Pick the right hair colour
Looking for the perfect hair colour? Woman and home magazine's hair colouring experts help you identify the right shade for you.
Brunette
- Sallow skin with yellow undertones and dark eyes? Stay as a brunette.
- If you’re pale, be careful to stay with mid-brown tones – the super darks might make you look ghostly and older.
- A solid brunette shade can look wiggy. Avoid the look by softening the hair colour around the face. This also helps to lighten the appearance of sparser hair around the front hairline where grey regrowth is always more visible too.
- Don’t forget that your cut is key. A more tousled look to darker hair helps to break up a mass of deep colour that creates a wiggy look.
Redhead
Red hair is the trickiest to keep looking bright and vivid as we age but it can be done.
- Medium skintones look best in coppers or medium auburns, while those with olive skin should stick to dark auburn and burgundy shades.
- It’s easier to go darker red than lighter red, but make sure it suits your skin tone.
- Reds are often not very long-lasting. Try the Majirouge Antique Red collection from L’Oréal Professionnel salons – call 0800 0726699.
Blonde
The hot new way to wear blonde appears to be this vibrant, almost platinum blonde white as recently seen on Helen Mirren. Going that blonde just to be fashionable isn’t the way to get great colour.
Colourist Lisa Shepherd says, “There’s nothing wrong with bleach blonde when it’s done properly as it refreshes hair and neutralises yellow, but for something more sophisticated I’d be more inclined to weave the bleach through over a darker, all-over base colour so that the white isn’t harsh right next to the face.”
- Born blonde? Then you’ll easily take blonde as you’re older.
- Don’t just go for warm colours as you grey – pinky skin and blue or grey eyes suit cool blonde shades.
- If you’re a brunette and you want to go blonde, keep it warm, as you’re bound to have dark eyes and dark brows.
- Doing it yourself? Go no lighter than a couple shades of your current colour.
