It’s no coincidence that trends for summer 2016 are about sun, fun and shades of sand. Vacation hair combines with Fourth-of-July color to make for a full spectrum of stylish summer services you can suggest.

Color is the new cut. After all, it represents the easiest way to change appearances without a lot of drama. Not only are women embracing every shade over the rainbow, they’re increasingly asking salons to do the honors because color-with-care that’s good for hair is the driving force behind a recent decline in drug-store haircolor sales. That’s good news for salons that are up on the trends! While for hair, the story is all about authenticity, color trends are contradictory.

1. Color Cues: Natural, Vibrant or Both in Balance

The summer-smart trend everyone is asking for is Nude haircolor, which is just another word for neutral-hued hair or beige. Naturally, it started with blondes that were either purely neutral (neither warm nor cool) or created by blending several blonde shades for an overall nude-color effect. When formulating, many colorists use fairly even amounts of warm and cool colors to cancel one another out. It didn’t take long before brunettes and redheads went nude, too, with beige/sable blends, pink/blush neutrals, earthy color-of-sand shades and chestnut/chocolate/plum combos emerging with naked delight. Nude color is a friend with benefits: tell your clients that it works with almost all skin tones, won’t get as brassy as gold in the sun, and is easy to alter come fall.

Summer annuals are for those who like it natural and rooted, or favor a shade that lasts through a long vacation. Balayage remains big and Foilyage is the newest summer service to offer. Initially, it cleverly combined foil highlights and Balayage to create the ultimate, precision-placed, sun-kissed color that moved from darker at the roots to sunny at the ends. Then, other colorists got into the mix and began using “Foilyage” to describe hand-painting on highlights, then wrapping every painted section in foil to amplify the seamless look of highlights that increase in intensity from roots to ends. Remember, Balayage painting makes less hair contact, so it sparks the hair’s surface, while foils bring the heat for lighter, more even processing.

2. Bold at the Beach

Bold, vibrant and intense tones just keep bringing on the creativity. As silver-gray loses its edge, new “see-me” shades have moved from a younger woman’s fancy to a trend that’s being embraced by women of all ages. Audacious and courageous color has involved influences as far flung as the ocean (Mermaid color in sea foam green and deep blue, or sometimes purple) and Galaxy color, which is stratospheric in combinations of blue, purple, turquoise and Saturn red.

 The new silver-gray is Denim hair, which combines purple, indigo and gray, while Rainbow hair in all colors has evolved into under-a-violet moon Opal haircolor. For summer, expect these seriously bold mixes to morph into ice cream shades. Traditionalists who want to re-experience their childhood color might ask for babylights, but those on the edge want Sand Art color, created with blue, pink, yellow and green—just like the colored sand children pour into bottles. It’s perfect for showcasing summertime braids. Finally, red itself is sending a siren call for total intensity, and ways to make black less bleak abound—think plum or midnight blue.

3. Best of Both Worlds

Naturally, there are color options for those who won’t go all the way with a trend, and these involve adding a hint of what’s happening. Ombrè and Sombrè offer diverse options in shade selection and placement, but newer ideas include below-the-surface sections (adding a flash of red under deep chestnut), Color Contouring (using lights and darks to create lucence and shadows), hidden color blocks in the nape and a trendy version of Bronde for brunettes called Ronze, which combines red, bronzed browns and copper. Right on-the-edge are Desert Rose, and easy-to-banish-by-fall Rainbow Bangs, which were the breaking style-news at Coachella.

For any new haircolor—and the intense tones in particular—protection against summer fadage and sea salt is a must. In addition to full-spectrum sun protection, products that focus on anti-pollution are shifting from skin care to hair care: Vitamin E and anti-oxidants are key. Luckily Al-Nutrient products are loaded with both!

4. Happening Haircuts and Summer Styling

Vacation hair, which is raw and real, is as visible on Main Street as it was on the spring/summer catwalks. Moving from short to long, the pixie has been replaced by the strong buzz cut, which only works with balanced face and head shapes. Bobs (thank Taylor Swift) and longer lobs have never gone out of style; they’re just more textured and layered for breezy movement. Suggest them for clients who want easy-care cuts.

Long, lived-in layers, rougher grown-out ones and sassy shags also get Goggled more during summer because they’re super beach-adaptable. Just add a little spray, oil or conditioner and tousle or twist. Long, smooth-as-glass strands seen on runways are best bets for a similar reason: they can be transformed quickly into the most pinned looks on Pinterest. These include messy buns, buns that combine with braids and stand-alone plaits. Just be sure they look lived-in, because bridal braids and buns they’re not.

The word “texture” itself is being relegated to styling—stylists are giving up on couching “chemical services” as “texturizing treatments.” There’s no longer a need because curly girls are embracing their natural curl more than ever, and stylists-on-the-edge are predicting the return of the perm. It may not play well with all haircolor, but it’s one of the best ways to create those beachy S-waves for a season.