Hair Color

What Hair Color would look best on you

Choosing the right hair color isn't as easy as picking a color that you like in a magazine or choosing celebrity hairstyles.

What's important to consider in your color analysis is your natural hair color, your skin tone, and your eye color.

How do you do that? Not as hard as you may think.

There are 3 elements to consider when choosing what color suits you best.

1. Your skin tone and eye color. This will determine whether you go with warm or cool colors.
2. The depth of your eye color which will determine the depth of your hair color.
3. Your natural hair color which will determine how many shaded you can go both up and down.

              YOUR QUICK COLOR GUIDE

COOL	WARM	NEUTRAL
Blue/Red Tones	Yellow/Orange Tones	Both Warm and Cool Shades

Element 1 - Your Skin Tone and Eye Color

Cool Colors

You have a cool skin tone if you have any of the following traits:

• Your skin burns easily
• You have rosy cheeks
• Your skin is ruddy, pale, freckled, ebony
• Dark brown, olive, medium or pale with pink undertones
• Your simply pale with no recognizeable undertone
• Olive complexion (this would include many of Asian or Hispanic descent)
• Dark brown hue
• Have cool bluish or reddish undertones beneath your eyes
• Pale skin that almost appears as if it were softly translucent
• Medium-pale or pale skin with a pinkish hue around your cheeks

You have a cool eye tone if you have any of the following colors:

• Grays
• Blues
• Grayish Blue
• Dark Blue
• Dark or deep browns
• Black
• Hazel but are speckled with any of the aforementioned cool colors like gray
• Blackish brown

Try hair colors like:

• Light ash blonde
• Coffee and mid level blonde
• Aubergine, mahogany and burgandy reds
• Blue/green dark browns or black
• Blue-black
• Deep coffee brown
• Medium ash brown
• Dishwater blonde
• Sandy or beige blonde
• Platinum blonde
• Raven Blacks
• Cool ash browns
• Clean blue based reds
• Fire-engine red shades for a dramatic look

Avoid:

• Gold, bronze or warm red tones. These can give you a sallow look
• Yellow based colors as your hair and skin will begin to blend making you look ill, washed out or it may exaggerate any yellowness in your skin

Warm Colors

You have a warm skin tone if you have any of the following traits:

• Your skin tans easily with a golden glow
• Pale peach flesh-tones
• Brown with faint undertones of pink or gold
• Warm golden and yellow undertones
• Skin with lots of freckles or rosy flush
• Medium to dark brown with an orange or gold undertone
• Pale with peach or gold undertones
• Light brown with gold undertones

You have a warm eye tone if you have any of the following colors:

• Green
• Greenish blue
• Muted green
• Gold-brown
• Mid brown
• Hazel with flecks of gold or brown
• Turquoise
• Dull blue

Try hair colors like:

• Light honey blonde
• Strawberry blonde
• Golden mid level blonde
• Warm chocolate browns
• Ginger or orange based reds
• Dark browns with a hint of rust
• Deep chocolate
• Golden brown
• Auburn
• Golden Blonde
• Red and colors with orange highlights

Avoid:

• Violet, blue and white colors, which can wash out your natural coloring
• Too much ash in your hair as this can make you look older, pale and drawn

Neutral Color

If your skin tone is neutral or cream:

You're neither too warm nor too cool, you most likely will be able to wear almost any color.

• You have no obvious overtones of olive, yellow or red
• Choose a color that will enhance your eye tone
• Bring out yellow flecks with golds and reds
• Enhance dark eyes with exotic colors like dark wine
• Adjust your makeup to match and your new hue will look all the better
• Try colors like sandy blonde, beige blonde, chocolate brown and mahogany
• You can pull off almost any shade of red

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Element 2 - Your Eye Color - How Dark or Light Should You Go

Your depth of eye color in combination with how dark or light your skin is plays a big part in how light or dark a color should be.

Try this for a guide:

YOUR EYE / SKIN COLOR	YOUR HAIR COLOR
Light Eye Color : Light skin	Keep your color light and fair with your hair depth
Light Eye Color : Medium skin	Keep your color light to medium depth
Light Eye Color : Dark Skin	Anything goes
Medium Eye Color : Light Skin	Keep your color light to medium depth
Medium Eye Color : Medium Skin	Keep your color light to medium depth
Medium Eye Color : Dark Skin	Keep your color dark to medium depth
Dark Eye Color : Light Skin	Anything goes
Dark Eye Color : Medium  Skin	Keep your color medium to dark depth
Dark Eye Color : Dark Skin	Keep your color a deeper depth

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Element 3 - Your Natural Hair Color

The most important factor in choosing a hair color is picking a shade that goes well with your natural coloring. This doesn't mean you can't drastically change the color of your hair but it does mean choosing a shade that will compliment the coloring you already have.

As a guide:

Natural hair colors that fall into the warm category are deep brown with red or gold highlights, red, strawberry blonde and grey that has a yellow cast.

Natural colors that fall into the cool category are blue-black, coffee brown, medium ash brown, dishwater blonde, platinum blonde and grey that has a salt and pepper hue.

Natural colors that fall into the neutral category are caramel browns, muted blondes and hair that goes a muddy grey.

                    

If you are looking for something less dramatic and more natural, choose a color that is within two shades of your natural color. This will be a pleasant change and you will still recognize the person you see in the mirror.

Overall - Try to keep your hair color natural and subtle. Use highlights and lowlights to lift your color. The end result will make you look and feel at least ten years younger!

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OTHER WAYS TO DETERMINE YOUR SKIN TEMPERATURE

Look at your arm - specifically, the veins in your arm. Do they look bluer than green or greener than blue? If they look green you probably have a warm complexion. Blue means that your skin tone is more on the cool side.

Look at your greys. It can be as simple as salt-and-pepper grey versus yellowish-grey. Both are very common, but the spicy one indicates a cool skin tone while the yellow signals warmth.

Look at your color analysis.