The Y2K hair stencil trend has returned to Hollywood

The beauty space has long been a place for creativity to flourish, but though a perfect ponytail is no doubt a work of art, literal 'drawings' have generally been more of a makeup thing than a hair one. Graphic liner, for example, is still going strong.

It seems Hollywood's hair stylists have been having a bit of FOMO, however, because they've now crafted (or rather, resurrected) a way to turn heads of hair into creativity-expressing canvases. Yes indeed, hair stencils are having a 2022 moment.

But while you may be thinking said trend is far too 'school disco' to try (we don't tend to participate in 'crazy hair day' as adults the same way we did as kids, after all), it's worth noting that the celebs encouraging it are in fact the cream of the tastemaking A-list crop.

The first star to show off hair stencils this year? Dua Lipa, who blessed Instagram with a photo dump of herself sporting bright blonde hair adorned with an array of highlighter-hued hearts in shades of neon orange and yellow.

Next up was Rihanna who set trend-spotting tongues wagging with her red and black take on stripy 'skunk hair'. Only she could make that chic, we swear.

Debuting the look in a SAVAGE X FENTY Valentine's Day campaign (shot by photographer Dennis Leupold), Rihanna proved that unlike most temporary hair colour trends, it is somehow possible for brunettes to get in on the action.

How exactly remains to be clear (unless sections were bleached before the scarlet shade was applied or the stencilled stripes were sprayed onto a wig) but we'll keep our ears to the ground for updates.

Our favourite look yet, however, has to be Megan Thee Stallion's pastel flowers, painted on over platinum blonde Rapunzel-level length. The hair artist behind the look? Kellon Deryck, who shared a little glimpse into the application process via Instagram.

"I created these vibrant flowers on Megan Thee Stallion’s Barbie inspired look by making flower stencils in multiple sizes to use as a guide, then hand painting using @guytang_mydentity colour," he explained. Vibrant indeed!

Though our own DIY attempts may not necessarily be quite up to Hollywood hair artist level, the aforementioned application approach does seem to be the best way to try the trend.

We recommend grabbing a stencil pack like the Joyaho Drawing Stencils ($22.32 at Amazon); it's a set that features 22 stencil sheets with over 300 designs ranging from simple star and heart shapes to more elaborate designs like planets and letters.

As for what to fill your stencils in with, a temporary hair colour spray should do the trick. There are a heap of shade options out there, too; whether you want a bright hue like the Marc Daniel Pink Hair Spray ($3.99 at Chemist Warehouse) or something softer such as the L'Oreal Paris Colorista Pastel Blue Temporary Hair Colour ($10 at Chemist Warehouse) is entirely up to you.

Main image credit: @theestallion

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