ribbons are the way to go if you want a dimensional brightening effect.

13. Contrasted Roots

Purposefully overgrown roots create a striking contrast against a single-process color.

14. Smoky Beige

Layering varying shades of light and dark colors gives the illusion of depth and volume, keeping that dark root appearance.

15. Foilayage

Foilayage combines the natural look of a balayage with the brilliance of foils.

16. Bronde

Your search for the perfect balance between blonde and brunette ends here; bronde is a blend of dark and light tones.

17. Heavy Blonde Balayage on Medium Brown Hair

Super saturated blonde balayage targeting the ends while leaving the roots untouched allows medium-toned brunettes to go even longer between salon touch-ups.