Fashion swings like a pendulum, and these days, it’s describing an arc away from super-shiny hair of dubious provenance, toward matte tresses as messy as an unmade bed. The look began on the Paris runways this spring and summer, where models wearing shimmering, reflective fabrics sported hair that was the opposite of the glossy clothes: flat in texture, full of body and deliberately dulled down.

Surprisingly, the look of two-day-old hair seemed fresh, and the trend has taken off, appealing to women who want a bad-girl edge that says “I’m not trying too hard.” For its star practitioner, look no further than Twilight’s Kristen Stewart, an actress who rocks the matte look both on and off camera.

Careful readers of fashion magazines will notice that the “no product look” can be seen on models in both articles and ads, with bed-head hair that is neither shiny nor stick-straight. It’s as if they all “just said no” to silicone (products, that is).

Get the Matte Look
Summer is the perfect time to try this trend, because it’s warm enough to let hair dry naturally without a blow-dryer, which uses heat to add shine. To get the look of unwashed hair without having to wait for it to happen in real time, we asked Fabrice Gili, the national creative director of Frederic Fekkai salons, for tips.

• Hair washing: Wash your hair with your regular shampoo, but for the second shampoo, take a plain bar of all-natural olive oil soap. “I like the traditional cube soap that my grandmother used on us when I was growing up in France, but any olive oil soap that’s pure, gentle and unscented will do,” he says. Lather up and massage the foam starting halfway down your hair all the way to the ends, carefully avoiding the roots. Rinse thoroughly. “The soap will leave a matte finish wherever it was applied, and add depth and texture,” says Gili. It’s best to air-dry your hair, but if that’s not possible, try attaching a diffuser to the blow-dryer. “Any other tools, like a straight iron or a flatiron, will only add shine and negate the effect you’re trying to achieve,” he says.

• An even quicker way to get matte hair is by styling it dry and using a powder. Sprinkle or spray dry shampoo on the roots, working it through the scalp, and then bend over to brush it out. “The powder surrounds the shaft of the hair, almost doubling its circumference, which makes it look and feel a lot thicker,” explains Gili. “On all the fashion shoots I’ve been doing lately, I’ve been using dry shampoo, and it adds a lot of body and gives a really big result,” he says. If you’re all out of dry shampoo, baby powder will work in a pinch, he adds.

• Another way to tamp down the shine while adding texture is to braid your hair while it’s still wet. “A few hours later, take out the braid, and you will find a nice matte soft wave,” he says.

If ever there was a low-maintenance but avant-garde hairstyle, the matte-and-mussed look is it. Gili invites you to try it. “This is being worn by young, contemporary women who are thoroughly trendy and ‘get’ what’s happening,” he says. And it may be happening throughout the fall season, if the hairstyles at the recent fall/winter ready-to-wear shows are any indication. Talk about putting out the “welcome matte.”

One of the best ways to stretch your getting-gorgeous dollars is by coloring your hair at home. If that sounds scary, relax: Today’s drugstore hair coloring products are gentler than ever and loaded with botanicals and conditioners. Following a few easy steps, you can use them to get natural-looking color as well as body and shine. 

Here are five secrets to foolproof at-home color.

At-home Coloring Secret No. 1: Stay within your color range.
Go only one or two shades lighter or darker than your starting hair color (the color your hair is at the moment). You don’t want to make extreme color changes on your own, because hidden beneath the shade that’s apparent to the naked eye are underlying pigments -- from pale yellow to dark red-brown. When hair is dyed, those pigments take center stage. “I can put the exact same color on seven medium brunettes, and they’ll each end up with different results because every woman's hair takes the color in its own way” says Philip Pelusi, who owns salons in Pittsburgh and Manhattan. That's called individuality, and it's something we all want to celebrate.

However, when you’re going from brunette to Lady Gaga platinum or vice versa, you first need to prep the hair by filling in the pigments that are being removed, or by removing pigments before depositing a darker color. This is what’s known as a “double process,” and it’s something you want to leave to the pros to avoid ending up with an orange or green hue.

