Hot Cheetos Hair Is the Most Dangerously Cheesy Dye Job on Instagram

Allure
Updated
We don't know about you, but we're drooling.

If you thought Hot Cheetos’ 15 minutes of fame was up now that Fashion Month is over and its debut on Chromat’s runway is now just a vivid memory, take a peek at the newest color-melt creation by Helena Palacios, a hairstylist based in Los Angeles. The fiery color was inspired by and named after the spicy snack. Of course, we had to find out where Palacios’ head was at when creating this sizzling shade, so tapped the Cali color magician to spill the tea.

“The inspiration came from my love for Hot Cheetos. They will always be my guilty pleasure,” Palacios tells Allure. Palacios says that this hue can work on anyone willing to have fun with their hair, as it’s not created with neutral shades where tones are usually taken into consideration. To create the look, Palacios started by lightening her client's color to a level 9. Once the base was all set, she used her personal favorite coloring technique, a color-melt, to meld reds and oranges together to create the low-maintenance gradient we’re all drooling over. Yup, you heard that right, despite being an ultra-bold hair color, Palacios designed it specifically for graceful grow-out. “I like to leave a dark root to create contrast and easier grow out and start with the darkest color on top which was red-orange, followed by orange and the ends with yellow,” she tells Allure.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bft0DBWhw1o/

Just because this delicious hue is designed to grow out nicely, Palacios reminds us that, even with dark roots for a smooth transition, she always recommends washing with sulfate-free shampoo, making sure to rinse in warm or cool water, if you can tolerate it. “It is a high-maintenance color in the sense of all bold colors fade, but with proper care and keep-up, it will last longer,” says Palacios.

Ready to rock the shade? Be sure to keep Palacios’s creation flagged on your Instagram so that you can give your stylist a concrete example of what you want.

More cool food-inspired colors:

Now, find out the history of hair dye:

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