I Asked Kaia Gerber's Colorist to Make Me "Cashmere Bronde," and My Hair Has Never Looked More Expensive

Jenna Perry could have a PhD in predicting hair trends. The celebrity colorist (responsible for the transforming the tresses of Kaia Gerber, Emily Ratajkowski, and Kendall Jenner) has coined more than a few buzzy hair looks over the years—"NYC blonde" and "cherry cola," to name a couple all-stars—so whenever I have the honor of sitting in her chair, I give her total creative freedom. That said, I couldn't help but mention how much I loved the sun-kissed highlights she recently did for Gerber (inspired by '90s Cindy Crawford). "Maybe something in that realm?" I posed. Perry paused for a beat, pensively fluffed my hair, then declared we would go in a slightly different direction: cashmere bronde.

What Is Cashmere Bronde Hair?

Let's dissect the term, shall we? Bronde, as you likely know, is a cross between blonde and brunette—just a smidge too dark to be dirty blonde yet not quite as rich as a true dimensional brunette. My natural hair color falls squarely in the middle, so Perry wanted to maintain the base and add some soft, sun-streaked highlights, which is actually somewhat similar to what she did for Gerber. "I put the [color] a little bit brighter around your face for the high-contrast, '90s supermodel thing we were going for with [Gerber's] hair," she explains. "I just did it for your natural base—a really nice medium blonde—and kept it slightly on the neutral-cool side."

Aside from those contrasting face-framing pieces, the rest of the color appears super soft and blended. "There isn’t a harsh transition from the deeper root into the lighter ends," Perry adds. "It reminds me of cashmere because it feels warm, understated, and luxurious… It’s the kind of color that looks even better when it moves and catches the light." The "cashmere" bit does nod to the creamy, tow-blonde shade she used for my highlights, but it's more about the subtlety of tones to create a seamless, "Does she even have highlights?" effect. (Quiet luxury, dare I say.)

What to Ask For

To replicate the color, "I would ask for a brighter, painted hairline, and then just focus on highlights throughout the ends," Perry shares. "It's not necessarily a money piece, but it's a little modern rendition of it since it's brighter around your face." Product-wise, she used R+Color's Hypermatic 10-Minute Demi-Permanent Liquid Hair Color in Wired (NP7) to create depth at the root, then Palace (NP9) and Athens (GP9) through the ends for that creamy, cashmere finish. "The combination creates a really soft brunette base with expensive-looking blonde woven through it," she adds.

I can attest: My hair has never looked more effortlessly luxurious. Another stylist even complimented my hair two weeks later, asking, "Is that your natural color? It's so good." That's when you know you have good highlights—when they're so gloriously lived-in that people (even pros!) wonder if they came from the actual sun. It's a pretty impressive feat, especially considering the process took only a little over an hour. "A lot of people think that when you go into a salon, you need the full shebang," Perry adds, "but, sometimes, you really need just a little sun kiss on the hairline."

The Best Products to Maintain Cashmere Bronde Hair