Mousy hair is low maintenance and sexier than ever. Just ask JLo and Hailey Bieber…

If you thought natural in-between-y hair shades were drab, tell that to A-list hair colourist, Tracey Cunningham, whose beautiful light brown hair colours are legendary, seriously stunning and anything but boring.

She counts JLo, Zendaya, Lily Aldridge, Halle Berry, Khloe Kardashian and Zoey Deutch as clients and her rule is simple: “when it comes to hair colour, I love keeping my clients as close and natural as I can to their own,” she tells GLAMOUR. And even when she’s pushing a hair shade in a slightly different direction to its roots (like light brown hair on naturally darker or fairer strands), she has a knack of making it look phenomenal and meant-to-be.

The general mood right now has seen hair colour trends shift in a more relaxed and natural direction. And with more of us are heading back to our roots, mousy hair is back in a big way. But, rather than feeling ‘mehh’ or non-committal, it’s the calling card of cool-girls everywhere who want to lean into a more casual and undone aesthetic.

How to choose your light brown hair colour?

Obviously, light brown hair isn’t a copy and paste situation, so it’s best to tailor the shade to your lifestyle, skin tone and desired aesthetic. “Always have a consultation with your hair colourist. This way you can really go in-depth down to every single detail such as your skin tone, the clothing colour you usually wear, your go-to hairstyle, your hair quality, hair condition and the history of your hair colouring. This way you can choose the perfect light brunette for you,” says pro London colourist, Gemma Smidmore. For olive and deep skin tones, Gemma recommends “cooler” shades of brunette. “Biscuit, latte and cool caramel tones are delicious and super healthy-looking,” she says. As for fair skin tones, warmer shades work well: “warm brown, golden honey and caramac tones will create a healthy glow to the hair,” Gemma says.

As for swerving brassiness, you can counteract it with cool tones. “Brunettes often suffer from too much warmth running through their hair,” explains Bryony Cairns, colourist at Larry King Salon. “Adding slices of cooler tones mutes the warmth without taking away the depth of the colour. This is especially good for brunettes with blue eyes and paler complexions as the cool tones make the eye colour ‘pop’,” she says.

How high-maintenance is light brown hair?

They say blondes have more fun, but they also tend to have to spend more time maintaining their colour. Brunettes tend to fade slower than other shades and they create less damage as there’s less bleaching involved.