Hair Color and Your Skintone

Skin Undertones and Hair Color
Your skintone also contains these underlying pigments. If you were born with black or brown hair, you will likely have warmer, earthy undertones in your skin like orange, brown, gold or orange-based red. If you were born with blonde hair, you probably have cooler skin undertones like blue, green, pink or blue-based red.

Those with warmer undertones in their skin will look better with a warmer hair color, like golden blondes or honey browns. Conversely, those with cooler undertones in their skin will look better with cooler hair colors, like ash blonde, black or auburn brown.

“Generally the makeup you are using should already tell you if you are a warm- or cool-toned person,” said Mark Garrison, owner and celebrity stylist at Mark Garrison Salon in New York. “But if you are unsure, look at a vein in your arm under natural light. If it appears green, then you have warm tones, if it is blue then you have cool-toned skin.”

A good colorist will study the overall skintone, color of the eyes and age, according to Garrison. “The skintone tells you what tone the hair should be.”

Eye Color and Hair Color
“The color of the eyes is another indicator,” says Garrison. If your eyes are deep brown, black-brown, gray blue, dark blue or hazel with white, gray or blue flecks you look best with cool tones in your hair. However, if your eyes are golden brown, green, turquoise or hazel with gold or brown flecks you will look best with warm tones in your hair.

Age and Hair Color
“The age of the client lets you know how far from the natural-born hair color you should go because softer colors look better as we age,” said Garrison. “Yet, extremes (platinum blonde or black hair color) tend to bring out the imperfections and wrinkles in the skin, so save those for your younger years.”

Be aware that your skintone changes as you age. “Right before you turn gray, the hair gets a little darker,” said Van Gogh. “Your skin is preparing to lose pigment as you age. Then, when your hair turns gray, your skintone gets lighter.”

What’s growing out of your head naturally today may be different than what you had when you were a teenager, so just remember to stay within two levels of lightness or darkness of your current natural color. “That prevents mistakes from happening,” added Van Gogh, “and keeps you looking the most natural.”

But if you want something bold, you can always make extreme color changes more smoothly if you keep within the correct warm or cool tones, according to Garrison. “And if you don't care if your hair color looks natural, have fun with it!”