Sombré Hair Color Is Ombré's Cooler Baby Sister

Hair color used to be simple: You asked for highlights in the summer, lowlights come fall, and maybe ombré when you saw your favorite celeb trying it. Now, there's balayage, gloss smudging, midlighting, and tomorrow there will be a new trendy way to seamlessly blend blonde. It can get confusing, but the au courant hair color for fall actually takes us back to elementary coloring — it's old-school ombré, gone subtle.

The pros call the adaptation "sombré," and it's a toned-down version of ombré (the "s" stands for subtle). It's the perfect transitional technique to take your hair from summer to fall. "Sombré gives your color a natural, lived-in look," explains Ryan Pearl, a colorist out of NYC's Cutler Salon and Redken Brand Ambassador. "It's blended with extra brightness around the face and ends." Similar to an ombré, you start with a dark base and gradually get lighter towards the ends. However, sombré incorporates highlights painted around the face, so there's no visible line of demarcation. The finished effect is so natural that no one will ask: "Is that ombré?"

Click ahead for photo evidence of sombré's universal wearability. Plus, pick up a few pro tips on how to ask for it at your next appointment.