For many hair colorists, the fall season can be stressful. There's often a lot of pressure to revive clients' hair, darken its color and immediately help with other issues that occurred over the summer from heat, salt, sun and chlorine exposure. It's very common for people to come in with dry, brittle strands that are stripped of the tonal qualities needed for color to radiate.

Over the past several years fall color trends have been fun and different. Unicorn colors like pastels, rainbow variations and rose gold have been a big hit, and in turn, colorists have been given a lot more creativity. However, dusty tones like these are only achieved when the color absorbs into the hair shaft, which means that extreme bleaching is needed to achieve some of these looks.

For the fall season, bleaching to a lighter shade might not be the first thing that comes to mind, but it's actually been a trend for years. The great Jean Harlow, Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield and even Linda Evangelista, have all plunged into the lightening blue powder to achieve that one and only iconic tone known as Platinum. Today, Katy Perry is this look's hot new devotee. One has to wonder, though, if Katy's frequent and drastic color changes are ultimately for her new cropped do---was it really by choice or by necessity?

A platinum look this time of year can seem unexpected and exciting, but keep in mind the color can create catastrophic hair health dilemmas when it isn't done well, by an expert. That's why you do see many people opt for a cropped haircut when they go very light. Dried, frazzled ends and breakage become much more common.