4 Ways to Choose Hair Color for Skin Tone - wikiHow (2024)

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Co-authored byKana Ishii

Last Updated: January 14, 2022

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   Consider your skin's shade. Broadly speaking, the shade of your skin is most likely pale, medium, olive, or dark/deep. This should be fairly obvious, but helpful in choosing a hair color. You won't want your hair color to exactly match your skin's shade and tone or your hair color will look washed out.

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   Find your skin tone. Regardless of your skin's shade, you need to determine what your skin's undertone is: warm, cool, or neutral. Wear a white shirt and stand in front of the mirror. Stand in natural light or bright incandescent lights if possible. Look at the veins on the underside of your wrist to determine the undertone.^[1]

   • If the veins are predominantly blue-purple, you've got cool undertones. If they're mainly green, you've got warm undertones, and if they're a mix between the two, you have neutral undertones.

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   Think about your skin's undertones. If you're having trouble determining your skin's undertones, ask yourself a few simple questions. Do you look better in gold or silver? If gold, you've got warm undertones. If silver, you have cool undertones. What color are your eyes? If they're green, brown, or hazel, you've got warm undertones. If blue, grey, or green eyes, you've probably got cool undertones.^[2]

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wikiHow Quiz: What Color Should I Dye My Hair?

Never underestimate the power of truly great hair. The perfect color can boost your confidence, improve your mood, and help express your personal style. So how do you find the best shade for you? You want a color that’s physically flattering but fits you personally, and we’ve got all the intel you need. Take our quiz and discover the best hair color for you.

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   Focus on choosing complementary colors for your skin. This means that the hair colors you choose should be at the opposite side of your skin tone on a color wheel to ensure that they will look good on you.^[3]

   • For example, if you have golden skin, then an ivory blonde or an ash or mocha brown would look great on you.
   • If you have cool skin, then a copper red, golden blonde, or honey brown would look great on you.
   • If you have a neutral skin tone, then you will look best in muted shades, such as mahogany.
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   Balance any warm tones. If you have a warm undertone, choose a hair color that has rich chestnut or cinnamon shades. This will help balance out any of the yellow or warm undertones in your skin.

   • If you have a warm, golden undertone and a lighter shade of dark skin, you can really choose most any hair color, from light to dark browns or reds and blondes. Highlights that contain a red base can help accent golden undertones.
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   Warm up any cool tones in your skin. If you have cool undertones, pick a hair color with some warm highlights to brighten your hair. You want a warmer shade to add some dimension to your hair, especially if it's already dark brown or black.

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   Select a shade that is the opposite of your skin tone on a color wheel. Looking at a color wheel can help you to sift through the many different hair colors and select one that will look good on you.^[4]

   • For example, if you have cool, pale skin, then opt for warm colors, such as golden browns and copper reds.
   • If you have tan skin, then opt for cooler hair colors, such as ash browns and blondes.
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   Choose a deep rich base for your hair color. If you have warm undertones with yellow, pick a hair color that leans towards like chestnut, dark golden brown, auburn and mahogany. Then highlight using a red base, such as cinnamon or copper.

   • If you choose a blonde base or blonde highlights, you may end up overemphasizing your yellow undertone.
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   Choose an intense color base for your hair. If you have cool tones with a pink or blue undertone, look for an intense brown, red, or blonde base. Then, pick highlights that have a honey-wheat or ash look. This will help contrast your cool undertones.

   • Choose burgundy, cherry, or garnet hair color for dark skin with cool undertones. You can use these as a base color or highlight color. The cool red tones in this hair color give your skin a smooth even look.

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   Choose a warmer hair color. If you have olive skin with a warm or yellow undertone, choose a golden color for your base. For example, choose a honey blonde, auburn, chestnut, or mocha color.

   • If doing highlights, try a warm red color to really bring out the warmth of your skin tone.
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   Pick a cool hair color. If you have olive skin with a cool undertone, as most olive skinned people do, pick a hair color that highlights these cool tones.^[5] For example, pick an ash, platinum, copper, or violet red.

   • If you have dark olive skin with cool undertones, avoid choosing a light ashy blonde or something similar that will starkly contrast.
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   Accentuate your eyes. If you have a warm eye color, such as hazel, brown, or green, consider choosing a color that will highlight your eyes. For example, if your hazel eyes have some flecks of red, choose a hair color that has a reddish hue in order to bring out your eyes.

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