Hair colour trends: Blonde most popular shade, plus tips for dark, red and grey hair

According to Garnier Nutrisse and their Shade of the Nation poll, it seems that there is a radical shakeup in the hair colour most loved by the nation. Radical. Apparently we have gone from loving red (last year's winner) to deciding blonde is our favourite. Natural Blonde 8.03 is our new favourite and Jennifer Aniston is the owner of the hair we'd most like to have.

We know that sales of box hair colour have gone through the roof since the recession hit and it's also well known that women like to cheer themselves up with a different hairdo and colour when times are tough. So put these two facts together and I'm not too surprised that Nutrisse have picked this shade as their most popular.

But what other tips did I worm out of Trevor Hall, Garnier's celebrity hair dresser, when he was in Ireland to promote this momentous announcement last week?

You can use box colour if you've got highlights
The highlights might be covered over by the box colour until you wash it a couple of times - but if you have bleach highlights they will reappear and give your hair even more multi tonal texture. Highlights work really well with tone-on-tone colours.

What shade of blonde is most on trend at the moment?
A mid-blonde - not too light and definitely not platinum. Just like the models (in the pic above) with Lorraine.

How dark or light can you go with home hair colour?
Two shades either way. You can't change your colour drastically with box colours - for anything major you'll need to visit the professionals in the salon. The colour chart on the box will give you a good idea of a realistic colour for you.

Any tips for grey hair?
This is totally suited to home hair dying. A pale blonde is the shade Trevor recommends to cover the grey and lift the features - think Helen Mirren or Judy Dench. It can take ten years off you he reckons and root re-growth will be much less obvious.

What about brunettes? How can we shake it up?
Trevor reckons that dying the underneath part of your hair a really vibrant shade, like cherry red is a great, trend-led look at the moment. Looks especially good if you tie your hair up.

Redheads? What should we do?
Become more vibrant, Trevor recommends. Really play up your gorgeous translucent skin and choose a rich red tone to enhance your features.

Collars and Cuffs? Do people use Nutrisse to match the whole lot up?
"Hahahah" bellowed Trevor. "Yeah course they do" But he quickly added "L'Oreal takes no responsibility for any damage caused to delicate areas if you do this."

Do blondes have more fun? I mean do they really?
Trever says yes. I was skeptical - I mean he has blonde hair so he would say that wouldn't he? But then I have dark hair so I would be skeptical! What do you think?