Celebrities hair style transformations: What is better – blonde or brunette?

Fans of the 37-year-old immediately called for her to ditch the dye and return to the colour of her roots.

Holly herself remained coy about the different look, saying only that it was “slightly more my natural hair colour”.

So do blondes have more fun? Are brunettes really taken more seriously? We asked four women who have enjoyed fame on both sides of the hair-colour divide for the reasons why they choose one hue over the other.

Although perhaps the definitive word on the matter should go to none other than Dolly Parton. When asked if she was upset by people labelling her a “dumb blonde” she replied: “No – because I’m not dumb… and I’m not blonde.”

Carol Vorderman

I’ve loved being both blonde and brunette equally. It was never a case of my being unhappy with my hair.

My decision to make the change was simply because the grey got so bad that I started to look like a skunk.

But the moment I became blonde I fell in love with it. One of the best things about it is you can have really messy hair and it still looks good.

Also it was fascinating because people’s attitudes really did change.

I’ve spent a lot of time recently in America where they don’t know my background and people have made assumptions that because I’m blonde I’m not as bright, or that I’m more “fun” and so on.

Also what’s funny now is that some people think my blonde hair is just a phase I’m going through and they ask when I plan to return to being brunette.

I can say for the record I’m not going to. Keep your eyes peeled because I quite fancy being a redhead next…

Vanessa Feltz

I am blonde through and through. My soul is blonde so when my dark roots grow in I know that I need to get myself to a hairdresser as quickly as possible.

I’ve spent a great deal of time and money rectifying nature’s mistake of not making me naturally blonde. I can’t think of myself in any other way.

A friend recently showed me an old photograph of myself aged 16 with my “natural” hair colour and I was horrified.

I was a teenager when I first went blonde and the decision was a very conscious one: it was all about Diana Dors on the Sgt Pepper LP cover, that incredible glamour.

I aspired to be like that and I’ve never grown out of it.

I’m 56 now and the idea of cutting my hair into some old lady style and letting the grey come through horrifies me and I will fight it for as long as I can afford the peroxide.

Ann Widdecombe

My decision was simple. I was a natural brunette but then the press gallery, who sit directly above where I used to sit in the House of Commons, began to make comments about “zebra crossings”.

I initially started dyeing my hair darker but then realised it would be easier to keep grey hair in check by going fair. I have to say that I really did enjoy being blonde.

I was only really fair for 10 years or so but I often now think of myself as blonde. I only stopped dyeing it when it became apparent that my love of swimming meant there was a very real danger of the chlorine turning my hair green.

Did people treat me differently? I always say that men used to talk to me much more slowly as a blonde… but that’s a joke, of course.

Claire Sweeney

The one thing I will say is that as you get older, having blonde hair is much more forgiving: it hides the grey a lot better.

I’m naturally brunette but I found myself going blonde almost by accident. It really wasn’t a big deal or a case of “today I’m going to change my life”.

I simply had a few highlights and then a few more and before I knew it I’d gone fully blonde.

Obviously there’s all the jokes about blondes being dumb and so on but I honestly don’t think people treated me any differently and I certainly didn’t see it as any kind of major life choice.

Likewise when I return to being brunette for a while it’s just giving my hair a break as much as anything else. I’m not sure that anyone notices any more, do they?