We heard RBD is back, so naturally we had to recreate one of our favorite ‘Rebelde’ hair looks! For those of you who don’t know, ‘Rebelde’ is a popular early 2000’s telenovela partially about Mexican teens living out their pop star dreams in a band named RBD. The cult-classic teen series, and real life band, spawned an entire generation of die-hard life-long fans. The RBD phenomenon had outfits, style, and hair as iconic as their show’s plotlines and musical hits.
Whether you’ve watched the telenovela or seen a music video, one glance at the group and you can tell they were trendsetters. And now, 19 years after ‘Rebelde’ first aired, the band has come together for a global reunion tour.
RBD’s return has led to an explosion of online appreciation for the group, particularly their early aughts-era beauty and hair choices, which I began to notice as The Tease’s social media editor. LA-based hairstylist Belen Gomez, who grew up watching the show, posted a number of looks that were reminiscent of one of the main characters and band members. I got in touch with Belen and a month later I had an appointment for an RBD-inspired hair transformation, which later went viral.
I interviewed Belen about the look including inspiration, formula and maintenance. Keep scrolling for more.
The Tease: Where did the inspiration come from?
Belen Gomez: The inspiration from Dulce Maria’s hair was from a novela that she appeared on from 2004-2005 called Rebelde aka RBD. Which she played the iconic role of Roberta Pardo. The show was ahead of their time with the fits and hair do’s, which I fell in love with Roberta’s hair, giving punk, alternative cool chick in the show.
How did you devise which elements to reference for the style?
Gomez: I really had to think a bit about the placement of the color, because our client, Adri, had longer hair than the character. So we decided to create a gradient from red to yellow on the ends.
Walk us through the process of creating this look including products and formulations so that stylists can recreate it.
Gomez: For the bleaching we used Redken Flashlift with 20 vol, using Redken developers. For additives, I added a drop of Olaplex No.1 with a pinch of the Virtue Alpha Keratin which will help keep the hair strong. I like to keep the bleach consistency a little thicker for patterns like this. I started creating the pattern in the front doing 6 squares and my assistant, Jocelyn, did the back pieces following the front pattern. It always helps having someone else with you so the timing is right. We let the bleach sit for about an hour, heating and re-saturating the pieces. Once it reached between a level 8/9 we shampooed and started the coloring!
The colors used for this look are all Good Dye Young by Hayley Williams and her hairstylist Brian O’connor. We wanted to have the same colors Roberta Pardo had, but since our clients hair is a bit longer it gave us more space to create a beautiful gradient from red to yellow. The colors used were Rock Lobster, Biz, Peach Fuzz, Steal My Sunshine. To deepen any of the colors I would use a drop of Rock Lobster or Peach Fuzz. Them being the darkest ones in the pallet.
Once the color was applied, we let it sit for 15 minutes. When shampooing we held up the hair so the darker colors wouldn’t bleed into the lighter colors. Shampooing the sections separately helps keep the colors in place.
What does maintenance for this style look like?
Gomez: Maintenance for this look is really low, just making sure to wash your hair once or twice a week and NOT using any detoxing or clarifying shampoos. That will make any color not last the way it should. Warmer colors always fade out the best! You’ll have multiple fun stages of each color.
How do you feel about the look? Did it match your vision?
Gomez: The look came out exactly how I had it planned, super excited for Adri to have this color and this cool pattern. Jocelyn and I were definitely living a childhood dream creating this iconic color. Couldn’t get enough of it!
We were so excited that a few days later, Dulce Maria’s Hairstylist, Eduardo, showed the icon herself and she loved it! Definitely a memorable hair experience! Thank you, Adri for letting us do this on your hair! Best time ever.
I have never had any vivid color in my hair and let me tell you, after this transformation, I don’t think I’ll ever go back to “normal” hair.
For more creative placement, vivid color, and edgy cut #hairinspo be sure to follow @belengomezhair to keep up with her incredible work! And if you recreate this look for yourself or a client, tag @readthetease on Instagram and TikTok.
