How to Pick the Perfect Shade of Blond for Your Hair

You can still be a blond even if you were not blond as a child.

Choosing the right or wrong shade of hair color can mean the difference between looking washed-out and enhancing your features. After choosing the best shade of blond for your hair, assess the difference between your current hair color and your desired shade. If you are going darker or lightening your hair by two shades or less, you can successfully dye your hair at home. If you are lightening your hair by more than two shades, your hair must be bleached first, which is best left to a professional. Also consider seeing a professional to obtain the most natural looking highlights and low lights.

Things You'll Need

• Mirror

Instructions

Determine Your Coloring

1. Look at the veins on your wrist beneath your palm. According to celebrity hair stylist David Evangelista, if you have blue veins, you most likely have cool coloring. If your veins look green, then you probably have warm coloring.

2. Look at your hair in natural light. If your hair looks blue-black or is a dark, neutral brown, then you have a cool skin tone. If you have a warm skin tone, your natural hair color appears red or deep golden brown or blond. Medium ash or golden blond can indicate either cool or warm skin tones.

3. Look at your skin in a mirror when you are not wearing make-up in order to see your natural skin tone. If your skin looks pale or medium-toned with pink or no undertones, then you have cool skin coloring. Very dark brown and Asian skin coloring have cool tones as well. If your skin looks pale with peach or yellow undertones, or is dark brown or freckled, then you most likely have warm skin tones.

Choosing Color

1. Choose an intense blond if your skin is cool-toned and highlight with honey, taupe or ash shades. Fair-skinned individuals can choose bright colors of blond, such as platinum and ash tones. If you have cool but medium-toned skin, look for a warm, golden tone of blond. Be careful if your skin has a lot of red undertones as certain shades of blond can enhance this. Look for beige, golden, and light brown highlights and avoid red-based shades.

2. Select deep blond colors for warm-toned skin and look for copper-colored highlights. Medium skin tones should look for golden colors and deeper-skinned individuals should opt for darker blond colors.

3. Work with your grays, if you have them, instead of trying to completely cover them up. Avoid overly bright or bold shades of blond as these can make you look older. Make use of highlights for a more natural look.

Tips & Warnings

• A base color with highlights and/or low lights looks the most natural.

• Use hair products for blond hair to retain your color.

• Never color more than two shades away from your natural hair color at home.

• See a stylist if you are going from red, brown or black to blond.

References

• "The Early Show"; The Right Hair Color Can Do Wonders; Polly Leider; February 2009
• Mail Online; Beauty Confidential: How to Get the Right Shade of Blonde