Finding your ideal hair color involves several key considerations.
First and foremost is understanding your current base color or level – to avoid drastic shifts, try keeping within two shades lighter or darker of where your current status lies.
Your eye and skin tones must also be considered, with incredible shades emphasizing pale skin tones and light eye colors, while warm tones can make dark complexions appear richer.
Light or Dark?
hair that ranges between light and dark can often be explained by variations in eumelanin levels in your follicles – more brown eumelanin means darker hair, while less results in lighter locks. Another pigment known as pheomelanin adds yellow-orange hues.
As your skin tone plays a large part in selecting an ideal hair color, remember that selecting one based on this is also crucial. For instance, having a very light complexion could cause dark colors to look too harsh against you and wash you out altogether. Conversely, if your hair is already very dark and you want to go blonde, it can be tricky to lighten it without damaging its texture or becoming over-bleached and dry. Garnier celebrity colorist Nikki Lee, who works with megastars like Sarah Hyland and Emma Roberts, recommends conducting a strand test first to see how the dye reacts with your locks; clipping one small section from underneath where no one will see can give an idea of the outcome before bleaching your entire head!
Blonde or Red?
The term blonde can be perceived as gendered and thus seen as sexist when applied to female hair. Yet, so many shade options don’t fit that mold – from Rita Ora’s platinum ice blonde and Gigi Hadid’s dirty blonde to ginger or honey tones for added neutrality or even lowlights for added dimension and depth! To determine your level, place a strand of your hair into natural lighting and observe it. Most dyes have a system for categorizing how your color has been organized using numbers or sometimes letters to signify its hue. People with low concentrations of eumelanin and high amounts of pheomelanin (reddish pigment) are known to have blonde hair. In contrast, those with more significant amounts of eumelanin without red pigment have brown hair. Maintaining red hues may prove more challenging as their color tends to fade quickly.
Warm or Cool?
Selecting the ideal shade can be daunting. When making this decision, you must carefully consider your undertones, eye color, and skin tone. For example, when considering going blonde, you must know if yours is warm or cool (or neutral). If you have a warm undertone, golden hues will look best, while icy shades could wash out your complexion. Platinum or ash-colored dyes work equally well if your undertone is neutral. Red hues generally lean warm, while blue-based tones tend to lean cool; however, red can vary between warm and cool depending on its pigmentation. To find your ideal shade, refer to a hairline color chart; these usually divide shades by temperature groups before further breaking them down by pigments or tones to show you which ones might suit your skin tone and which to avoid.
Neutral?
Neutral skin tones are flexible when wearing warm and cool tones, but finding your ideal shade might lie somewhere in between. A trend known as high neutral has gained increasing traction on social media since early 2020; we consulted celebrity hairstylist Renya Xydis on how best to pull it off. “To identify your color undertone, she recommends looking at the veins in your hands; if they are purple or blue in hue, that indicates cool; otherwise, if they’re greenish-yellow in tone, it indicates warm.” Also, consider your clothing preferences; if gold jewelry and rusty orange clothing tend to attract you, your undertone could be more warm-toned than excellent. Neutral hair tones offer the ideal balance. When selecting your colorist, tell him or her you prefer something between platinum and overly gold and avoid any ashy or brassy tones. Be wary if considering using purple shampoo, as it could quickly turn into yellow-tinged neutral tones!
