How to Choose The Best Hair Color For Your Skin Tone

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If you want your overall look to be perfectly balanced, then you need to consider all aspects of your look. And the fact of the matter is that some hair colors work better with certain skin tones than others. In other words, it’s important to consider your skin tone before breaking out the hair dye. So that’s what we are going to talk about now; we present the basic principles of choosing the best hair color for your skin tone.

How to Choose A Hair Color

1. Generally, when speaking about the hair color choice we need to notice that it’s not recommended changing your hair color too frequently, first for avoiding the risk of seeming too unnatural and second for finding that one ideal shade that your looks go well with. On the other hand, it’s not that easy and simple as it may sound!

2. The primary tip of picking a shade is that it will work best if preserved within the shade family of your natural hair tone, which is, of course, the first naturally suitable option. When discussing hair pigmentation, one interesting fact is that your skin and your hair have a common range of underlying pigments and that’s why when picking a shade you need to concentrate on the shade that the sun turns your hair into. These are the naturally flexible range of the tones you may try out at the same time not looking artificial.

3. As for measuring the hair color, we may talk about the scaling of the shades by the level and the shade, thus differentiating the darkest and the lightest tones as two extremes, having all the transitional variants in between them. In this way jet-black appears on the darker extreme and the platinum blonde on the other. Thus, scaling them with 1-10 levels we have dark hair going from 1 to 4 and containing the biggest proportions of red pigments, blonde hair being within the range 7-10 and having golden pigments and the transitional shades coming between these two and having the blend of the both exemplified with orange tones.

4. The undertone of the skin also matters in the compatibility with the hair color. Thus if you have naturally black or brown hair, earthy shades like orange, brown, gold, or other orange-based variants are what domineer. In case of blonde shades, cooler tones generally prevail. Accordingly, those having warmer accents need to opt for warmer tones and vice versa.

Eyes and Hair Color

The following important factor you need to pay attention to is the shade of your eyes. Accordingly, if you have green eyes, the ash blonde or light brown shades may be ideal picks for you, in order to soften your features and to gift you with a charming and natural look. In case of blue eyes, cooler tones are again the do. For brown and honey shades, as well as hazel eyes, chestnut and chocolate will make miracles! Finally, if black is what you have for eyes, some darker shades of brown or better jet black will be ideal.

Age and Hair Color

Age also matters in the overall process of picking a hair color. For instance, the older you are, the less space is left for extremes and crazy experiments. Thus, we wouldn’t advise you to go platinum blonde from black in case you are older. On the other hand, the underlying skin tone of yours also changes during the time. So you also need to take the possible changes into account when going for a new shade. You need to preserve the shade within a narrow range of the natural hair colors in order to avoid the risks. Still, if you want something radical you can do that with the help of picking the right levels of cool and warm tones and matching all with your skin.

How to Choose Hair Color According to Your Skin Tone

Blonde Hair Color for Your Skin Tone

This is the desire of very many ladies around the world. Going blonde means having sassy, cute, and attractive looks, IF the blonde shades have been picked correctly. So if you are naturally blonde, somewhere around the sixth level, then going two tones higher or lower can be an ideal choice for you. This is also one of the most versatile tones enabling to make big transitions from six to four and to eight. Whether the color plays you choose are to be highlights or lowlights, the results are going to be impressive.

Blonde Hair Color for Lighter Skin Tones: In case you have lighter natural tone you need to avoid going for a bigger amount of contrast. This can be done in a subtle way, just complementing the natural shade and adding some delicate contrast to them. Shades like golden, strawberry and light blonde are all suitable for using them as highlights if a light skin tone is the case for you. Golden and copper blonde are also the ideal hair shades for you. Using darker tones for the roots and lighter hues on the hair tips will create a very natural and sun-kissed effect. In case your face is pale with a cool blue undertone, opt for warm golden blonde shades. On the other hand, make sure to stay away from white, ash or reddish hues.

Blonde Hair Color for Medium Skin Tones: If your skin tone is medium, then accentuating your looks with some golden hues may be an ideal way to work. Avoid shades like ashy or orange-based variants, as they will make you look exhausted.

Blonde Hair Color for Darker Skin Tones: As for darker skin tones, your hair needs to be naturally darker, too. Caramel or golden highlights can create catchy effects. Avoiding tones containing too much white, platinum or orange hues is also a good idea, as this will create an unnatural effect with your skin tone.

Some great examples of successful combinations of skin and hair shades for blonde can be observed with the looks of many celebs. Sharon Stone and Reese Witherspoon are two of the most impressive celebs. The specific “blonde’ hue of Jennifer Aniston’s hair is also noteworthy. In addition, you may also turn to the looks of Nicole Kidman, who managed to create that ideal composition of cool blue undertones of the eyes with warm golden blonde color plays. Gwen Stefani, Cate Blanchett, Gwyneth Paltrow, Carrie Underwood, Victoria Beckham, Nicole Richie, Tyra Banks, Beyonce, and Queen Latifah all have some very curious and effective exemplars with this kind of shades.

