'The Meghan Effect' doesn’t just refer to Meghan Markle’s seriously chic wardrobe, it also extends to her beauty routine – right down to her gorgeous hair. The future royal’s strands first entered the spotlight when she graced the cover of Vanity Fair last October, showing off her soft highlights - which were all thanks to colourist Luis Pacheco. The owner of the Toronto-based Medulla & Co. hair salons, Luis was flabbergasted when he saw his client on the cover of the iconic magazine!
Meghan's shiny brunette locks
“I didn’t even know she was shooting it,” Luis revealed in an interview with HELLO!. “When I saw the cover, I just died." The hairdresser was Meghan’s go-to colourist in Toronto before she officially became a royal-to-be, having started working with the former actress a year and a half ago. He was introduced to Meghan by Jessica Mulroney, who is a client of his, and Meghan’s stylist and confidante. It seems Meghan has always been a fan of the natural look, since she always asked for something subtle from Luis.
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“Her colour, as you see, is very natural. It’s very reflective of who she is as a person,” says Luis. “Her hair is delicate and she was acting then, so the least amount of chemical work that we did, the better it was for her hair,” he says. The colourist played with tones that would look great on and off camera, sticking to lots of gold, beige and dark, and chocolate browns to make it “rich, healthy and reflective.”
Meghan graced the cover of Vanity Fair in September 2017
Luis also made sure that maintaining the hair colour would be easy for Prince Harry’s future bride. “I would see her maybe once a month just for a refresh, and that was very simple. Every four months, we would go in with a subtle highlight or lowlight just to keep that dimension and tone.”
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Luis also revealed that Meghan is incredibly down-to-earth. “She’s super approachable and super sweet. Maybe it’s her personality, but she always finds common interest with whoever she’s speaking with. We had a pretty regular yoga practice [and] healthy lifestyle so we always had that to talk about.”
Meghan has always opted for subtle, brunette tones
That sense of normality extended right to the end of their partnership, when Meghan officially departed for London last November. “I saw her on the Thursday at the salon and there was something really different about her. She looked so sweet and tender – she had this glow about her. It was just like a normal visit and the next thing I knew, there she was, with Prince Harry. And that’s when it dawned on me what was happening because during the year and half that we had that professional relationship, we never went there. And this happens with a lot of my celebrity clients.”
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These days, Meghan’s hair is once again in the spotlight with speculations about whether she’s sporting a new colour. While Luis can’t comment on whether she has a new colourist in London, he suggests that her slightly different hair colour could just be the way the photographs were taken. “With glosses, as it starts to fade, it starts to show an undertone,” he explains.
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