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What Should I Consider When Choosing a Hair Color?

Tricia Christensen
Tricia Christensen
Tricia Christensen
Tricia Christensen

There are several things you should consider when choosing a hair color. Key things to take into account are your skin tone and your eye color. You also want to consider your natural color because this can give you a good guide for the other shades that may be best suited to you.

Skin colors are often divided into warm and cool categories. Warm colors can be light to dark and usually contain hints of yellow or olive in the skin. No matter what your natural hair color, warm colors of the skin are best accented by warm colored hair, which typically means you’ll be choosing hair color that contains golden shades or golden red tones. What you’ll want to stay away from if you have warm skin are ash and silvery tones. These may not best complement skin, and they also will tend to wash skin out.

A natural look can be obtained by matching eye color to hair color.
A natural look can be obtained by matching eye color to hair color.

Cool skin color may be light to dark too, and unless you are very pale, tends to have more reddish tones or even blue-reddish tones. If you’re really light skinned you may notice your vein color is typically a cool dark or silvery blue. This can help you decide that you’ve got a cool skin tone. Unlike with warm skin tones, you want to avoid colors that are going to be golden, orange or caramel. Instead you’ll want to stay with colors that are more silvery and ash in nature, or that are bluish red, like mahogany or even purple. These will likely be more complementary to your skin tone.

Lightening or darkning a natural hair color might be better than a drastic change.
Lightening or darkning a natural hair color might be better than a drastic change.

Though many people take into account eye color, this may not be the best way of choosing a hair color. Sometimes combination of eye color and hair color can be terrific, and you ought to bear in mind things like ultra light eyes and dark hair color or very dark eyes and light color. If you’re striving for a natural look, choose a color that would appear naturally with your eye color may be the best way to approach this.

People with pale skin usually need a hair color that falls into the cool category.
People with pale skin usually need a hair color that falls into the cool category.

Your own hair color can help you a lot when choosing a hair color that is new. Again you’ll want to look at things like the warm or cool shades of your hair to see which colors may be the most flattering. If you’re new to coloring your hair, a very drastic change can be a little hard to take. Instead you might want to consider merely lightening or darkening your hair by a few shades. If you like the results you can always choose a more dramatic look the next time, especially as you get used to new lighter or darker hair.

Some people prefer maintaining dark hair in the winter months.
Some people prefer maintaining dark hair in the winter months.

Choosing a hair color can be something of an art, especially if you want a natural look. Natural hair is not all one color, and when you use a single color on your hair, it may look flat or unreal. This is why many people invest in not only color treatments but also highlights or lowlights. These can give hair more dimension, and several colors in the hair are going to look much more natural, provided these colors are just a few shades from each other.

If you want to give your hair a brighter look, instead of choosing a hair color to change completely, you can get highlights or lowlights to give your hair more dimension. If you don’t favor dramatic changes but just want hair to look fresher, adding a few highlights can really make a difference. When you’re stuck and can’t decide, find a trusted hairdresser or colorist to help you out. Ask them to be honest and let you know which colors will be best on you.

Tricia Christensen
Tricia Christensen

Tricia has a Literature degree from Sonoma State University and has been a frequent WiseGEEK contributor for many years. She is especially passionate about reading and writing, although her other interests include medicine, art, film, history, politics, ethics, and religion. Tricia lives in Northern California and is currently working on her first novel.

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Tricia Christensen
Tricia Christensen

Tricia has a Literature degree from Sonoma State University and has been a frequent WiseGEEK contributor for many years. She is especially passionate about reading and writing, although her other interests include medicine, art, film, history, politics, ethics, and religion. Tricia lives in Northern California and is currently working on her first novel.

Learn more...

Discussion Comments

medicchristy

@chrisinbama- This is a problem many people come in contact with. Some people resort to dying their eyebrows. I do not recommend this at all. Many people do not realize how fast their eyebrows will grow back. I think that it is best to keep your natural eyebrow color.

I have two suggestions for you. The most reasonable solution for you would be to find a new eye brow style. I suggest you go to a salon and let them fix your eyebrows so that they are thin enough to be less noticeable yet thick enough to look right. This would be the easiest way to manage your new hair style with your natural hair color in your eye brows. The only other reasonable solution is to dye your hair a darker color.

chrisinbama

I am a natural, dark-toned, brunette. I recently dyed my hair blonde. I really like the color, but I have thick, brown eyebrows that sort of take away from my appearance. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can enhance my look?

StormyKnight

Hair color is one of the most expressive visuals of the body. If your hair is unique, it will be noticed. Many people will tell you the natural approach is the best solution. In my opinion, that is not necessarily true.

The first step to a perfect hair color is to assure your style. If your personality is far from dull, why go with a dull hair color. Sometimes, (not always), skin tones affect the way your hair looks. Light hair may look odd on a person with a dark complexion. Likewise, dark hair on light skin can make the skin appear very pale. Another factor to consider is how many hair colors you want. If you want two-toned hair, or highlights, it is important to make sure they blend well.

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    • A natural look can be obtained by matching eye color to hair color.
      By: Dan Race
      A natural look can be obtained by matching eye color to hair color.
    • Lightening or darkning a natural hair color might be better than a drastic change.
      By: Subbotina Anna
      Lightening or darkning a natural hair color might be better than a drastic change.
    • People with pale skin usually need a hair color that falls into the cool category.
      By: Marina Karkalicheva
      People with pale skin usually need a hair color that falls into the cool category.
    • Some people prefer maintaining dark hair in the winter months.
      By: Valua Vitaly
      Some people prefer maintaining dark hair in the winter months.