A Hairstylist Shares Her Tips for a '90s-Inspired Chunky Money Piece

Every once in a while, decade-old trends experience a major resurgence. This time, it's the chunky money piece trend that's bringing us right back to the '90s. "This is a bold technique for face framing because it accentuates the most key features on the face," says Matrix brand ambassador Sharon Spellman. American Salon sat down with Spellman to chat about the trend, her favorite technique for achieving it and what maintenance looks like for the bold style.

The money piece has been trending for a while. What do you think prompted this new, bold look?

The ‘Money Chunk’ is the perfect trend right now because times are changing quickly and people are becoming bolder. What’s better than chunky money piece to give off a bold first impression?

What are your top tips for achieving this look? Can you walk us through your technique?

Keep careful consideration of your client’s features, making sure to complement them individually. Taking their head shape into account is crucial, you always want to consider how the chunky money piece will appear from all angles.

My personal technique starts like this:

  1. Analyze the client’s head shape, as well as their key features; ears, nose, eyes, and lips.
  2. Then take into consideration how much hair they have in the front of their head. If the client has most of her hair in the back of her head compared to the front, I would section from the apex down to the ear and take a 1/4 of that section to create the chunky money piece. If the client has half of her amount of hair in the front, I would take the same section and split it in 1/2.
  3. Then, take extremely fine sliced sections horizontally across the forehead and take fine vertical sections near the ear/temple until all the hair from my section is foiled.

What are your favorite products for maintaining this look and keeping the hair healthy?

For blonde money chunks, I recommend the Matrix Total Results Brass Off collection. Using the shampoo + conditioner will reduce any brassy tones that may appear over time. If my client has a vivid money chunk, I would recommend a regimen of products from the Matrix Total Results Keep Me Vivid collection to help maintain the vibrance of the color for a long time.