Precision hair colouring: how to make your locks look thicker with colour

Schwarzkopf colour expert Lyndell Mansfield tells us how to use the transformative power of colour to thicken up hair…

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Schwarzkopf colour expert Lyndell Mansfield tells us how to use the transformative power of colour to thicken up hair…

Hair colouring to make hair look twice as thick is a tailor-made technique that has revolutionised the way we colour our hair. According to its creator Schwarzkopf colour expert Lyndell Mansfield (who has a black-book roster of A-List clients including Georgia May Jagger, Daisy Lowe and Suki Waterhouse) ‘You can now colour your hair depending on how thick you want your hair to look.’ That's right — you can style your hair, via colour, to make your hair appear thicker and more textured which is completely unique to you. ‘Using the careful placement of tones and depths, this clever technique creates an optical illusion to give highlights and shadows where you need them,’ says Mansfield. ‘Your face shape can even be altered – creating wider cheekbones or a slimmer face with enhanced definition.’ With subtle shades and application Mansfield’s techniques look extremely natural so should be your own little secret...

How to create more depth

Give yourself shadows to create a frame making the neck and the face appear a little bit slimmer. For a permanent fix Schwarzkopf Colour Expert leave hair with a rich colour but also contains protective and restoring Omegaplex to leave hair feeling silky-sift afterwards. Go for the dark brown Schwarzkopf Color Expert with OmegaPLEX 4.13 Dark Cool Brown, £6.79, that is neutral. If you wanted to create shadow underneath but didn’t want to commit to actually colouring it then you could use a Syoss Root Retoucher in Dark Brown at Tesco, £7 to just darken some strands underneath.

How to create more texture

For beachy texture go in with a medium caramel blonde Schwarzkopf Color Expert with OmegaPLEX 8.65 Medium Caramel Blonde, £6.79, which is quite a beautiful, warm tone and will pull out highlights in the hair leaving a summery texture. The layers will drop around the face brightening up the complexion.

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How to create more volume

For volume pumped up at the roots go down one shade past your natural colour that will also make your ends look slightly lighter, naturally. This will also give your hair a little bit more width and surfy texture. Use the Schwarzkopf got2b Fresh It Up Dry Shampoo Dark Brown, £2, available exclusively at Primark.

How to colour at-home

‘A lot of people get a bit scared about doing their own colour at home, but the important thing is to section up really well,’ says Mansfield. ‘Always neatly clip back what you’re not using. You can colour the darker pieces and the blonde pieces in one session. Look for the colour you are after, imagine where you want it to be and then go for it. Put all the brown in first, then pick up all the blonde bits.’

Lisa Oxenham

An award-winning health and beauty writer, stylist and creative director, Lisa Oxenham is one of the UK’s top beauty editors and the Beauty and Style Director at Marie Claire UK. With 20 years of editorial experience Lisa is a brand partnership expert, and a popular speaker, panelist and interviewer on a range of topics from sustainability to the future of beauty in the digital world. She recently spoke at Cognition X and Beauty Tech Live and is on the Advisory Board for the British Beauty Council’s Sustainable Beauty Coalition.

A well-respected creative director she works on celebrity, model and influencer shoots with the highest calibre of photographers, filmmakers, make-up artists and hairstylists to create timeless images, attention-grabbing videos, digital events and masterclasses. Most recently Lisa has directed covers such as Lily Cole and Jameela Jamil, films such as Save The Arts featuring Francesca Hayward and sustainable fashion shoots such as Be The Change. Supporting the beauty industry over the pandemic has been a top focus, directing the British Beauty Council’s six inspirational short biographical films for their Bring Back Beauty campaign.

Lisa is a wellbeing and beauty influencer with a focus on mental health and a large and engaged audience on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.