At-home Coloring Secret No. 2: Choose the right formula.
Start out with a clear understanding of what you want to achieve, and that will lead you to the appropriate type of product.

• Glosses and glazes work in just three to five minutes to boost color by adding tone, shine and vibrancy. They last up to six shampoos. If your hair is highlighted, opt for a clear gloss that will add shine without depositing a hint of color that can affect the tone of those finely calibrated streaks.
• Semipermanent color contains pigments that coat the outside of the hair fiber and fade after six to 12 shampoos. Semipermanent color will only darken the tone of your hair and cover a sprinkling of gray.
• Permanent color contains ingredients that open the hair’s cuticle, allowing the color to penetrate the shaft. It can lighten or darken hair and will provide full gray coverage. After four to six weeks, you’ll need a touch-up to cover showing roots.

At-home Coloring Secret No. 3: Select the right shade.
Josh Wood, a celebrated London hair colorist who looks after some of the most pampered locks in the world, has done many corrections on at-home dye jobs gone wrong. “Typically, women have simply chosen the wrong color because they haven’t identified their skin tone, and skin tone and hair color go hand in hand,” he says. “The right hair color will bring your skin to life, lending it that beautiful luminescent glow.”

You want to balance warm skin tones with cool hair color (look for champagne, ash and beige shades) and cool skin tones with warm hair color (look for cocoa, pecan, caramel, bronze, honey and chestnut shades). “The foundation you wear will give you a good indication of whether you’re cool or warm skin tone,” says Wood. “If you’re still not sure, ask for a color consultation at a cosmetics counter.”

At-home Coloring Secret No. 4: Read the hair color box.
The product box is crammed with information to help you make the right buying decision. Pay attention to the language: Words such as “bold” and “brilliant” indicate you’ll get more dramatic results than a natural “true-to-you” color. Study the color chart on the back of the box as a guide to the results you can expect, and read the ingredients list for things such as botanicals to nourish the hair.

At-home Coloring Secret No. 5: Don’t skip the strand test
Snipping and dyeing a few strands will give you a precise preview of how the color will look on your locks and how long you need to keep the product in your hair if you’re covering resistant grays. Remember, don’t start the timer until you’ve finished applying the color to your hair, and keep the product on for the entire suggested time.

Unlike the boyish hairdos worn by professional golfers, their counterparts on the tennis court are known for their long, beautiful, healthy hair. They are the Rapunzels of sport, with swishing blond braids and ponytails that add a feminine touch to their athletic bodies. Some players even incorporate primping into their service motions: Witness the way Maria Sharapova tucks imaginary wisps behind each ear, despite the barrettes already pinning things down.

Healthy Hair Tips From Center Court
It’s no surprise that the best tennis players in the world prefer their hair long: They’re still girls at heart, in their late teens and 20s. (Thirty is retirement age in this sport.) Since the pros spend most of the day in workout clothes, they love fashion, dressing up at night and letting their hair down -- literally, by unwinding and releasing the braids into sheets of shiny waves.

We saw a lot of gorgeous hair at this year’s BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., but one player in the top 10 stood out: 29-year-old Elena Dementieva, the Moscow-born, Olympic gold medalist. Her dark-blond, sun-streaked hair was striking because of its healthy shine and chic styling -- pulled back in a sleek braid tucked into the strap of her visor. Except for the visor part, it was a look straight from the Paris runways this spring.

We asked Dementieva how her hair stays in such good condition despite the rigors of sun, sweat and scrunchies. Since she spends 11 months of the year on the road with the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, she should know.

Dementieva's top tip? She doesn’t settle for ordinary cleansers on the road. “I never use what’s in the hotel bathroom,” she says. “I carry my own shampoo, cream rinse and conditioner, and if I run out, I’ll buy more in that city. I wish I could do at-home deep-conditioning treatments, but when we’re flying from country to country, with practice followed by matches followed by more practice, there is no rest.”

As for Dementieva’s stylish updos on the court, it turns out that necessity is the mother of invention. “If the weather is temperate, I prefer to wear a ponytail,” she says. “But if it’s very hot, I do the braid, which keeps me cooler, and I tuck it up. But the reason for either style is the same: to keep my hair out of my face.”

