SKIN

“Don’t do it” is the most common advice you tend to hear about colouring your own hair. But despite all the horror stories of breakage and brassy streaks, many people embrace the challenge; once you’ve mastered the process, it’s hard to argue with the convenience and creative control. For advice, we talked to three self-taught experts: Soo Joo Park, a Los Angeles-based model known for regularly changing the colour of her salon-bleached hair; Aliyah’s Interlude, an Atlanta-born music artist and TikTok star who has tried a multitude of shades on her natural hair and wigs; and Josh Wood, a British colourist whose entry into the business was dying his own hair as a teenager. The key, they say, is to know your limits and allow yourself some grace for mistakes.

Soo Joo Park, model and musician

• Despite what the instructions say, I apply dye to dry, not wet, hair. It’s easier to see where you’re putting the colour. I use a toothbrush instead of the applicator brush because it’s more precise, and apply the dye to little sections of hair, about ½ to ¾ inches thick. I start at the crown and work my way down from there.

• I always wear gloves. And I wipe off any dye that does get on my skin right away, with rubbing alcohol. Makeup wipes work too.

• I leave the dye on for 45 minutes — longer than the recommended half-hour. (It needs more time to soak into dry hair.) Then I put on fresh gloves and wash the dye out in the shower, with my head upside down so the color doesn’t run over my body.

• Every two weeks, I just top up the color. I’ve used Manic Panic and Adore, and Bleach London has a great range of colors. I sometimes mix two shades for a more customized look. For an allover pastel tint, I add a little dye to my shampoo or conditioner and leave it on for 15 minutes.

• To keep my hair healthy and bright, I use a very gentle shampoo. I like Hairstory’s, which hardly lathers, and I use Bleach London’s Beer Mask every other week or so.

Aliyah’s Interlude, 21, music artist

• I really like to experiment with hair color. I’ve gone red, blonde and pink and then back to black [my natural colour]. I also started coloring wigs at 18. For me, it’s a form of expression.

• I mostly dye blond wigs — I like the natural hair ones from Alipearl. I put boiled water in a bowl, add a bottle of semi-permanent hair dye, mix it together and dip my wig in there until the shade is right. It’s called the watercolour method; it’s quick and I find the colour holds well.

• For my natural hair, I like Adore’s semi-permanent colours; my favourite is Pink Blush 142. But it’s very noticeable when my roots grow in. So rather than touching them up, I typically use a clarifying shampoo to remove the last of the colour and then dye my whole head again.

• If you’re going from blonde back to black, you really need to leave the dark dye on for a long time. Otherwise, when it starts to fade, your hair turns green. Also, to prevent damage, don’t bleach your hair more than once every six months. When my hair was really dry, I used SheaMoisture religiously — the shampoos, conditioners and masks.

• Certain colors will just not match my skin tone — and it’s very obvious. Like, yellow is obnoxiously bright. Still, nothing is off limits.

Josh Wood, 57, hair colourist and salon owner

• Be realistic about what you can do at home. Covering grays or roots or going darker is fairly easy. Highlights or balayage? Virtually impossible to do yourself.

• If you’re covering grays with permanent dye, start applying at the front of the hairline. By the time you get to the back of your head, 15 minutes has gone by, so the grays will get more processing time at the front, where you need it. Some of my clients also conceal grays with mascara or talcum powder. I use my line’s Root Smudge, which is like eye shadow but more compressed and wetter so it holds.

• Semi-permanent colors involve less risk since they wash out. Go a couple of shades darker or lighter than your natural base tone as a starting point. For an even application, use a wide-tooth comb; I like the ones from Matador.

• Saving colour is all about hydration. To maintain your colour, wash your hair every few days with just conditioner instead of shampoo. If your colour starts to tarnish, you can mix in a little hair gloss — I use my brand’s Icy Blonde — for some extra sparkle.

• Don’t worry if you mess up. You can neutralise a green tinge by applying another colour opposite it on the colour wheel, for example a semi-permanent dye with chestnut or red in it. And you can always ask for help at a salon.

