'Hair colours now are more natural and grow out better': Top Yorkshire hairdressers showcase striking new looks for the L'Oréal Colour Trophy 2026

Innovation and technology are important, integral indeed, to modern hairdressing - and hair colour advancements, combined with a real-life hairdresser’s talent and artistry, mean there are now limitless brilliant and beautiful colour choices for customers.

The L'Oréal Colour Trophy - the longest-running live hairdressing competition in the world - is an annual event that aims to discover the best hair colour trends and talent in the UK.

It is run by L’Oréal Professionnel Paris, the original brand of the L’Oréal Group created by French chemist Eugène Schueller, who in 1907 invented the first synthetic hair dye for commercial use (at first called Auréole)

Launched in 1954, the L’Oréal Colour Trophy had, by the 1960s, become a UK touring roadshow of models, artists, stylists and musicians. Covid stopped the competition for two years, so this is its official 70th year.

Eight semi-finals take place across the UK. The North East heat, which covers Yorkshire, was staged at The Met Leeds in April, with 15 semi-finalist hair colourists and their models showcasing their creative colour entries.

Three were selected to go forward to the overall UK Grand Final, which takes place on July 6 at The O2 in London. They are: Lewis Inkles and Jessica Elwell at Scullion and Scot in Sheffield; Morgan Hirst at Russell Eaton in Barnsley, and Blossom Veitch at Saks Hair in Redcar.

Going on to compete for the L’Oréal Colour Trophy Star Award are: Millie Grierson at Scullion and Scot in Sheffield, and Olivia Rae and Robert Sommerville at House Hairdressing in Rotherham.

Each semi-final also features the L'Oréal Professionnel x Robert Eaton Edutainment Showcase, giving audiences a live-action view of the colour directions and techniques shaping the industry right now.

Led by two-times British Hairdresser of the Year Robert Eaton, the showcase features a talented team of L’Oréal Professionnel artists.

In a landscape obsessed with screen and social media, it is heartening to see L'Oréal celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Colour Trophy with live hairdressing on stage, says Robert, creative director at Russell Eaton Hair, which has won the overall Colour Trophy three times, including last year by Angela Thomson from the Barnsley salon.

“It's a real career moment,” Robert says. “It's great for the salon, it's great to raise the profile of what we do.”

The showcase represents his take on current and directional hair trends. Glossing techniques - to make hair look full of shine and health - are a key element. There are also strikingly bright shades and strong, creative placements, plus glamorous looks that showcase L’Oréal’s colour portfolio and innovations.

In terms of what the modern customer is looking for, there are many different influences, although the days of celebrity-driven trends have gone.

“Years ago, you might have had a Jennifer Anniston cut or something that everybody instantly knew. It's not like that now. It’s really varied,” he says.

“In an era of lots of long hair, balayage, extensions, it's easy for people to look samey, so it's a hairdresser's responsibility to try to show a client different things that are out there and possible with hair cut and colour.

“That is one of the biggest shifts in hairdressing - the technology of hair colour becoming so much more advanced, and then the fact that hairdressers share a lot of techniques and artificial methods, more so than ever now.

“Industry standards have become a lot higher because colours are a lot more natural and grow out better.”

When it comes to cuts, shorter hair is back. “Some very strong, square bob shapes, really well crafted, well cut. But clients also want an element of longevity, to grow out really well, with colour that's placed perfectly in the haircut,” he says.

“You're always going to get the blondes. For me, that's really about creating lots of different types of tones. So if we're going for an icy, whiter, brighter colour, it’s white with different shades of ash, of beige, to create something that's multi-dimensional.

“We are seeing a lot of warmer shades, a lot of rose gold colours, colours that add sharpness.”

Technology has moved on to provide glossing services, such as L’Oréal’s new Dia Light, with hyaluronic acid to add shine and create an immaculate finish.

“They are almost like a finishing glaze,” says Robert, adding that colourists in-salon can intermix shades to create a bespoke colour formula finish. “There are infinite possibilities. It's a finishing touch.

“Often people think of blondes being the most asked-for colour in salons and actually it's not, it's brunette shades. For me, that's working with different mocha shades, different variants of brown, mixing them together, lighter through to darker brunettes. Sometimes it's having darker lowlights, which can add depth and substance to hair.

“There's a lot of creativity with brunettes, working with other shades of brunette to create something that's really different. And they look really expensive as well, shiny and really healthy.

“And then reds, copper, or any form of red, can always look stunning, and makes a real statement.

“Getting the perfect red and the perfect copper shade is actually really difficult. For me, it's about introducing lots of different shades of copper. It might be a golden copper, a red copper, a violet copper, a more gold copper, intermixing those shades on the same head of hair.

“If you know somebody with red hair, you might see it in different lights and it shimmers and looks different. Sometimes in a year it can look lighter and more golden, other times it could be a little bit darker. So it's really nice that hairdressers have got products, the expertise, to be able to make colours a lot more natural than before.

“If you have got natural hair, embrace it, wear it, because it's one of the rarest hair covers in the world.”

The L’Oréal Colour Trophy is important because it bridges the gap between the creative world of hairdressing and the consumer, Robert says.

“It's not just talking through screens. It's about predicting trends and creating that iconic look. I would love to see someone from the Northeast win it again.”

The L’Oréal Colour Trophy UK Grand Final takes place at the O2 on July 6, lorealcolourtrophy.com.