How to Join the Braid Parade

• After shampooing, apply a serum and a mousse from roots to end. The serum delivers smooth, sleek shine while the mousse supplies hold. Blow-dry.
• Sweep hair up into a high ponytail, secured on the crown of the head with a snag-free elastic band.
• Braid the ponytail tightly and neatly, securing with a second elastic band an inch from the end.
• Loop the braid up and under, and pin it into place, leaving the tail of the braid free.
• For extra drama on a special occasion, snip a tiny amount of hair at the ends to give a blunted appearance.

If you love the clean, sexy look of shorter hair but don’t have the unearthly cheekbones of Halle Berry or Victoria Beckham to rock a pixie, you’ll be thrilled with the trends in spring hairstyles and summer do’s. Choppy, shoulder-length styles are coming into vogue -- witness Ashley Olsen’s artfully tousled locks, Gwyneth Paltrow’s edgy long bob or Amber Valleta’s versatile chop -- and the longer length means a fresh silhouette with many styling options.

The No-fuss Hairstyle Makeover
The choppy, shoulder-length hairstyle is a longer bob whose ends are cut in a jagged way, specifically tailored to each face. The hairstyle is a shorter version of the loose, carefree waves that so many stars, like Blake Lively, are wearing. “You only need to cut five or six layers off long hair to get this look,” says stylist Byron Williams of Byron and Tracy Salon. Williams points to Paltrow’s evolution from middle-of-the-back hair to a just-above-the-shoulder cut. “It’s a safer choice than most short do’s because it’s easy to grow back if you want, so you get a nice pop of change without too much of a commitment,” he says.

Not only is the longer choppy bob more forgiving than a pixie, it’s also more polished than long hair. “Long hair will never go out,” says Williams, who has tended the tresses of Ashley Olsen, Nicole Richie and Drew Barrymore. “But stars are trying out this look because it’s fresher, classier. It feels more put together and edgier at the same time.”

The shorter locks work well with spring’s barer silhouettes too. “When the sun comes out, you want to clean up a little bit,” says Shai Amiel of Capella Salon in Studio City, Calif. “You peel off your clothing layers, and with shorter hair, you can flash the skin on your back. This look is fun and playful, carefree but sophisticated too.”

Hairstyle Tweaks for Your Face Shape

• Round face Opt for a middle part and longer bangs that frame the face to create the illusion of a face that’s more oval.
• Narrow face A side part will make your face appear wider, as will shorter bangs and jagged layers that range from chin length to shoulder length.
• All face shapes An asymmetrical version of this style works equally well with narrow, round and oval faces. Ashley Olsen sports a good example of this slightly off-kilter cut: Her hair is parted in the middle with longer bangs on one side of her face.

How to Style the Look
For Olsen’s bohemian take on the style, start with day-old hair, which often has more body. Rub a dime-sized dab of shine serum in the palm of your hands and rub all over your hair. Scrunch small handfuls of your tresses and warm with a diffuser or a blow-dryer set on low. Use a large-barrel curling iron to smooth ends, taking care to not create uniform waves or too much curl. The look should feel idiosyncratic and carefree -- not overly polished and styled. Finish with a light spray.

Amiel suggests playing with braids for another great daytime look. Pull small random sections from the back of your hair and braid them. “The tiny braids will poke through and play on your shoulders -- it’s a really cool look,” he says. Plus, leave the braids in while you sleep, and you can undo them the next morning for a wavy style.

How to Fake It
Eva Longoria and Sandra Bullock are long-haired stars who have taken this look for a test drive without cutting their tresses. If you have long-layered hair and want to try out the choppy bob, gather the back ends of your hair and roll inward toward the nape of your neck, suggests Amiel. Secure with bobby pins. Pull out random layers from the front to frame your face and from the back to create the jagged look. “Low commitment and lots of fun,” says Williams. “That’s the best part of this look.”

If you want a head start on fall’s new hair trends, don’t touch the scissors. Judging from the looks shown at the recent New York designer fashion shows, long, sleek and bountiful hair is back.

