Opinions, please.

As Kelly Bundy once said, I'm on the horns of an enema. Over the last couple of months I have been getting my (naturally mid-brown) hair progressively lightened, with an eye to eventually going a very light blonde. I had it this colour for years and I love it. However, it's all coming back to me just how much money and maintenance this takes, and I'm not entirely sure I can be bothered. The other option I am leaning towards is a vibrant red - I've had loads of reds over the years and it's another colour I really like. My favourite is actually jet black, but I'm just too old to pull that one off without looking like Morticia Addams or one of those crazy old showbiz ladies clinging to their lost youth (hello, Ann Miller!).

In normal circumstances I never pay attention to anyone's opinion on hair colour - I think it's a really personal thing, and often people's opinions are coloured (heh - see what I did there?) by what they are used to, or what they wish they had themselves. However, I'm really 50/50 on this one so I'm throwing the door open for opinions. So speak up!

I even have pictures for comparison!

These pictures are a few years old - actually, the blonde one is more than a few years old, it's about 13 years old. It's the only blonde one I could find. I did have another red-haired one that actually showed a brighter, better shade of red but it's a terrible angle that makes me look like I have 16 chins and I am wearing a short-lived, very ill-advised pair of glasses that never suited me. That pic will never see the light of day on the internet.

So, ignore the styles, which you may think look a bit gooby. Which colour?