Choosing the Right Color or Highlight

How do you know which hair color is right for you? It’s far more difficult than just deciding between brown, red and blond. Within each of those larger categories are countless shades. Some of them could be an excellent choice for you, but most of them are potentially disastrous. The process of choosing a hair color or highlights requires several steps. However, the fantastic end result will make you very happy that you took the time to get it right.

Many people make the mistake of not considering how their hair color affects their overall look. They see highlights in a picture from a magazine, fall completely in love and demand that color from their stylist. The trouble is that what looks sensational on one person can look drab on someone else. Simply changing your hair color makes your whole face look different, so you have to consider your total look before you choose a hair color.

This means that it’s critical for you to make an honest assessment of your skin tone. Knowing whether your skin is cool, warm or neutral is an important first step. Wash your face so that there are no traces of makeup left. Then go outdoors or choose a room that has plenty of natural light. This will yield more reliable results than using artificial light.

Figure Out Your Skin Tone

Grab a few items from your wardrobe like a bright green or blue shirt and a bright red or yellow shirt. Which one seems to make your skin come alive? If it’s the blue or green, then cool tones are right for you. If it’s the red or yellow, then you have a warm skin undertone. If you’re not sure which one is better, study the veins in your wrist. People with a warm skin tone tend to have greenish veins while those who have cool skin tone may have blue or even purple veins.

Another way to determine your skin’s undertone is to look at your eyes in the mirror. Many stylists swear that someone with gold flecks in their eyes probably has a warm skin tone while someone with blue or green flecks likely has a cool undertone.

Choose Your Color

Now that you have a pretty good idea about which skin tone you have, it’s time to choose a color. Here’s the really interesting part. If you have warm undertones, then you’ll want to choose a cool tone hair color. The reverse is true for people with cool undertones. The idea is that the contrast will set off your skin, and make it glow.

Cool hair colors tend to be described with words like ashy, champagne, ice or silver. Warm hair colors are more likely to be described as caramel, amber, honey, gold and strawberry.

When in doubt, you can always discuss your choices with us. We can guide your choices so that you end up with a hair color that you love.