Pastel hair, gray hair and sand art hair… they've been all the rage this year but unless you're blessed with fair locks they involve a LOT of work.

Bleaching every ounce of colour from your hair not only wrecks the strands, but it takes a huge amount of upkeep to keep your roots constantly covered.

Luckily for ladies with darker tresses, there's a new trend in hair colouring that's altogether more brunette-friendly: the oil slick.

Created by celebrity colourist Aura Friedman, the look mimics the appearance of gasoline or oil mixed with water – that purplish, greenish rainbow effect we often see on the ground after it rains.

Creating the oil slick look is surprisingly easy, as it simply involves layering a small number of colours onto the hair. "I find that when you take a dark purple and a dark green and layer them one on top of the other, you end up with this iridescent feeling," says Aura of her creation.

 

A photo posted by Courtney – (@phyrra) on

Using darker tones rather than bleached pastels has multiple advantages. The oil slick trend is "great for people who naturally have dark hair and don't want to go through a major bleaching process," Aura says.

"You don't have to lighten it so much to get it there, so your hair will be in better condition."

 

A photo posted by Sean Godard (@seangodard) on

Plus, darker tones last much longer than pastels and neons, so the oil slick look will see you right through to Christmas.

Win!