What's New in Hair

As warm weather finally arrives in Cambridge it's time for a spring cleaning-and not just clearing all the dust, dirty socks and pizza boxes out of you closet. Spring cleaning traditionally also means throwing out that dull, tired winter style for something that reflects the new season.

People who can't take vacations take it out on their hair explains Clinton Creasy, owner of hair salon Clinton's at 142 Mt. Auburn St. They Know spring is around the corner, and they know sping is around the corner and they need a lift. Adds Lynn Groff, manager of the Galeria's Diego At the Loft. Just like you don't wear the same clothes every day you constantly change your hair.

So what are some to the popular styles and trends this spring? According to Harvard Square Hairstylists interviewed, convenience is the watchword for the spring and summer months. As you might guess both men and women are getting a few inches chopped.

Women's styles currently tend to taper close to the nape of the neck with close sides and a fuller crown. "A lot of people like to see their ears now," says Michael DiBlasi owner of Michael's Hair Design at 1105 Mass. Ave. Layered chin-length bobs blunt cuts (where all the hair is cut the same length), and wispy bangs are in.

Men's cuts tend to have a conservative character layered short over the ears, fuller on the sides and above the collar-the $7 specialty of the Harvard Barber shop on Linden St. According to Olive's of 302 Newbury Street in Boston a stion specializing in styles for Black people. Black people men are favoring body wave perms and are favoring body wave perms and are shaving close to the scalp-as close as a quarter inch. Younger men request shorter sides and a flat top.

Although the soft feminine look achieved by the bobs, blunt cuts and bangs is classic, with the hair coming forward to the face, the look for the future is more finished or sculpted-especially with the aid of hair bodifers styling gels, glazes, mousses and lotions Hair stylists mix these into your hair while it's wet, making the hair more manageable for for shaping and separation.

"It's a loose look but it's a very polished look. There's nothing haphazard about it," says Groff. According to Ron Dominico, owner of Hair Care on 26 Dunster St., the sculpted style mixes the "wash and wear" look of the '70's with the ornate beehives, curls, and other shapes that are characteristically '60s.

And more natural-looking body wave permanents will be outstyling tight curled perms, especially in the summer where people like to wash and run.

Coloring is also a big part of this spring's hair styles, and that means everything from subtle highlighting to "Cyndi Lauper kind of coloring," as Gino Ruotolo, owner of Gino's' Parruchiere on 20 Holyoke St., jokingly puts it Because hair fades with washing, highlighting is designed to bring out the natural shade of your hair through a process of "lifting" the color to one of 12 successive shades.

"Highlighting will always be popular it's like putting a frame around a picture-the picture look pretty, but a frame makes it look even better," explains Mary Daniluik, hair stylist at Michael's Hair Design Women and men alike are starting to color their hair "for effect, not need," adds Daniluik's colleague, Stephanie Delia Groff of Diego's agrees that coloring is fast becoming an "accessory" of your attire, just like jewelry or other touches.

Hennas, popular in the '70s, are being upstaged by semi-permanent coloring or repigmentation, rinses which last up to six weeks. Tinting, tips, and frostings continue to be popular.

Wilder colors, like oranges, reds blues, purples and wins, remain at the forefront of fashion, says Ruotolo. He boasts that when he recently presented several partially shaved women with frosted blue hair at a fashion show in Boston, "the crowd went wild!" At Olive's in Boston, women favor cellophane colors of plums, wines and reds.

And what about the punks? The mohawks, the permed dyed tails, the crew cuts with a cross shaved down the back that you see at the Harvard Square T station? Hairstylists say they foresee the emergence of the oxymoronic "conservative punk as the fad fades Some of the key elements of punk-like 'how short it is-have been co-opted by the yuppie set, something Daniluik calls "corporate punk."

Overall, though, you yourself must be the final arbiter of taste, hairstylists stress. "If an individual is an individual, he'll go out and get purple hair-because he's an individual." Ruotolo says. The shape of your face, your height, weight and natural coloring-all these determine what kind of hairstyle you should have.