Whether you’re looking for a brand-new shade or something a little more subtle, a change in hair color can act as a great confidence booster and a fun way to refresh your look. With an array of shades to choose from, picking the right one can be a challenge.
Besides the question of which shade to choose, the wrong color can potentially overwhelm or create a “washed-out” appearance. To help narrow down your choices and find the perfect shade, consider a color that complements your skin tone in harmony.
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How to Determine Skin Tone
In addition to doing a little of your own research, a good hair stylist can also offer expert advice on which shades work best for you. A hair salon Aurora CO comes highly recommended, offering expert custom color services in addition to advice on maintenance and upkeep.
As a starting point, check to see whether your skin tone falls within the cool, neutral, or warm range, with variations in between for dark, medium, and fair complexions. You can test this yourself using a couple of different methods, such as a 12-color season quiz. The fastest ways to determine your skin tone are the wrist test and the metal test.
The Wrist Test
Check the inside of your wrist: purple or blue veins indicate cool-toned skin, while green veins tend to be warm. A mix of both tends to suggest neutral-toned skin.
The Metal Test
Another good indicator is to determine which precious metals suit you best. Cool tones shine in silver, while warm-toned skin looks gorgeous in gold, and neutral has the best of both worlds, looking great in gold, silver, or rose gold.
Finding the Perfect Hair Shade for Your Skin Tone
Now that you have an idea of your skin tone, here are some suggestions for colors that suit each category.
Best Hair Colors for Cool Skin Tone
Pink or blue undertones, moving into deeper blues or purples on deeper complexions. Looks best in cool colors, such as blues, greens, or purples. Tends to sunburn easily or turn pink.
Cool light: Look for ashy, cool shades of blonde, brunette, violet, and blue-toned reds.
Cool medium: Cool browns, deep, cool burgundy reds, and cool, ashy blondes.
Cool dark: In addition to deeper cool browns, jewel tones can also look lovely.
See What Are the Best Hair Colors for Neutral Skin Tone?
Another test to try is the white tee test: cool tones tend to look good in off-whites, while warmer tones look great in bright, “optic” white. If you suit both, you may fall between the two, leaning more neutral.
Neutral light: Shades of honey, strawberry blonde, or deeper browns.
Neutral medium: Caramel or ash blonde, golden brown, chocolate, or auburn.
Neutral dark: Suits a variety of warm or cool tones, as well as jewel colors.
Warm Skin Tone – Warm Hair Color
Golden or peach tones tend to tan easily. Avoid ashy or cool tones – instead, opt for warmer or golden hues.
Warm light: Golden blondes, browns, or rich auburns.
Warm medium: Caramel blondes, honey blondes, copper or golden brown.
Warm dark: In addition to warm, golden honey blondes and dark blondes, you can also choose chocolate or caramel browns and vibrant, warm reds.
Maintenance of Dyed Hair
As part of your color consultation, it’s important to ask about ongoing maintenance. More striking changes in color, such as bleach blondes or reds (which tend to fade more quickly), require regular treatments to maintain color and shine. In contrast, more subtle color treatments, such as balayage, root shading, or highlights, offer minimal upkeep during the growing-out phase. This fact makes these latter treatments very budget-friendly, according to my experience. I used to have ash blonde highlights and chocolate or eggplant lowlights in my twenties when I was still a graduate student. My sis tried root shading and highlights as a teenager.
Featured photo by Pavel Danilyuk. Source: Pexel
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