Enjoy a Gossip Girls afternoon for you and three friends from Paul Edmonds worth over £300 - and six Biolustré treatments for runners-up, each worth £60
A few decades ago, saying a woman dyed
her hair was equivalent to calling her a painted hussy. Today,
changing your hair colour is as acceptable as changing lipsticks.
Modern products are brilliant both for colour and condition
and a far cry from the dead peroxide blonde, garish red or
matt flat black that used to be our only options. The right
hair colour can flatter your skin tone, make your eyes sparkle
and your whole face come alive.
Unfortunately, satisfaction is not guaranteed and, unlike
your new lipstick, you can’t just wipe off the colour
and start again. A good number of the women we know who colour
their hair have had some sort of disappointment or disaster.
We asked Britain’s leading colour expert Jo Hansford
to give us the lowdown on getting results, both at home and
in the salon, to lift looks and spirit.
JO HANSFORD’S
GUIDELINES
• Your hair is the frame around
your face, so the tone is really important. Sit yourself in
front of a good mirror in a good clear light, with no make-up.
Really study yourself and say, ‘I’m going to be totally
truthful.’ Take your hair, hold it against your face and
analyse what colour skin you have: is it pale; do you have high
colour with broken veins; is it basically pink or are there
yellow or sallow tones; do you have olive skin? What colour
are your eyes and how does your hair look with them? How dark
are your brows? (Remember you can lighten or darken them as
well.) Finally, ask yourself, ‘Does the colour I have now
actually suit me?’
• If the answer is yes, forget
all about hair colour. If the answer is no, or if you are bored
with your existing colour, go on to the next stage.
• Now consider what hair colour
would enhance your skin tone. Don’t forget to bear in mind
the texture of your hair as well. Is it thin and fine or thick
and coarse? Thin hair is usually better with an overall colour,
which will need to be retouched every four weeks on average;
thick hair suits highlights or lowlights, which don’t need
so much attention.
• Colour is flexible but, generally,
very short straight or straightish hair doesn’t suit highlights
because they look almost leopard-like; lights are perfect, however,
on short wavy or curly hair. All-over colour looks good on practically
any style.
• Now is the time to go on to
seek some objective advice about changing the colour. Even if
you don’t end up having your colour done by a professional,
it is worth consulting several for advice.
• When choosing a colourist,
go for an expert who specialises in colour, not a hairdresser
and permer who also colours.
• Interview several (most will
give you a free five-minute consultation, but aim to book in
at a time they’re not rushed off their feet); mull over
their ideas carefully before deciding.
• Take along pictures of colours
and effects you have in mind; descriptions are notoriously imprecise
- what’s red to you may be deep auburn to a colourist.
• Be honest with the colourist
about what you’ve done to your hair previously, e.g. colour,
perm, successes, failures.
• Check how much maintenance
their recommendations will need, how much time it will take,
and how much it will cost.
• Also check what happens if
you don’t like the new colour. Will the salon tone it down
or change it after you have had a few days to get used to your
new self? How much will the charge be?
• Ask to try on wigs and hairpieces,
if available. They may not be the right fit or style, but you
can see the general effect.
• Before you leave the consultation,
look around at the staff: if you like their hair colours, chances
are you’ll like what happens to you; if not, wave them
goodbye.
COVERING UP
GREY HAIR
Half the population is grey by about 50, when the production
of melanin (the pigment that gives hair its natural colour)
stops. Some women look wonderful with grey hair but, if you
feel less happy, you can successfully enhance, blend, disguise
or cover your grey hair at home.
Up to 20 per cent grey: hide the
first grey hairs with a vegetable or semi-permanent colour
in the same shade as your natural hair. The result will last
for six to eight shampoos, gradually washing out.
Up to 50 per cent grey: cover with
a longer-lasting semi-permanent which stays for 12 to 20 shampoos.
Up to 100 per cent grey: replace
colour completely with a permanent chemical dye (remember
roots will need retouching about every four weeks), which
will last two to three months.
Skin and Hair
Colours
Pink skin: choose neutral tones: ash
blonde, ash brown or dark brown. Red, blue/red or yellow blonde
are usually a total disaster.
Pale white, ivory, creamy: the perfect
skin for any hair colour. You can choose whatever you like -
red, dark, pale - as your skin has no pink in it. Look at Linda
Evangelista; she can be ash blonde one day and auburn the next
because her skin and her eyes go with anything. Notice she also
changes lip and eye colours to complement her hair.
Yellow/sallow: go for dark rich tones
with blue notes, such as burgundy or deep auburn, to counteract
the sallowness in your skin.
Olive: stay dark - olive skin with
dark hair is one of the most perfect combinations. To give interest,
you could add a few rich lowlights in any of the red shades
from burgundy to chestnut.
TIP from the top
Traditionally, dark-haired women like to lighten their hair
- but it sometimes happens the other way around. Hollywood
actress Winona Ryder is actually bottle brunette. ‘My
hair colouring isn’t just blonde, it’s virtually
white,’ she reveals. ‘I’ve got dark brown eyes
and very pale skin so I look seriously weird unless I dye
my hair and my eyebrows black. I also feel much more like
a dark-haired person than a blonde. People expect you to be
bubbly if you are blonde. I’m quite serious, so I feel
this is my natural colour.’
If your natural hair colour is
So
you want to go:
Blonde
Brunette
Red
Black
Don’t even try it
Glossy black, blue black
Don’t try it
Dark to light brown
Streaks: mid golden
sunny or strawberry blonde
Black, dark chocolate
auburn, dark honey
Auburn to fiery
copper
Dark to light blonde
Warm shades: honey, copper, wheat,
apricot, pale blonde
Milky brown, copper, honey, dark chestnut
Warmer shades: chestnut to apricot
Blonde to grey
Pale icy blonde or darker warm colours
Pale ash brown, copper brown, beige,
milk chocolate
