As a colour analyst I can passionately talk about any colour, any time, any day of the week. I simply love colour! I’ve been trained to look at a colour and know exactly what season it falls under and hence what type of complexion it will suit. What I haven’t been trained on though is hair colour but hair colour is a question I almost always get asked about; so much so that I’ve now included it in each of my colour analysis sessions as well as at my training academy. After probably doing over a thousand colour analysis sessions on clients, I think it safe to say I have enough experience to be able to share my knowledge…

So the most popular question I get asked is: “can I go blonde?” And the answer is always: “absolutely, every one can go blonde” but wait, before you run out and buy that Clairol hair dye, it is pertinent to know what type of blonde you can go! Should you go ash, golden or platinum? That’s the question and this is what you and your hairdresser generally through trial and error work out but this is the detail that all good colour analysts can work out for you in 5 minutes, saving you plenty of time and money in the process.

You see, it all comes down to the undertone of your skin; if you have a cool undertone you need to go an ash blonde and if you have a warm undertone you need to go golden, it’s that simple but unfortunately the only way to know for sure what your undertone is by getting your colours done! Of course if you’ve never dyed your hair and it’s totally natural your hair dresser will be able to tell you exactly what you are, cool or warm but let’s face it most women have been dyeing their hair for fashion reasons or to cover the grey for years and probably can’t remember their natural hair colour as it’s been so long…

A good indication for me is if I feel my client’s hair is a natural extension of them then the colour is probably right for them but if their hair is wearing them then I know they’re probably using a wrong shade or wrong undertone. When I comment on their wrong choice of hair colour, they are always relieved at the knowledge and generally tell me they’ve been dissatisfied with their colour for months and almost can’t wait to book in a visit for a re-dye at the salon!

And what about darker haired women who want to make a drastic change can they go blonde? Absolutely! Look at Madonna and Gwen Stefani they sure aren’t natural blondes but they picked the right type of blond and they look incredible, their blonde locks almost look natural on them and that’s the key, no matter what you wear, be it your clothes, make-up or hair colour you should be wearing the colour not the other way around!

We all know Kim Kardashian as a dark haired beauty but do you remember her going blonde? Kim is a true ‘winter’ and has a high contrasting complexion and like so many winters (myself included) experimented with softening her look by adding lots of golden highlights (aka the caramel J-Lo look) but on cool under-toned women going golden just softens their features and bone structure making them look chubbier than they are! After her caramel locks, Kim shocked us all with her high fashion debut by dyeing her hair platinum blonde and although it was an acquired taste, it actually worked, despite such a contrast we still could see Kim’s amazing features and bone structure.

And for all you redheads out there know that you too can go blonde! Look at the most famous redhead Nicole Kidman, for years now she’s been going blonde and looks striking as ever and let’s not forget Christina Hendricks, we all know her for her sophisticated red hair in Madmen but now she’s actually the face of Clairol owning beautiful golden blonde locks, they look so natural that if you didn’t know her from the big screen you’d presume she was an natural blonde!

So for any women who comes to get her colours done and wants some hair advice, once I know their undertone I can confidently advise if they should add golden hi-lights, ash hi-lights or if they should go platinum and I’m sure you’ll agree that knowledge of either ash, golden or platinum, because it makes such a difference is simply priceless!

Unsure on what colour to dye your hair? Contact enquiries@stylemeuk.com.