Remember Sun-In, the hair lightening spray that promised to lift your natural colour to a sun-kissed shade as you sat out in the sun? Much like Johnson’s Holiday Skin (the cautious tanner’s lotion of choice) Sun-In was (and is) a much-loved beauty inbetweener, a gateway product for our teenage selves to play around with before graduating to proper salon highlights (and fancier spray tans). And for every person that feels a nostalgic loyalty to the spray’s ‘botanical’ scent and Day-Glo bottle, there’ll be one who had a full-on haircare disaster thanks to overzealous spritzing.
Whether you look back on Sun-In fondly or with a lurking sense of fear, though, the concept of a fuss-free way of lightening hair – or keeping pre-existing highlights fresh between salon visits – remains golden. That’s why the latest product launch from Kardashian-approved stylist Jen Atkin’s Ouai haircare line takes inspiration from the Noughties favourite, but with an updated formula that will leave your lengths hydrated and nourished while imparting a natural, balayage-style colour lift.
Ouai’s Sun of a Beach Ombré spray, priced at £20, is formulated with lemon infused coconut water, pineapple juice and hydrogen peroxide. Discussing the product’s genesis with Allure, Atkin revealed: ‘We realised that a lot of our consumers wanted something to help with and keep their highlights fresh. I loved Sun-In when I was in high school, so we wanted to create something that gave that type of product a modern twist.'
According to Atkin, the easiest route to beachy highlights is to spritz Sun of a Beach through slightly damp, towel-dried hair and comb through, before stepping outside and letting the sun’s rays do their good work. For a more targeted colour boost, she recommends dividing the hair into sections, then spraying the selected area. ‘It’s a no brainer product for blondes, who can end up with highlights that are two to four shades lighter,’ she says.
Take some balayage hair inspiration from the A-list in the gallery below...
Celebrities Balayage Hair
1 of 14Ariana Grande
Ariana's a fan of ombre for sure, but check those sunkissed balayage bits in her bun. A dramatic look for sure, but hey, you have to have fun when you're as young as her, right?
2 of 14Ashley Greene
Ashely's hair has been done with a very light touch - we love her softly, softly glossy tones in her lengths. This is a great way to do balayage without lightening your hair colour too much - it just adds a bit of lift.
3 of 14Caroline Flack
Caroline's working a dip-dyed effect with ease, and we're loving the honey-hued effect it's giving her 'do.
4 of 14Elizabeth Olsen
You might think that on hair as fair as Elizabeth's, balayage wouldn't work. Wrong. She's got light streaks of strawberry blonde running through her lengths to give some warmth to the look. Hats off!
5 of 14Gisele
Gisele's the original balayage poster girl. Beachy blonde highlights, with a super-soft touch and plenty of surf-y volume, this is the balayage to beat.
6 of 14Jamie Chung
Jamie's seriously cool style shows that look works on all hair colours. With a soft ombre to a caramel colour and strands of blonde picked out, Jamie looks nonchalant and super chic.
7 of 14Jana Kramer
With her beachy side-plait, Jana's showing off her summery balayage to its full effect. This is a stronger look, with high contrast between her light and dark shades, but Jana pulls it off effortlessly.
8 of 14Jessica Szohr
This is an extra-graduated ombre. Dark the roots but super light at the tips, Jessica's style is held together by the soft brown tones that keep it fresh and insouciant.
9 of 14Kate Beckinsale
Showing that balayage can go high volume glamour, Kate's style has some serious va-va-voom. With scattered blonde tones, Kate's hair looks equally feminine and fresh.
10 of 14Lea Michele
Lea's locks have a subtle nod to the trend with the light tips and lengths running through her hair. It looks like she's spent a couple of weeks someplace fabulous - which is a look we can all get behind.
11 of 14Lucy Hale
If it ain't broke, why fix it? Lucy's style is chic, short and adorable.
12 of 14Rosie Huntington Whiteley
Now this is a cool look. Super-light, super-fine highlights have been sliced out of Rosie's hair in the perfect face-framing places.
13 of 14Sarah Jessica Parker
With blonde tones framing her face and running into the lengths of her hair, Sarah Jessica has an understated, yet flattering, balayage style.
14 of 14Sophia Bush
Blending blonde with strawberry-hued highlights, Sophia has a statement look that oozes cool.