I WANT TO MAKE A DRASTIC CHANGE TO MY HAIR. I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN A BRUNETTE AND WOULD LOVE TO GO BLONDE. WHAT SHOULD I DO?

Start by having a consultation with your hairdresser, all good hairdressers should offer these for free. They will be able to advise you on choosing your shade and maintaining it. For example, an all-over tint will need root-retouching every 6 to 8 weeks, while fine highlights can wait 12 weeks before they need doing again.

Make sure your hair is in the best possible condition before colouring because the chemical process can make hair more fragile. Dry, damaged hair is not only prone to breakage – the colour is also more likely to fade and turn patchy.

Don’t try lightening your hair with a semi-permanent colour. As semis only add colour ,depth and tone – like red or brown tones – but they won’t remove colour or make hair lighter or blonder.

Finally, never attempt to correct a colour that’s gone wrong. Although covering a disastrous blonde with a brown sounds logical, the result is often an even more disastrous khaki-green. Always come to the salon for colour correction.