What Hair Color Goes With My Skin Tone?

Choosing the right hair color for your skin tone can make your hair pop. Taking care of your hair and protecting the color will keep your hair shiny, vibrant and attractive. Skin tone and wardrobe colors come together to complete your look. Whether your skin is warm, cool, pale or olive, there is an eye-popping shade for you.

Warm Skin Tones

Skin with a yellow or gold undertone signals a warm skin tone. A peaches-and-cream complexion is created when reddish undertones mix with gold or yellow. Without red tones, the skin takes on a creamy complexion.

Like skin, hair also has warm tones. Matching warm skin with warm overtones will create the best hair color for warm skin. Warmer highlights or lowlights will also flatter your skin tone. In addition, when applying makeup, accessories or clothing the warm tones rule applies.

For example, a peaches-and-cream complexion would be best matched with a copper blond hair color. This color combination creates a natural look. A cool-toned hair color on a warm skin tone will result in draining of the skin color and a mismatched hair color.

For those with darker complexions and warm skin tones, darker colors will look better on you, but avoid jet black, as it tends to wash out your natural color. Consider warm highlights such as red or golden blond, which will bring out your warm skin tones.

Cool Skin Tones

Having pink or blue skin undertones creates cool-toned skin. Fair skin tends to fall into this category with its colorless skin. Freckled faces also fall into this category. For this skin type, cool overtones would look best. Just like a warm skin tone, this rule extends to makeup and fashion. For example, a cool hazelnut brown color makes the skin tone pop. The color completes the natural look against the cool skin.

A warm toned hair color matched with cool toned skin will often make the skin appear to be more yellow or red.

For a darker skin type with cool skin tones you can opt for a light brown color, or a very dark blonde. In addition, consider honey highlights and lowlights for this skin type.

Identifying Your Skin Tone

Some skin tones may be difficult to decipher. To decide which skin undertones you have, wash your face and drape your neck with an article of clothing. Which under tones do you notice in your skin?

A sheet of white paper held under your chin will also help you decipher your skin tone. Cool-toned skin has pink or blue undertones. Your skin has warm undertones if you see more yellows or golds then. Consider visiting your local salon for a consultation if you still cannot figure out your skin tone.

Jewelry can also help you decipher your skin tone. Gold jewelry normally flatters warm skin tones while silver, white gold or platinum flatter cool skin tones.

General Rules

For a general rule, pale skin is suitable for most hair colors. Olive skin looks more natural with darker hair colors.

Always consider your natural hair color when choosing a different color for your hair. Which category does your natural hair color fall into? This is also an indication of what type of color you should choose. For example, if your hair is normally a dark, brunette color and you have olive-colored skin, you would most likely want to darken a few degrees or lighten only a few shades to a medium brown.

Highlights and lowlights

When matching highlights and lowlights, always consider your base hair color first. When highlighting strands of hair, go two shades lighter than your base hair color, unless you want extreme contrasts. In addition, the thicker you go with highlights the less natural it will look. Highlights do not always have to be blond in color. Highlights are generally placed on the top layers of hair and around the face, so be careful if you have dark skin and warm tones and want to do platinum blond highlights; you may want to ease up the color around your face so you do not wash out your skin tone. Some hair dyes have built in highlights that give your hair a multifaceted look.

Lowlights will make strands of hair two shades darker than your base color. Lowlights will help blend your base color in with your highlights. Lowlights only have to be touched up every third time you dye your hair.

Warnings

Stay away from blond colors that will make your skin appear an unnatural shade of pink, if you have very pale skin and reddish undertones. In addition, avoid light red colors. Stick to ash colors that will neutralize your red undertones.

Avoid very light blond colors with yellow overtones, if you have a darker color skin. This color skin usually works well with blacks and dark browns, unless you are looking for a vast contrast.

References

• Chosing Your Skin Tone and Enhancing Your Color
• Choosing the right hair color for you
• Choosing the correct hair color

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish