IF YOU’RE ALREADY BLONDE

No disrespect to Marilyn, but not all blonds aspire to be a frosty platinum bombshell. But they do want to lighten up from time to time. “The best way to punch up your color for summer is to add flashes of light at the ends,” says Sulekha Hilton, a colorist at Sally Hershberger Salon in Los Angeles. Rather than asking for a full head of highlights or a change of base color, concentrate color where the sun would naturally hit—that is, the strands around your face and the ends. (The hair towards the bottom is lighter since it’s older and has spent more time in the sun.) “If your base is light, don’t shy away from the brightest blonds—anything from a flaxen shade to a pale buttery tone will be flattering in the summer,” says colorist Marie Robinson of the Marie Robinson Salon in New York City. And the real upside of bright colors that aren’t hugging your roots is that they don’t require a lot of maintenance—which means you can spend your time in the sand, not the salon.