BEST IN CLASS

For most colourists, a predictable result is a good thing. Not for Grace Dalgleish. This award-winning artist (she’s already been named Creative HEAD’s Most Wanted Colour Expert two years running) is FEARLESS when it comes to experimenting – just head to her Instagram @gracedalgleishx for the stunning, vibrant, jaw-dropping proof

@sofiageideby

Grace Dalgleish

@aris_akritidis

@sofiageideby

@aris_akritidis

“My big thing is always to find the creative in commercial colour,” says Grace Dalgleish. “When you work in a salon every day, with clients always wanting blondes or expensive brunettes, it’s easy to get stuck in a rut, doing the same techniques back-to-back. I like to create something a bit more unique, an interesting tone that makes you look twice… Something that doesn’t feel so perfectly salon finished and is more exciting for the hairdresser.”

Test shoots are where Grace explored and honed her creative DNA, and for the past two years she has been collaborating on-set with the Swedish colourist Sofia Geideby (“She’s huge in the process world”). The results – multi-dimensional illusions, incompatible tones, colour clashes, DIY sunflower effects – challenge colour norms and attract global attention in equal measure. “We both have different approaches to process and so it’s been interesting to combine her version with mine to create something new,” says Grace.

Such has been their impact that Sofia and Grace have launched a course, Hair Materiality, which they teach between London and Stockholm, sharing their methods and techniques and focusing on the colour process, as much as the result. “It's a raw and really immersive education style, we don't even let our students sit down,” says Grace. “And what’s liberating is that we can break the rules completely, because we're not promoting a brand or a colour range. We can layer a first shade, then we layer maybe bleach over that shade to create these different nuances in the hair, so it's like building a story as you work. Gen Z, Gen Alpha, they want this kind of perfectly imperfect finished hair; they don't want their colour to be polished.”

This relevance to the younger generations is why Grace’s skills are so sought-after by brands – she’s been a guest artist for Schwarzkopf Professional and this year was named an ambassador for colour innovator, yuv. “They hire me because they want my signature style,” says Grace. “They celebrate the fact that I paint with a sponge, that I like to switch up my tools, and that I don’t work so classically. What I do is technical, still, but I put my own fresh take on it – it’s important to me that the education has purpose.”

@laurenbellhair

“PHOTOGRAPHY SPARKS MY CREATIVITY, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO LIGHTING, SHADOWS AND COLOUR PLACEMENT. THERE’S ONE PHOTOGRAPHER I’VE BEEN FOLLOWING FOR YEARS – JON SANCHEZ, @PLATOUX, BASED IN BIARRITZ. HE CAPTURES THE STUNNING SUNSETS AND SURFERS THERE, ESPECIALLY DURING THE GOLDEN HOUR. I COULDN’T BELIEVE IT WHEN I WAS ON HOLIDAY IN FRANCE THIS YEAR AND HAPPENED TO STUMBLE ACROSS HIS ART GALLERY ON ITS OPENING DAY!”

By her own admission, 2024 has been an insane year for Grace so far, with multiple overseas trips every month and no sign of it letting up. Is she working towards a future goal, or is she taking each month as it comes?

“That’s a really good, big question! I’m really happy where I am. I’ve always pushed myself out of my comfort zone, so that will hopefully keep me growing and moving forward. I want to change people's perspective on colour and do things differently to how they’ve been done before. In our industry we love change and we need change. There’s this ripple happening with colour right now, and I really want to be at the forefront of that.”

@gracedalgleishx