Rainbow Hair: 30 Crazy Rainbow Hair Color Inspirations

A patch of cool toned rainbow highlights underneath hair’s top layer offers the perfect way for beginners to play with rainbow hair for the very first time.

Hair carving is the latest technique in edgy cuts and colors, and features designs or geometric patterns that have been carved into a buzz cut with clippers and enhanced with color. This triangle patterned style is avant garde hair at its finest, and will turn your head into a work of art.

Use crochet braided styles to try out an infinite variety of vibrant rainbow hair colors without using any bleach or chemical dye on your natural hair. If you can’t find pre-dyed crochet twists in the rainbow shades you’re looking for, blonde or grey crochet hair can be dyed at home using rubbing alcohol and acrylic inks!

This fiercely bold style combines an edgy mohawk haircut with rainbow highlights in a hairstyle that refuses to fade into the background.

Pastel hair color in a variety of rainbow shades create what’s often referred to as “Unicorn Hair”. Whatever you call this look, we think it’s the perfect tasty looking hairstyle to try out for summertime wear. Women with lighter complexions often find that pastel shades look better against their skin than deep, rich jewel tones, making this a good rainbow option for very fair-skinned beauties.

This mostly pink pastel hair color gets an added dose of color with yellow, green and blue highlights added to the middle of hair strands. These multidimensional highlights look especially beautiful in a thick braided style like this dutch headband.

Featuring vibrant streaks of pure rainbow colors, this candy-colored hairstyle looks like a tasty confectionary creation.

Heavy on blue and green pastel shades, this dreamy hair color looks like it belongs on the head of a mermaid. If you’re a natural blonde or long-time wearer of platinum hair, this blue-green mermaid style offers a chance to make a bold change without dyeing your hair a darker shade.

All-over rainbow hairstyles can be overwhelming for people who prefer to make more subtle hair statements, and lightening your entire head can be an expensive and lengthy process. Rainbow ombre styles offer up an effective solution for anyone who wants to try a little touch of rainbow, especially in a DIY setting.

With predominantly purple shades, this rainbow style is grounded in cool colors that project a spacey vibe. If you love space buns and glitter and your friends already regularly compare you to a fairy, this otherworldly pastel rainbow hairstyle could be the next step in your aesthetic evolution.

The underlight technique is a genius way to show off or hide vibrant hair colors depending on how you wear your hair. This ashy blonde style will only betray subtle hints of rainbow hues when hair is worn down, but it becomes the perfect party hairstyle when you throw it in a bun or ponytail!

This black hair has pastel rainbow highlights on one side of the head, creating a gorgeous pattern of bright and dark when worn in a fishtail or other braided style.

French braids that might have seemed plain or boring with your natural flat hair color can become a vibrant burst of soft rainbow hues.

Rather than applying rainbow colors in thin sections or using an ombre technique, these natural curls have been colored in fairly large chunks, creating a vibrant rainbow patchwork. As color placement can be tricky with curly hair, this bold technique can help eliminate some of the guesswork that comes along with adding dimensional color to your curls.

This braided style accentuates its rainbow shades by separating individual color sections in their own skinny braid. The hair colors in this style features lots of steely greyish tones, making for an edgier and more unique look than the pastel rainbow shades in many of our other styles.

These gorgeous long locks have been colored with a cascading ombre in vibrant shades, making this a rainbow hair color that’s fit for a queen.

Not only do box braids offer up a stylish way to protect your natural hair, but they also provide the opportunity to experiment with an unlimited number of hair colors without sacrificing the health of your hair. These vibrant neon shades are perfect for summer when festival and beach season mean you’ll be wanting to look extra eye-catching while spending as little time as possible worrying about your hair.

Purples, greens, and blues create a beautiful peacock color palette that’s the perfect fit for black or dark brown hair. The balayage technique helps to give these vibrant colors a natural, painted-on look, making this one of the most sophisticated rainbow looks on our list.

This pastel ombre style is a great starter style for anyone who’s thinking about trying out a rainbow look for the first time. With a blend of pink, purple, and blue, this ombre style creates a dimensional rainbow that contrasts nicely with pale blonde hair.

Bright jewel tones in shades of amethyst, turquoise and topaz create a rich rainbow hair color that will look brilliant in fall or winter. Ladies with olive skin tones will love how these shades of blue and purple play off of their complexion.

In a chic example of hair color technique being perfectly matched with a haircut, feathery pieces of rainbow colors create a subtle see-through highlight over the top layer of this sculpted bob.

These tiered rainbow colors have a gorgeous cascading effect, and create an all-over rainbow look that’s young and vibrant.

With rainbow shades layered from top to bottom, this mid-length haircut gets added depth and dimension along with its ultra-bright color.

One of the most vibrant styles on our list, these cascading neon shades create an incredibly bold take on the mermaid style.

This peachy rainbow hairstyle works with various shades all in the same color family, making for a slightly more subdued rainbow palette. If you want your rainbow hair to look less like a crazy Snapchat filter and more like an earthy, hippie style, this peachy rainbow color might be right for you.

Wear these light pastel shades over fluffy curls and you’ve got the perfect cotton candy rainbow hairstyle.

Saturated tones of dark, inky blue and vibrant violet provide a bold ombre contrast against natural brown hair. Even if your medium brown hair has never been dyed, you’ll need to lighten it in order to make hair porous enough to absorb these bright rainbow colors. While at-home bleaching is definitely do-able, your first time should probably be handled by a professional or a trusted (and experienced) friend.

If you’re intrigued by the hair carving technique but don’t want to commit to a fully buzzed style, this undercut pixie offers up a perfect way to try out some carved geometric patterns. With a kaleidoscope of colors in both the undercut and longer hair on top, this short haircut packs a big rainbow punch.

Splashy rainbow highlights have been strategically placed among this dark hair to create a bright lights style. Even though this color palette might remind you of Christmas lights, this rainbow hair color is a perfect match with this bob haircut and can be worn in just about any season.

If you’d love to try a rainbow hair color for just one day, the hottest stencil hair trend can make your wish come true! Applying temporary hair spray with a variety of patterned stencils can produce everything from this pretty polkadot style to more intricate designs.