Platinum blonde—a level for brave clients and colorists alike, its the ultimate nod to cool-girl style.

She’s a client who will be coming back to your chair often, asking for product recommendations, buying retail and (hopefully) following at-home protocol. Because she’s a trend-setter, she’s likely willing to play with products you’ve been dying to experiment with like heat-changing temporary shades or metallic finishes. Cha-ching!

What makes platinum especially interesting is it doesn’t have boundaries in said cool factor. Unlike other color trends, icy blonde hair isn’t restricted by season. Age, texture, gender and length also don’t pose limitations, as this year showed us.

Like many trends, some to our chagrin, one of the hottest requests for 2017 can be attributed to celebrities. The surge in stars going for lighter, cooler shades of blonde has boomed, with the likes of Solange Knowles, Adam Levine, Karlie Kloss, plus some of the Jenners and Kardashians taking the platinum plunge throughout the year.

It’s important to note that as hair-color services, products and technology continue to evolve, one of the most important trends driving business for colorists and salons is the focus on the health and integrity of hair. According to MODERN SALON’s 2017 PROCESS Hair Integrity Research, 86% of colorists say damage prevention is their number-one healthy-hair concern. That said, colorists agree services most potentially damaging to hair are extreme changes (34%) and lightening (29%), both of which fall under the umbrella of going platinum.

Forty-nine percent of colorists say they are always inclined to use bond builders, and 94% of colorists who use bond builders say the integrity of the hair is better after a color service with a bond builder than it would have been without one.

Product offerings reflected the yearning to go lighter and brighter with lighteners offering up to nine levels of lift, a greater selection of toners including metallic hues, a wider range of bond builders and more.

Of course, leveling up, often multiple shades, is not easy on the strands, and this year more than ever, we saw blonding directly paired with maintaining optimal hair health before, during and after lightening services. Bond builders and lighteners have morphed, in many cases, into a singular product—saving colorists space at the color bar and making formulations simpler.

In accordance with purple shampoos and toners, an emphasis on at-home maintenance was made for the strength and elasticity of the bonds themselves, with products that protect the inner fiber and repair the outer lipid layer after a color service.

For clients whose hair might not be strong enough to be chemically lightened, alternative methods of coloring hair have taken note of the trend. Hairtalk released 60A Platinum Blonde tape-in extensions with violet undertones so clients wanting to embrace the world of platinum without chemicals can achieve an icy hue.

With such technological advancements in practicing safe lightening, we project the platinum boom won’t be leaving us any time soon, but that brands will only get more sophisticated and creative in their product development as a result. For more on hair integrity relating to color, unlimited color content and the full Hair Integrity research report click here.