You may be a stylist looking to do something ground-breaking for your next competition, or someone who’s done with the classic looks and wants everyone’s jaws to fall to the floor the next time they see you. The reason why you bumped into this blog doesn’t really matter, as long as you keep an open mind and realise that hair can be much more than you expect it to. Brace yourself – we’re about to explore some futuristic hairstyles that will make you look and feel like you’re ready to launch a new trend in outer space colonies.
1. Avant Garde Hairstyles: Bangs
It seems a given, but most of the looks that appear to belong to the year 3000 feature an incredible roster of neat, polished shapes, blunt edges and artificial colours.
When it comes to bangs, say goodbye to wispy natural looks and dive deep in the beauty of a perfectly shaped blunt fringe. Old-school sci-fi looks want it to be pointy, triangular, but you can play around with a number of shapes such as a lovely, diagonal and asymmetrical look, neat and straight, or even find inspiration in the 50s nuclear aesthetic for a round, face-framing edge.
2. Avant Garde Hairstyles: Colours
Anything from silver, pastel colours and jet black will work. Think of hair as a beautiful canvas, but make sure it never looks damaged and choose your colour accordingly. If you’re a naturally dark brunette, chances are that if you decide to go for bright silver hair you’ll end up with a fried mane that looks nothing like the one of a starwalker. Instead, try to add touches of colour with human hair extensions – you can dye the rest of your hair black, and bring flashes of pink, red, green, blue or silver with the aid of funky coloured clip-ins. This way you will be able to switch up between hairstyles whenever you want, without committing to damaging bleach jobs and keeping up with neon hair dyes, infamously notorious for fading quite quickly.
Things are different for fair-haired people. Blonde hair allows you to play around with bleach a bit more, lightening up your naturally fair tresses. With the aid of an expert hairdresser you can reach the icy shade of platinum blonde, unlocking a series of shade combinations. Make sure you always follow up with a religiously-dedicated hair care routine that aims at nourishing your hair and keeping frizz at bay: if you’re more often than not resorting to heat-based styling tools, you may want to try heatless techniques to keep your tresses smooth and in order.
3. Avant Garde Hairstyles: Silky Smooth Hair
Whenever you think of futuristic hairstyle ideas you may find yourself envisioning silky smooth hair that sits in its designed position all day and all night. Whilst at night it’s preferable to adopt protective hairstyles for sleeping, you can undergo a brazilian blow dry process to keep your tresses nice and smooth when you go out. This process isn’t about straightening naturally curly hair, but instead it lays down the hair cuticles ensuring long lasting silkiness and shine.
If you’re wearing permanent accessories such as nano ring hair extensions, this could be a great way to make them more manageable, removing frizz and getting that sleek, glass-like effect that is oh-so trendy these days. Find out more about this treatment in our dedicated blog: Everything You Need To Know About The Brazilian Blow Dry.
4. Avant Garde Hairstyles For Curly Hair
If your hair is naturally curly, coily and/or kinky, play around with volume and height. One of the most famous avant-gardists in history when it comes to big hair is probably Marie Antoinette, but you don’t need to splash out on expensive wigs and hair accessories to make your curls go bigger than ever.
FIrst of all, focus on growth: curly hair looks amazing when it’s big and long. Consider adding curly hair extensions to your mane to maximise volume and thickness in your tresses – and, whilst you’re at it, you can pick longer hair extensions to add precious inches to your mane.
Styling is everything when it comes to avant garde hair: in black culture, braiding techniques evolved to create elaborate designs and shapes in coily hair whilst keeping it safely tucked in. You can add flashes of colour in your curls with Remy hair extensions, or again, create a number of shapes such as bows and buns to make your hair naturally stand out in an explosion of curls.
5. Avant Garde Hairstyles For Short Hair
One of the most creative examples that comes to my mind when thinking about avant garde hairstyles for short hair is probably the buzzcut. Braving the buzzcut may seem scary at first, especially if you’ve always worn your hair long and flowy.
People that have tried it describe getting their first short haircut as an extremely liberating sensation. This hairstyle breaks the rules, and transforms your hair into a true canvas. On a buzzcut, you can feel free to experiment with crazy colours and bleach, or even “engraving” your personal message and/or design by cutting your hair in different lengths.
From animalier prints to flowers and even emojis, you can wear your hair as a clear statement. The advantages of this hairstyles are not limited to creative design; in fact, you can also grow it out fairly quickly and transform it into an edgy, glamorous pixie cut later on.