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“The biggest misconception about brushes is that you need a hundred of them,” says the makeup artist Diane Kendal, who’s also the creative director of Rabanne Beauty. “Unless you’re a pro, it’s better to have only a handful and wash them regularly.” The New York-based makeup artist Linda Gradin estimates that most people need just three to seven brushes for everyday use — to even out the skin, add some colour to the cheeks and create simple, well-defined eye looks. The best ones can also do double duty; you can apply lipstick with a small, angled eyeliner brush, for example. And while putting on makeup with your fingers can be great — skin-to-skin contact warms formulas, helping them to blend easily — you need brushes if you’re looking for polish and precision. Here’s a breakdown of the essential styles to have on hand, and how to clean them.

Foundation

If you prefer powder foundation, a medium-size brush with loose bristles, such as Real Techniques’ Ultra Plush Powder Makeup Brush, can evenly distribute the product for a matte, but not caky, finish. Tightly packed options like Westman Atelier’s Clean Foundation Brush are the most effective at moving liquid and cream formulas across the skin, without absorbing too much product or causing it to streak. And a note that while beauty sponges work well for creating a high-coverage, airbrushed finish, they also hold on to more bacteria and dead skin than brushes; save them for the occasional, formal event.

Concealer

When covering up tiny blemishes or hyperpigmentation, many people “go wrong [by] putting too much product on,” says the makeup artist Lauren Parsons, which can cause caking and bring more attention to the area. Instead, conceal precisely by using a small-tipped brush, such as Westman Atelier’s Spot Check Brush.

To cover up slightly larger areas like under-eye circles, or to contour intricate places like your nose, try a bigger brush with a doe-foot tip, such as Rare Beauty’s Liquid Touch Concealer Brush. That type of applicator blends well and can even help “sheer out product into a tinted moisturiser texture,” Parsons says.

Cheeks

A good blush and bronzer brush should help you build different levels of colour intensity, from a diffused look to a bold flush. Artis’s large, rounded Elite Oval 7 is shaped like the apples of the cheeks, allowing you to add a layer of pigment in one swipe — and it works with cream, liquid and powder formulas. If you’re only dabbing on cream or liquid, then Hourglass’s No. 15 Blush Brush will get the job done. Alternatively, Patrick Ta’s Dual-Ended Blush Brush has both a powder side, with loose bristles and a rounded shape, and a cream or liquid side that’s dense and a little flatter at the top.

Eyes

You can create a variety of eye makeup looks with just four basic brush types.

• A broad, tapered brush such as Surratt Beauty’s Large Classic Shadow Brush is a good choice for sweeping a single shade over the entire lid or blending a dark color into the outer edges to add definition. The tapered end creates some resistance against the skin, Gradin says, making it easier to direct eye shadow.

• A small, fluffy brush like Hourglass’s No. 4 Crease Brush is best for adding dimension to the creases with dark, neutral colors or creating a smoky eye.

• For precise application of shadow or gel liner, a “skinny edge can get into small areas like the lower lash line,” Kendal says. Try a slanted brush such as MAC’s 263 Synthetic Small Angle Brush, which can also be used for filling in your eyebrows.

• “The biggest thing that can change a face with minimal effort is just brushing your eyebrows up,” says Parsons. Use a spoolie like MAC’s 204 Lash Brush to lift and shape them.

How Do I Clean My Brushes?

“Most people don’t clean their brushes anywhere near enough,” says Kendal. But product buildup can hinder their performance and cause inflammation and breakouts, says Parsons. She and Gradin both recommend cleaning brushes every other week. Here’s a simple and effective routine:

• Pour a nickel-size amount of a mild, nonperfumed soap such as Johnson’s Head-to-Toe Baby Wash into your palm.

• Run the brush’s bristles under water and “wash the brush softly [against your palm],” says Gradin, with back-and-forth or circular motions. Repeat until the brush rinses clear.

• Squeeze and lightly shape the bristles with your hands to remove as much water as you can.

• Leave the brush to dry completely on a paper towel or cloth. “It should be laid flat so that water doesn’t drain into the ferrule” — the metal ring below the bristles — “and loosen the adhesive” says Kendal.

