The Gen Z vs Millennial war rages on.

As winter approaches, it's not uncommon to see people ditch their bright locks for something a little darker. It's nothing new, however, as many TikTokers have pointed out, this year we've seen a multitude of stars go brunette - from trendsetters like Gigi Hadid to Hailey Bieber to Florence Pugh. The shift has people questioning - is this the end of bleach blonde hair? Or, as Gen Z like to say, is blonde hair now cheugy? If you don't know what cheugy means, it's a term used by Gen Z to describe the out-of-date millennial aesthetic. So, if something is cheugy, it's untrendy and done. Millennials are well accustomed to being dragged by their predecessors - they came for side parts, skinny jeans, and even the laughing emoji. And now they're coming for blonde hair. Some people seem to be taking it pretty seriously and are running to TikTok to question whether they should stay blonde.

@girlbosstown ♬ original sound - GirlBossTown

The Digital Fairy, a youth trend forecaster, summed everything up well in a recent video where she broke down the conversations and media attention around the topic. She suggests that people are very much over the expensive up-keep that blonde hair demands and going for more low maintenance brown shades instead. A similar trend was seen after the 2008 recession when people were adamant about saving money and weren't too focused on getting their roots touched up - hence, long dark roots and a "grunge" aesthetic became popular.

@thedigifairy Stitch with @i-D magazine ♬ 505 - Arctic Monkeys

The TikToker went on to clarify that the type of blonde hair she predicts to be on the way out is specifically bleached blonde hair, not natural blonde hair. "I think natural cuts and colours will continue to become more popular," the trend forecaster concludes. Michael Nolte, creative director at Beautystreams, told i-D magazine that the shift away from blonde hair may be related to a welcoming of more diverse beauty ideals. https://www.instagram.com/p/COIWYi-HzgD/ “Thanks to the growing representation of diversity in the media, embracing natural hair colour and texture has become a way to affirm one’s personal background and culture,” he told i-D. “It is a way to take a stance against an imposed white beauty ideal.” He went on to say that it's not that being blonde itself is out of style but that the idea of it being the classical beauty standard is changing as we embrace diversity. For now, it remains to be seen if this is just another gen Z fad or if the trend towards darker hair will actually last well past winter. But to quote the wise words of one TikTok user: "Keeping up with trends is cheugy! Just do what you want." We couldn't agree more, tbh.