InStyle has identified nine hair trends gaining traction this summer, with two names doing most of the talking in salon chairs right now: teddy bear bronde and the Italian lob.

The headline finding is a shift toward warmth. Teddy bear bronde sits at the center of the list, and the name itself signals the formulation logic behind it — a bronde base, meaning blonde and brown blended rather than opposed, finished with a soft, diffused warmth that reads fuzzy and tactile rather than glossy and sharp. For colorists, the direction suggests continued movement away from cool, ashy toning as the default finishing choice, and toward gold and caramel undertones built into the lift itself rather than painted on at the bowl.

The second marquee trend, the Italian lob, speaks to the cutting floor. The long bob has held its position as the workhorse length for several seasons, and the Italian prefix points to a specific styling sensibility — the effortless, slightly undone finish associated with Italian hairdressing, where the shape carries the look and the styling stays deliberately light. It is a cut that rewards strong foundational work: clean perimeter lines, internal weight distributed with intention, and a length that lands somewhere between the collarbone and the shoulder.

Both trends share a common thread that runs through the wider nine-trend list: softness over structure. The season's rising looks favor lived-in grow-out, blended transitions, and textures that move. That has practical implications behind the chair. Clients asking for these looks need consultation framing around maintenance — bronde formulations with built-in warmth typically grow out more gracefully than high-contrast placements, and a lob styled for effortlessness still depends on a precisely executed baseline cut.

The number itself matters. Nine distinct trends on a single rising list indicates a fragmented season rather than one dominant silhouette. Where previous summers have coalesced around a single It-cut or a single color of the year, this cycle spreads across multiple lengths, tones, and styling approaches. Stylists should expect wider-ranging consultation conversations, with clients arriving with references that pull from very different directions within the same list.

For colorists specifically, the bronde family remains the commercial engine. Blonde-brown hybrids suit the broadest range of natural base levels, and the teddy bear variant's warm finish works with — rather than fighting — the underlying pigment revealed during lifting. That can mean fewer toning corrections at the basin and less lift required to hit the target tone, both of which support hair integrity across sunny-weather appointments.

On the cutting side, the Italian lob's rise continues the lob's multi-season hold on the mid-length category. The Italian styling signature — volume at the root, movement through the mid-shaft, ends that fall rather than flip — asks less of the client's daily routine than sculpted alternatives. That low-effort positioning aligns with what salon owners report clients requesting year over year: shapes that survive between visits without elaborate home styling.

InStyle's full rundown covers all nine trends, with teddy bear bronde and the Italian lob named as the headline acts in the outlet's own framing. The full list offers a working snapshot of where client demand is heading as the season develops, and stylists mapping their autumn consultation scripts would do well to note which of the nine carry into fall.