The most important factor to consider when choosing a hair color is picking a shade that compliments your skin tone. Skin tones are usually warm or cool. Warm toned skin has yellow, golden, or peach undertones whereas cool toned skin has pink, beige, or blue undertones.
The easiest way to figure out which tone of skin you are is to look at the vein on your wrist. If your vein looks greenish, you are warm toned. If your vein looks blueish, you are cool toned.
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| The two middle pictures are the correct tone for Angelina's cool skin. |
Once you have figured out which skin tone category you fall into you can figure out which shade of hair color will compliment your skin. If you pick the right color, your skin will appear more radiant and glowing. Your eyes will appear brighter and wrinkles and blemishes will be less evident. If you pick the wrong hair color for your skin tone, your skin will appear washed out and your eyes will appear to be dull and any darkness or bags underneath them will become more apparent. The wrongs hair color for your skin tone can also make blemishes and wrinkles stand out and can make your teeth appear more yellow.
People with warm skin tones want to pick warmer toned hair colors. If you want to be blonde, stick to golden or caramel blondes. If you prefer red, stick to warm reddish browns or copper toned reds. If you prefer brown, stick with golden browns with a warm depth.
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| Jessica Alba's warm skin tone is best flattered by the last three colors. |
If you have a cool skin tone you want to choose cooler toned colors. Cool toned people can pull off platinum blonde, ash toned blondes, or beige blondes. If you prefer red hair color, stick to blue toned reds, auburns, or wine toned reds. If you prefer brown color, stick with cool toned chocolate browns and you can usually also pull off black hair color if you skin is not too pale.
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| Katy Perry's cool skin tone is most flattered by the second and third pictures. |
When picking a hair color you must also consider maintenance. If you are wanting to go a lot lighter than your natural shade, you will need to touch up your roots more often. If you go with vibrant reds, you will also need to come in a little more often because reds are the quickest to fade out.
Another consideration in picking the right color for you is if you want your hair color to appear natural or edgy. If you want natural looking color, it is best to only go three shades lighter or darker when choosing your color. If you prefer edgy color, pick the color based on your skin tone and have fun!
The health of your hair is the last consideration in choosing the right hair color. If your hair is damaged it is best to stick to rich browns because they make your hair appear to be more shiny and healthy. You want to avoid lightening too much because it can dry out your hair more and unhealthy hair does not take red very well because the red color molecules are larger and have a hard time settling in damaged hair.
When in doubt, schedule a free consultation with me at Salon Lotus and I can walk you through the process! I am running a March Madness Makeover special. It includes a highlight, lowlight and cut for only $70.
