How to Choose the Right Hair Color for Your Skin Tone
By Janelle Alexis | Licensed Cosmetologist & Certified Hair Educator
Nothing transforms someone’s face quite like the right hair color. And nothing makes someone look tired and washed out quite like the wrong one. Choosing hair color is not just about what’s trending — it’s about understanding the relationship between your color and your skin’s undertone. Here’s my professional guide.
Understand Your Skin’s Undertone First
Before we even look at color swatches, we need to determine your skin’s undertone. Undertones fall into three categories: warm (yellow, peachy, golden), cool (pink, red, bluish), and neutral (a mix of both). The classic ways to determine this: look at the veins on your inner wrist. Blue or purple veins suggest cool undertones. Green veins suggest warm. A mix suggests neutral. Also consider: does gold or silver jewelry look better on you? Gold flatters warm undertones, silver flatters cool.
Warm Undertones: Your Color Sweet Spot
If you have warm undertones (common in olive skin, golden brown skin, and some fair skin tones), colors with golden, copper, caramel, honey, and auburn tones will make your skin glow. Think rich chocolates, warm chestnuts, golden balayage, and copper highlights. Avoid anything with heavy ash or platinum — it will make warm undertones look dull or sallow.
Cool Undertones: Your Color Sweet Spot
Cool undertone beauties shine in ashy, cool-toned colors — cool browns, platinum, violet-infused brunettes, and blue-blacks. The icy blonde look was made for cool undertones. Warm coppers and golden highlights can work if balanced, but they shouldn’t be your dominant color note or they’ll clash with your natural coloring.
Neutral Undertones: The Most Flexible Canvas
Lucky you — neutral undertones are genuinely flexible. You can pull off both warm and cool tones, making you an ideal candidate for multi-dimensional color techniques like balayage and highlights that combine warm and cool tones in one look.
Don’t Forget About Contrast
Beyond undertones, consider your natural level of contrast — the difference between your skin tone, eyes, and hair. High-contrast features (very dark hair and very fair skin, for example) can handle dramatic color choices. Low-contrast features look best with colors that create soft transitions rather than stark differences.
When in Doubt, Consult a Professional
Color theory is complex, and the relationship between your specific coloring and any given shade of hair color requires a trained eye. This is exactly why a consultation before any color service is non-negotiable in my salon. We look at you, not just at photos.
Book your color consultation to get personalized guidance on the exact shades that will make you look your absolute best.
— Janelle Alexis
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