Brown Hair Color for Your Skin Tone

Brown is one of the most versatile and potentially multi-functional tones you can opt for. From the cute bronde to chocolate, all the tones can be used for the creation of an ultra-sassy and feminine image. The underlying tone of almost every type of brown is red. Thus the natural color plays of auburn, caramel and red highlights are common among such looks. Putting this on a level of the scale we shall put the brown hues somewhere around the 5th level, thus enabling one to go for the two tone up or down principle. So going from the light shades to dark, we may note their play pairs accordingly.

Brown Hair Color for Lighter Skin Tones: For lighter skin tones we have the natural warm red tones already existing within the underlying pigmentation. Strawberry hues may also work well for highlights. On the other hand, make sure to avoid opting for too dark tones, unless this is your natural hair color.

Brown Hair Color for Medium Skin Tones: For yellow or sallow skin tones, alternatives like medium brown accents may be applied. Light and dark variants of caramel can also do. Still, you need to avoid going for too warm (blackish) or too cool (blondish) options in order to look natural. Dark chocolate brown can also look maximum beautiful with your skin tone.

Brown Hair Color for Darker Skin Tones: For darker skin tones like olive, corresponding darker hues are ideal. Thus the deep tones of brown may be matched with darker red highlights. Dark auburn brown will look very natural with your skin tone. In case of having some pinky undertones in your skin, softer accompaniments need to be used. In case of having dark skin tones, avoiding too light brown colors is a good idea, unless you were born this way.

Coming to seeing everything with examples, we can discuss the looks of Mandy Moore, exemplifying the great ways of using those soft brownish accents. Sofia Vergara is another attractive example. Jennifer Hudson also stuns everyone with her dark brown hair matching it with the darker shade of skin. Other examples include celebs Zooey Deschanel with her dark chocolate brown hair, Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman, Anne Hathaway, Sarah Michelle, Selena Gomez, Jessica Alba, Jordin Sparks, Beyonce, Kim Kardashian with the darkest brown shade, Jessica Biel, Michelle Obama, and many others.

Black Hair Color for Your Skin Tone

Going further with the options we come to the following sassy and impressive tone being black. Some think having the darkest tones like jet black limits their possibilities and doesn’t leave any space for experiments. As we already know, red undertones are the overwhelming options about them. That’s the reason some of those having jet black hair sometimes worry about the shade turning red. In order to avoid seeming unnatural you just need to adhere to the natural range of shades, again preserving the two-tone principle. Hence if some catchy accents need to be added, you can do that with the help of red-violet tones added to the roots where they are naturally concentrated. You can also leave your black hair just as it is, since in this way you’ll also have something to be proud about!

Black Hair Color for Lighter Skin Tones: So talking about the different color levels, we can point out the light skin tone first, being compatible with darn neutrals inclined towards the dark brown hues. Too dark black hues will look unnatural you’re your skin tone.

Black Hair Color for Medium Skin Tones: Medium skin tone looks the best with dark brown, almost black options. Here you are recommended avoiding black hues with red undertones.

Black Hair Color for Darker Skin Tones: Those having darker skin tones should go for super-dark or extra-dark-brown alternatives. Stay away from black with blue accents, which will highlight the olive hue in your skin tone and make it look greenish.

Many popular celeb are also having a moment with their sassy and beautiful jet-black hair, nicely complementing those hues sometimes. Dita Von Teese, Katy Perry, Megan Fox, Angelina Jolie, Katie Holmes, Demi Moore, Priyanka Chopra, Sanaa Lathan, Kim Kardashian, Keona Mitra, and Oprah Winfrey are some of the most noteworthy ones.

Red Hair Color for Your Skin Tone

Natural red hair is one of the rarest and most infrequent tones that people generally have. Still, very many ladies all around the world like experimenting with this kind of shade, trying to find that ideal option for auburn, magenta, strawberry-blonde and orange-red alternatives. What makes red special is that it doesn’t fall into any of the levels of color scaling, since it’s primarily just a color not a level. There is a range of many different variations of this shade and you just need to find the exact tone matching your skin best. So if we were to differentiate between the levels of red, we could speak about lower levels being violet-red, medium as cooler red and auburn, and higher levels as warmer tones topped by strawberry red.

When thinking over the creation of color plays, the first thing that has to be taken into account is the existence of brown pigments in the undertone of red hair, and that’s what needs to be accentuated and highlighted. In case yellow is the basic shade of your undertones, you can also use hues like golden copper.

Red Hair Color for Lighter Skin Tones: For lighter skin tones you need hues like golden, strawberry blonde or bright copper and red. Wine-colored shades like burgundy are to be avoided since using them in this case you’re subjecting yourself to the risk of looking pale.

Red Hair Color for Medium Skin Tones: For medium skin tones you can go for shades like medium coppery blonde or medium auburn. Stay away from dark eggplant hues that tend to make you look yellowish.

Red Hair Color for Darker Skin Tones: Finally, for darker skin tones, medium auburn and chestnut brown are ideal. However, you are advised to ditch super red tones, which may make you look green.

As for the celebs’ picks, we may talk about the super cute and delicate shade of the hair of Emma Stone, as well as that of Nicole Kidman, Karen Elson and Florence Welch. As for the brightest and the catchiest tones, however, Rihanna is the super-successful and unfailing image.

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Written by Rima Kh.
Rima is a great fan of arts, poetry, cultures and fashion. She's interested in everything that's extraordinary and different. Find her on Google+