6. Avant Garde Dyeing Techniques
If you’re looking for a hair colour that naturally stands out without bleaching your natural hair and/or without committing to a specific haircut, consider these incredibly advanced colouring options.
Pixel Hair Colour
Pixelated hair briefly got famous on the internet a few years ago, and let’s admit it: it takes a certain level of skill to achieve it. Nonetheless, it’s impossible to deny that the look has a futuristic taste to it. If you find a hairstylist that is capable of replicating this on your tresses – or if you are a stylist up for a challenge, make pixelated hair your next move. With this techniques you can recreate 8-bit figures of your choice, from pokemon to fancy flamingos, or even just add a few coloured squares to natural hair for a playful, trendy addition.
Gem Roots
This trend is fairly easy to recreate, although the upkeep is quite demanding. Gem roots are the glamorous version of Billie Eilish’s neon green roots, inspired by gemstones such as amethyst, quartz and similar. The look features a fade of shades of purple, pink, grey and so on, expertly blended to mimic the depth of geodes. Gem roots can fade in natural hair or pastel hair colours to create a magical look.
Baby Rainbow Hair
Similar to pixel hair, baby rainbow hair adds brightness and colour to natural hair replicating the effect of a prism reflecting on the wearer’s mane. You can create a simple accent with the colours of the rainbow, or add multiple touches here and there to give the illusion of prismatic reflections all over your head.
Splashlight Hair
This is probably the easiest look to recreate, but you’ll need strong and healthy hair to begin with. The splashlight hair trend was born for naturally long hair, so you may want to invest in good permanent hair extensions such as nano ring hair extensions or tape in hair extensions before committing. The splashlight hair trend creates a daring stripe of lighter hair, usually in the middle of your mane, to recreate the illusion of a sunbeam reflecting in your mane. If you are wearing hair extensions, make sure you discuss all the possible outcomes with your hairstylist – as bleaching hair extensions may not go as expected and is usually not advised.
7. Avant Garde Hairstyles From The Movies
Where do avant garde looks come from? Well, although inspiration is everywhere around us – after all, the aforementioned looks mainly take inspiration from the world that surrounds us, such as sunlight, rainbows, geodes and pixel art – when it comes to upcoming trends its usually safe to look at runway looks and cinema. Let’s see some of the avant garde hairstyles featured in sci-fi movies.
Leeloo Dallas
If you, like me, have watched The Fifth Element more than you’d like to admit, chances are you considered getting Leeloo’s amazing hairstyle at some point in your life (or is it just me?): an orange bob held in place by adorable twists clumped together with a generous dose of wax, and that features messy microbangs that add cuteness to an otherwise edgy and hardcore look. The colour of choice was a neon orange with bleached roots; overall, an incredibly 90s look that perfectly blends in with the futuristic setting.
Padme Amidala
Let’s be honest, at this point Star Wars can be considered more like a cultural movement rather than a film franchise. Although Princess Leia is the original queen of space buns, her mother’s hairstyles are even more iconic. If you’re looking for a slicked-back bun that exceeds the expectations, Padme’s look in the Gladiator Ring (from Attack Of The Clones) is an option to consider. The look starts as a regular sleek bun at the front, keeping its intertwined secret in the back. If you don’t have the necessary length and thickness to work with, adding clip in hair extensions will facilitate the job – giving life to a regal, yet supremely sci-fi hairdo.
Quorra
Tron Legacy’s female lead isn’t just a miracle being the only ISO alive in the Grid, she’s also an icon of sci-fi beauty. Her look of choice? An asymmetrical bob with matching bangs, of course. The choice of hairstyle for Quorra features jet black hair, a popular choice for female characters in sci-fi and thriller movies (see also: Kate Beckinsale in Underworld, Charlize Theron in Aeon Flux). Whilst chopping your hair in a vertigo-inducing bob like the one worn by Olivia Wilde in the movie may seem scary, you can always turn it into a trendy, modern jellyfish haircut with clip in hair extensions. This hairstyle is predicted to go big in 2023, and it has already gained lots of interest on social media. Find out more about it in our blog: What Is A Jellyfish Haircut?
8. Conclusion:
Haute couture and cinema are only two of the pools where you could look to fish for a new look: let’s not forget about the world of comics and videogames, where we’ve seen the rise of hairstyles such as the Money Piece hair worn by Rogue in the X-Men franchise, and the unmatched hair game of Bayonetta, with her killer high ponytail and thick plaits. If you’re looking to adopt a hairstyle that is unique (or at least, extremely rare), consider the options listed in this blog for a hair revolution.