New Hair Trend No. 1: Neat and on the Side
One of fall’s most important accessories will be a streaming, shiny ponytail, so start growing your hair now. The look is a continuation of the current spring hair trend for long braids, often worn to one side.

Ponytails were assembled from naturally long hair, color-matched extensions or a terrace of layers. The tried-and-true staple is one of the easiest hairstyles to copy from the New York runways.

Long, shimmery ponytails make way for big statements above the neck, including fur collars, thick neck scarves and hats of every variety. With fall’s must-have low side part (a look that already jumped from the runway to the red carpet, with Sandra Bullock and Kate Winslet showing it off at this year’s Oscars), generous ponytails took a sporty turn at DKNY and Lacoste.

Get this look: Apply a mist of frizz-taming serum and blow-dry hair super-straight. Part the hair in the center or extra-low on one side, and secure with an inconspicuous elastic band. For extra-sleek locks, smooth hair sections with a flatiron after drying.

New Hair Trend No. 2: The Pouf
“In fall and winter, you often see off-the-face hair, because there are more collars, high necks, scarves and hoods, so sometimes hair gets in the way,” says celebrity stylist Sam McKnight, who brought modern glamour to many runway shows with new hair trends, including those for Chanel, Mulberry, Prada, Vivienne Westwood and Fendi. McKnight is also responsible for creating the images of Naomi Campbell, Gisele Bundchen and Uma Thurman.

For Mulberry, a British luxury collection that showed in New York, McKnight piled hair into a slightly messy but still compact bouffant, a look that requires lots of back-combing and hair spray. Messy, mini-bouffants also decorated the heads at Vera Wang and Lela Rose.

Get this look: Back-comb just the sections of hair around the crown, gather into a mini-bouffant and secure with pins to preserve volume. Sections of hair left loose, especially around the face, make the look modern.

New Hair Trend No. 3: Shiny and Pretty
To complement the modified menswear silhouettes, hair was styled in a slicked-down sheen. Skip the greasy stuff and use a very fine bristled brush with a weightless oil or spray to give hair a glossy finish, says New York stylist Sam Brocato, who created the shiny, wavy ponytails for newcomer Nima’s presentation.

Get this look: Rub a few drops of light hair oil or smoothing balm into palms, and run hands lightly down the midshaft and ends of hair. Work into hair with a fine, natural-bristle brush. For curls, use a large-barrel curling iron and wind small sections of hair along the barrel. Pull hair to one side and toward the front and secure with an elastic band. Tame flyaways with a light-hold hair spray.

New Hair Trend No. 4: Undone Buns
Strands and ends are now purposely left untucked with fall’s new hair trend, the chignon . Models at Yigal Azrouel wore buns loose with the new low side part. Designer Jason Wu, who created Michelle Obama’s inaugural gown, instructed stylist Odile Gilbert to give his chignons an effortless quality for a look he called “untamed hair on a grown-up girl.”

Get this look: To pull off the hair trend, create a low, loose ponytail with the front sides pulled slightly out of the elastic band to create volume. Wrap the ponytail with a 10-inch elastic band or thin, stretchy headband, and pin into a coil at the nape of the neck.

New Hair Trend No. 5: Flowing Waves
Diane von Furstenberg’s models sported chunks of waves that looked like seawater-drenched layers left to air-dry. Long, wavy ribbons of hair that flow across the shoulder were key looks with several designers, including Ports 1961, where big curls looked like a good ’80s perm.

Get this look: Brocato calls the new hair trend with curls “edgy texture,” partly because few locks adhere to a regular pattern. Instead, ends are smooth and uncurled while the midshaft is curled or bent, usually with a curling iron held at mixed-up angles, he says. Alternatively, McKnight gets the look by spraying a light coat of hair spray before creating one or several thick braids. Run a hot flatiron down the braid to set the bend; unbraid and spray to hold the curl.

No matter what the hairstyle -- ponytails, waves and chignons alike -- always finish with a final mist of hair spray: It’s essential to keep these new hair trends frizz-free and as polished as fall’s new clothes.