Dyeing your hair can be a fun way to switch up your look, but it’s important to make sure that the color you choose goes with your skin tone. Whether you’re looking to go blond, brunette, red, or somewhere in between, this article will provide the basics on how to choose the best hair color for your complexion.

Know Your Skin Tone and Skin Undertones

Before deciding on what hair color you want, it is important to know what complexion you’re working with. Skin tones can generally be segmented into one of three types: Light, Medium, and Dark (with variations in each). Then think about your skin undertones: do you trend towards a cool skin tone or does your skin have warm undertones?  The three major skin undertones are warm, cool, and neutral. One of the telltale ways to determine skin tone and undertones is to look at your wrists. Blue or purple veins indicate cool skin tones while green veins indicate warm skin undertones.

Go Opposite of Your Skin’s Undertones

Once you have identified what type of undertones your skin has, the next step is to choose a hair color that is opposite of it. Choosing a hair color opposite of your skin’s undertones will help balance out your complexion without creating too stark of a contrast.

Best Hair Colors for Cool Skin Undertones

If you have determined that your skin has cool undertones, you probably see a lot of pink, blue or rosy reds in your cheeks and veins. Your goal is to minimize the appearance of redness, so you’ll want to lean towards hair colors that add warmth. Golds, warm reds, and neutral browns will work well as they may help balance you out.

Best Hair Colors for Warm Skin Undertones

Warmer undertones tend to have yellow or orange, so the goal is to add something cool. The best hair colors for people with warm undertones in their skin would be ashy blonds or cool browns.

The colors mentioned above are all beautiful, but what about if you’re looking for something a little less traditional? From bold and bright rainbow colors to soft pastels, the options for hair color are pretty much endless. If you want to go with a hair color outside of nature (pink, blue, purple, etc.), the same rules apply. Cool skin tones should lean towards warmer colors like pinks or reds, while warm skin tones should consider cooler hues like blues, greens, and purples.

Whatever color you choose, do it right with a test-run first. Try out a new hair color to see how it works against your complexion with one of Rootflage’s root touch up powders. With so many colors available, you’ll be sure to find just the right hair color for your skin tone.