This year’s Strictly Come Dancing is going to have a very different look. New hosts, new celebrities, new professionals, and a brand new hair look for returning pro dancer Dianne Buswell. The former champ and new mum has unveiled a stunning hair transformation ahead of filming – and it’s a 10 from us.
The Strictly favourite has swapped her signature bright red hair for a beautiful new look she’s calling ‘mahogany smoke’. It took a whopping eight hours to laboriously strip away ten years of pillar-box red dye, but the incredible result is undeniably worth it.
Dianne made history as the first pregnant Strictly pro in last year’s series, and in March this year she and partner Joe Sugg welcomed baby son Bowden. His arrival cemented the love Dianne and Joe found after being paired up on Strictly in 2018, but after a few blissful months in the baby bubble, Dianne is easing back into work mode. Starting with her hair.
Dianne took to Instagram to show off her glamorous new look, which sees her famous flaming-red shade swapped out and swapped for a far more muted, smoky tone. ‘When Mahogany smoke is the new red!’ she posts, adding that she’s ‘obsessed’ with the transformation.
The makeover is the work of two top pros at the starry Larry King Salon, and Dianne has shared a slew of gorgeous photos to show off their handiwork.
To find out more, we got the low-down from Larry King colour supremo Dylan Donnelly, who masterminded the whole transformation, alongside stylist Vicky Demetriou who blended in texture and extensions to enhance the shade.
‘For the last 10 years, we've known Dianne for her signature vibrant red hair, but it felt like the right time for an evolution,’ Dylan tells GH. ‘We wanted to create something that still felt bold and expressive, but with a more sophisticated edge.’
Creating the polished, elegant look involved blending a multitude of dusky rose shades, he explains. ‘We've transformed her colour into a smokey mahogany, featuring deeper chocolate roots and soft, rosy highlights. Rather than using traditional white or golden blonde highlights, we chose Great Lengths' Rose Quartz shade, which catches the light with a subtle pink hue.
‘Set against the rich mahogany base, it creates incredible depth and dimension while feeling modern and understated.’
Dianne’s day job was carefully considered when creating the style, he says. Vicky enhanced Dianne’s base cut with Great Lengths extensions in various lengths to create ‘a soft, choppy finish with plenty of movement,’ says Dylan. ‘It flows beautifully when she dances and feels effortless rather than overly polished.’
As you might imagine, this kind of makeover isn’t a fast lunchtime fix. Dylan reveals he spent ‘around eight hours carefully lifting and removing a decade of red’ before creating this smoky mahogany-pink shade. ‘It was a meticulous process, but the result is worth it.’
We can’t wait to see Dianne swooshing her new hair on the dance floor.
