Lucy Hale Is The Latest Celebrity To Lighten Her Hair for the Winter

Gone are her signature dark brown locks.

Lucy Hale attends The Hollywood Reporter's Women In Entertainment Gala at The Beverly Hills Hotel on December 07, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California.
(Image credit: Amy Sussman/Getty Images)

When you think of getting highlights, you likely think of warmer weather—of sunlight glinting off of honey blonde streaks or platinum tresses. But as temperatures have begun to cool this year, it seems that celebrities have been doing the exact opposite: dying their hair lighter to bring a bit of sun-kissed energy into the colder, darker months. Emma Stone, Rihanna, Beyoncé, Keke Palmer, Kate Beckinsale, and Selena Gomez have all opted for lighter locks recently, and now Lucy Hale has joined their ranks, too.

For a while now, Hale has had dark brown hair, similar to the shade she wore for the majority of her time on Pretty Little Liars. In November, she gave us a glimpse of what her hair would look like much lighter, posing with a wavy blonde wig styled by Renato Campora that starkly contrasted with her dark features and brows. The lighter look must have inspired Hale to experiment with lighter shades, because only five weeks later, she’s opted for cool highlights that give her mane an overall honey brown look. 

Lucy Hale

(Image credit: Lucy Hale)

Hale’s look was styled by Matt Rez, a celebrity colorist and Moroccanoil brand ambassador who’s also styled the likes of Chrissy Teigen, Lili Reinhart, and Ana de Armas. Based in Beverly Hills, he specializes in all methods of hair coloring, including balayage, which is a free-hand method of dying hair in which strands gradually grow lighter towards the ends. Based on the selfie that Hale posted to her Instagram story, this is precisely the technique that Rez used to achieve her look, as her natural brown color is more visible at the roots. 

Based on the rate at which celebrities are going lighter for the winter, I have no doubt we’ll be seeing plenty more highlights, balayages, and platinum looks before spring rolls around. 

Gabrielle Ulubay
Beauty Writer

Gabrielle Ulubay is a Beauty Writer at Marie Claire. She has also written about sexual wellness, politics, culture, and fashion at Marie Claire and at publications including The New York Times, HuffPost Personal, Bustle, Alma, Muskrat Magazine, O'Bheal, and elsewhere. Her personal essay in The New York Times' Modern Love column kickstarted her professional writing career in 2018, and that piece has since been printed in the 2019 revised edition of the Modern Love book. Having studied history, international relations, and film, she has made films on politics and gender equity in addition to writing about cinema for Film Ireland, University College Cork, and on her personal blog, gabrielleulubay.medium.com. Before working with Marie Claire, Gabrielle worked in local government, higher education, and sales, and has resided in four countries and counting. She has worked extensively in the e-commerce and sales spaces since 2020, and spent two years at Drizly, where she developed an expertise in finding the best, highest quality goods and experiences money can buy.

Deeply political, she believes that skincare, haircare, and sexual wellness are central tenets to one's overall health and fights for them to be taken seriously, especially for people of color. She also loves studying makeup as a means of artistic expression, drawing on her experience as an artist in her analysis of beauty trends. She's based in New York City, where she can be found watching movies or running her art business when she isn't writing. Find her on Twitter at @GabrielleUlubay or on Instagram at @gabrielle.ulubay, or follow her art at @suburban.graffiti.art