Use an antibacterial spray, like Sephora’s Daily Brush Cleaner, between washes and store your brushes in a separate case from the rest of your makeup so the bristles don’t get damaged by other tools, says Gradin. A good option is Kevyn Aucoin’s convertible Beauty Pochette. “But it could just be a regular pen case,” she adds.

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Despite summer’s myriad weather-related benefits – see: longer days, warmer wakeups and less layers – the season has a tendency to wreak havoc on our skin (the trifecta of heat, humidity and liberally-applied sunscreen often to blame). Across her Sydney, Melbourne and Los Angeles clinics, skin specialist Melanie Grant sees a wide range of summer-related concerns, the most common being “pigmentation and uneven skin tone, blemishes and congestion, dehydration and, of course, sunburn”. And for Melbourne-based medical and cosmetic dermatologist, Dr. Katherine Armour, the season paints a similar picture. “I love summer, and live for this time of year. However, many of us need to change up our skincare [for the season],” she advises, echoing Grant’s list of December-through-February complexion woes. Though we can’t control the elements, there are ways to fight back. Here, a guide to achieving radiant skin while the heat is on.

Get One Step Ahead

Avoiding pigmentation is a game of prevention, and both Grant and Armour recommend applying a broad-spectrum sunscreen daily. “Sunscreens have come a really long way, there are so many new generation formulas and textures,” says Grant. For sensitive types, Dr Babor Repair Cellular Protecting Balm offers SPF 50 sun protection without compromising your skin tone, while Ultra Violette’s Supreme Screen Hydrating Facial Skinscreen SPF 50+, blended with super-active ingredient, Pentavitin, offers an added dose of hydration for those suffering from dryness. If you do start to notice an increase in hyperpigmentation, Armour points to multitasking, over-the-counter cosmeceutical ingredients. Niacinamide (Vitamin B3), for example, assists in strengthening the skin’s moisture barrier, and can be found in The Ordinary 10% + Zinc 1% serum or Armour’s own brand’s Complete Daily Armour, while Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C) helps to fade dark spots, a key ingredient in Aspect Dr Complete Pigment Plus and SkinCeuticals’ cult favourite C E Ferulic Serum. To address general tonal inconsistencies, Augustinus Bader’s The Face Oil firms and strengthens the skin (sans-filmy residue).

Be Gentle on your Breakouts

Where heat-related breakouts might have us running to our bathroom cabinets, Armour warns too many layers of skincare can actually block pores and increase congestion (even more so now that we’re wearing masks). “For many of us, we’ll be able to skip our daily moisturiser over the hot months and perhaps go straight from a serum to applying our sunscreen,” she says. Armour encourages a double cleanse for your nightly ritual to remove excess sweat, sunscreen, makeup and pollution, and suggests gentler formulations for summer such as La Roche-Posay’s Toleriane cleanser or Dr Natasha Cook Cosmeceuticals Concentrated cleanser.

Apologise to Your Skin

If you do find yourself nursing a sunburn this season, the first port of call is to hydrate. “Sunburn will draw fluid away from the skin’s surface, so ensure you replenish and re-hydrate with lots of water to compensate … Think of it as a way of apologising to your poor skin.” While your burn heals, it’s best to avoid products with actives (such as retinol), acids and fragrances, as this can disturb the healing process and lead to irritation. Armour’s go-to soothing moisturisers include Avene XeraCalm AD Lipid Replenishing Balm, Bioderma Atoderm Intensive Baume and La Roche Posay Lipikar Baume.

Set Yourself Up for Success

Don’t underestimate what’s inside urges internal skincare naturopath, Chloe Wilkinson (The Good Health Co.), who advocates a holistic approach to combating summer skin woes. “It’s important to set your skin up for success from the inside out so topical products can work properly,” she explains. Our collective tendency to over-imbibe during warmer months, for example, often leads to gut lining inflammation, a lack of nutrient absorption and subsequent skin imbalances. Along with increased hydration and a nutrient-rich diet, Wilkinson suggests adding a powdered supplement to your daily intake such as The Beauty Chef’s Gut Primer Inner Beauty Support, blended with slippery elm and milk thistle, repairing the gut lining from the inside and allowing your best summer skin to shine through.

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