How to Find Your Perfect Hair Color

Co-authored by Karen Leight

Last Updated: January 28, 2022 References

Want to change your look but don't want to end up with a disaster? No matter if you want a natural, drastic, or bold look, you can find the right color for you. The perfect color matches your features and skin tone while making your hair look amazing.

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Assessing Skin Tone

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Understand why skin tone matters. Finding your skin tone is key to having your hair color compliment your skin. Choosing a color that doesn't match your skin tone can clash with your skin and features, which can look unnatural. Before choosing a hair color, decide if you are a cool or warm toned person.
2
Decide if you are warm toned. People with warm tones have yellow undertones. They generally tan easily without burning. These people look good in earth colors, such as browns, yellows, oranges, and cream. Gold jewelry usually looks good against warm toned skin.
- Look at the veins on the inside of your arm. People who are warm toned have green veins.
- People who have warm skin tones generally have dark eyes, such as brown, black, or hazel. Their hair is black, brown, blonde, red, or strawberry blonde.^{[1]
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- If you hold a white paper next to your clean face, your skin will look yellow or golden next to the paper if your tone is warm.
- An alternate way to determine if you have warm tones is to hold a yellow or red paper beside your clean face. If it looks flattering, you have warm tones.
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3
Determine if you are cool toned. People with cool tones have pink or bluish-red undertones. They usually burn or have trouble tanning.^{[2]
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Research source} These people generally look best in blue, red, and purple hues. Silver jewelry usually looks good against cool toned skin.
- People with cool skin tones have blue veins on the inside of their arms.
- People with cool tones generally have light colored eyes, such as blue, green, or grey. They have blonde, black, or brown hair.
- If you hold a white paper next to your clean face, your skin will look blue compared to the paper.
- Another way to determine cool skin tone is to hold a blue, silver, or green piece of paper next to your face. If it looks flattering, you have cool tones. Do a comparison with yellow/red paper to check the difference.^{[3]
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Consider that you have a neutral skin tone. Some people have neither warm nor cool skin; they have a neutral skin tone. These skin tones have no obvious pink or yellow shades to their skin. Their veins are not obviously green or blue. People with neutral skin tones can wear any color.

Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Finding a Color

1
Choose a shade based on your skin tone. After determining your skin tone, decide what shade will look best on your skin. If you have a neutral skin tone, any shade will probably look good.
- For warm tones, dark browns, warm browns, chestnuts, rich golden browns, auburn, warm gold and red highlights, and golden blonde shades will look best on you. Go for colors with a red orange or gold base; those will look good on you. Avoid blue, violet, and ash based hair colors which will wash out your skin color.
- For cool tones, try shiny raven-wing blacks, cool ash browns, or cool blondes in shades ranging from mink to platinum and icy white. Avoid gold, yellow, red, and bronze tones in hair color. These warm tones have a tendency to make you look washed-out. You also may be able to wear many exciting bold, unnatural hair colors like lipstick red, cherry red, blue, and burgundies.
2
Factor in the shade of your skin. Do you have light, medium, or dark skin? This is important when determining what color hair is right for you.
- With paler skin, lighter shades work. For light skin and warm tones, try butterscotch, strawberry blonde, or honey. For light skin and cool tones, try platinum, flaxen, or champagne blonde.
- Medium skin provides more versatility. Medium skin and warm tones can go tawny blonde, golden caramel, or copper. Cool tones with medium skin should try ashy tones, such as sand, wheat blonde, and walnut brown.
- Olive skin looks great with rich browns or earthy shades. Cool tones should try auburn or cinnamon, while warm tones can go with ebony brown and mocha.
- For dark skin and cool tones, go for espresso and inky black. For dark skin and warm tones, try maple brown, mahogany, or toffee.^{[4]
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Think about your eyes. Eye color can determine whether a hair color looks good on your or not. Do you want your eyes to pop? Green and blue eyes might look great with reds, brown, or blonde, while dark eyes might look great with a contrasting color.
4
Decide if you want to go natural or drastic. The extent to which you want to change your hair color impacts your choices. Do you want to keep your hair looking natural? Or do you want to go completely opposite? Do you want to get a bold, unnatural color? Decide what is best for you and your life.
- If you want to go natural, only go 2-3 shades lighter or darker than your natural hair color.^{[5]
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- Choose a color that will look good on you. Maybe you've always liked red hair, but is it right for you? If you love blue but have warm toned skin, consider another drastic, bold color.
5
Decide if you want to use permanent, semi-permanent, or temporary dye. If you are unsure about a color, try temporary dyes. Permanent and semi-permanent dyes are more long-lasting if you want color that will stick around for awhile.
- Permanent hair color won't wash out and will allow you to go lighter. Going lighter will probably require bleach. It's harder to reverse permanent dye, and you will have to retouch the roots as your hair grows.
- Semi-permanent hair color fades away with washes. It's great for highlighting, changing color tones in hair, adding depth, and covering grey. It cannot lighten the hair significantly.
- Temporary hair color washes out within 25-30 washes. It's good for adding shiny, vibrant colors to hair in a darker or brighter color. It also allows you to change your hair tone. They can't lighten your hair.^{[6]
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Don't make emotional drastic changes. Before you get a drastic makeover, decide why you are doing this. Are you following a trend? Have you recently had a traumatic experience, like a death in the family or a break up? Making drastic style choices based on emotions is not the best way to choose a style.
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Use the Internet to help find the right color for you. Many websites will allow you to put different hairstyles onto a picture to see which you look best with. Others allow you to input your hair and style preferences to determine the right color for you.

Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Coloring Hair

1
Do a strand test. Clip a small section of hair from underneath where it won't be noticed. Color this strand to see how the dye will take to your hair. This will give you a sense of how your hair will look before you do your whole head - possibly helping you avoid a disaster.
2
Wear a wig. If you want to try out a hair color before committing, wear a wig. Wigs can give you a good idea of what the hair color will look like on your face without any permanent side effects. Make sure to try a high quality wig that gives you a correct idea of the hair color.
3
Go to a salon. This is the best suggestion if you are dying your hair for the first time or are making a drastic change. Hair experts can give you the best shade and ensure that you don't end up with any hair disasters.
- Make sure to bring a photo of the particular color you want if you have a specific one in mind. That ensures that there is little confusion. Terms like brunette, red, and blonde aren't very descriptive, but be mindful of using terms like ash, honey, caramel, and espresso unless you know what they mean.
4
Try highlights first. Highlighting is a great way to add warm or cool tones to your hair. If you have warm tones, highlight with golden blondes, copper streaks, or golden brown shades. If you have cool tones, highlights should be wheat, honey, taupe or ash shades.
- Lowlights are another way to add color to your hair if you want a subtle change that has an impact on your looks.
5
Remember your eyebrows. Don't forget about your eyebrows when you are coloring your hair. If you have dark hair and go blonde, consider dying your eyebrows. Drastic changes coupled with eyebrows can look odd or unflattering, so factor that hair into your decision.

Expert Q&A
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Question

Can I change my hair color to be any shade?

Karen Leight
Professional Hair Stylist
Karen Leight is a Professional Hair Stylist and the Owner of Karen Renee Hair, a private salon suite inside the Salon Republic Hollywood in Los Angeles, California. With over 12 years of experience, Karen is a licensed cosmetologist specializing in hair color, balayage technique, and women’s and men’s precision haircuts.

Karen Leight

Professional Hair Stylist

Expert Answer

Support wikiHow by unlocking this expert answer.

No, there are natural limitations to what colors you can add to your hair depending on what the natural color and texture are.
Question

How do you dye bleached hair brown?

Karen Leight
Professional Hair Stylist
Karen Leight is a Professional Hair Stylist and the Owner of Karen Renee Hair, a private salon suite inside the Salon Republic Hollywood in Los Angeles, California. With over 12 years of experience, Karen is a licensed cosmetologist specializing in hair color, balayage technique, and women’s and men’s precision haircuts.

Karen Leight

Professional Hair Stylist

Expert Answer

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That's really kind of tricky, actually. You'd think it would be easy, but if it's bleach-blonde, you typically need to put some filler colors in between the layers of brown. If you go straight to brown with bleached hair, it's going to look kind of muddy or green.
Question

Should I dye my hair at home?

Karen Leight
Professional Hair Stylist
Karen Leight is a Professional Hair Stylist and the Owner of Karen Renee Hair, a private salon suite inside the Salon Republic Hollywood in Los Angeles, California. With over 12 years of experience, Karen is a licensed cosmetologist specializing in hair color, balayage technique, and women’s and men’s precision haircuts.

Karen Leight

Professional Hair Stylist

Expert Answer

Support wikiHow by unlocking this expert answer.

I don't necessarily think it's a great idea a lot of the time. Professional stylists have access to a lot of different tools that you won't be able to use at home, and you may not achieve the color that you're going for if you don't see a stylist.

Warnings

Condition and trim your hair and avoid using heat to further the damage. It is fun to change your hair color, but it can be very damaging. Take care to keep it healthy.

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Never go from dark to blonde without going to a salon. You could end up orange.

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