Choose The Ideal Hair Color
You know that you really should schedule an appointment with a stylist to go for that totally new hair color you’ve been lusting after, but for simpler treatments, it’s tempting to save some money and do your own color at home. But knowing what hair color is right for your skin tone is difficult — especially with all of the ombre, blonde and, gray hair color trends of the past few years. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Just take a peek in the hair color aisle of any beauty supply store and you’ll quickly see that the options are much, much more complicated than simply blonde or brown.
While the old beauty rules don’t really apply anymore (that is, you can really wear any hair color that you like, because it’s a free country and also because hair coloring techniques have advanced a ton), it can be helpful to know which shade of hair color to start with if you’re looking to take the color theory approach to complementing your skin tone. That doesn’t mean that you can’t do, say, blonde hair on dark skin, it just means that in order for it to look as amazing as it possibly can, you should choose the warmth or coolness of the color depending on your unique skin tone. All the stylists Bustle spoke to for this piece agreed that finding a hair color that complements your undertone can instantly make you look like you’re glowing. In case you’re next big question is, “Um, what is my skin tone?” here are a few basic tips from stylists that will help you to zero in on your specific shade and decide how to apply that to the hair color of your dreams.
1. Wash your face completely.
In order to accurately determine your skin’s undertones, you’ll need to completely remove all traces of makeup that may be changing its natural color.
2. Choose a well-lit room.
Because your skin looks drastically different under different types of light (i.e., the awful experiences that we’ve all surely had in dressing room fluorescents), choose a room with a large window or other source of natural light before doing this test.
3. Do a shirt test.
One of the easiest ways to figure out your undertone is to look in your closet. “Thin of your favorite blouse or shirt, the one that you feel best in, the one that everyone compliments you on,” Color&Co Collective founder and professional colorist Deb Rosenberg tells Bustle. “What color is that shirt? If it’s yellow, orange or peach, you likely have a warm skin tone. If it’s blue, green or purple, you likely have a cool skin tone. If you look equally amazing in both, your skin tone is neutral.” If that favorite shirt doesn’t instantly come to mind (or if you almost always wear black, gray, or white) you can still use this theory: While looking in a mirror in the aforementioned well-lit room, hold a shirt in a bright shade of green or blue against your face, then take it down and hold up a different shirt in a shade of red or yellow. If you think your skin looks better against the blue shirt, you likely have cool-toned skin. If it looks better against the red shirt, you have warm-toned skin.
4. Examine your veins and eyes.
If you’re still unsure about your skin tone, look at the veins in your wrist. Chelsea Bulte, a colorist at the celebrity favorite Nine Zero One salon, says “Flip your wrists over. Do you see greenish color veins? That means you have more warm undertones. If you see blue or purple veins, that means your skin tone is more cool.” New York City-based colorist Rachel Bodt — who has worked with Andreja Pejic, Marisa Tomei, Justine Marjan, Adesuwa Aighewi, among other big names — also recommends checking out the flecks in your eyes. If they’re more golden or hazel, you probably have warm undertones. Blue and gray mean cool, and a combo indicates neutral.
After you’ve figured it out for yourself, you can move on to the fun part — choosing a hair color. Regardless of your skin tone and the color you’re trying to achieve, Rosenberg says, “You should make sure that the depth of the color is at least two shades darker or lighter than your skin” to avoid looking washed out.
