This new genetic approach is also able to differentiate between some hair colours that are similar, for example, between red and reddish blonde, or between blonde and dark blonde hair.

BBC: Hair colour predicted from genes

She, like Juan, feels an affinity with the colours of her adopted homeland: Isabelle's hair is gathered round her face in soft, red curls and she jokes that her scalp has soaked up the shades of the soil.

BBC: The three colours of Ibiza

The masks - mysterious looking faces fashioned from wood, leather, horse hair and feathers, and painted in a vivid array of colours - are spiritual artefacts thought to have been taken from a reservation in northern Arizona in the 1930s and 40s.

BBC: Hopi tribe masks fetch record prices at Paris auction