When it comes to choosing the right hair color, your skin tone is a major factor when figuring out which hue is the best hair color for you. Since your hair is right next to your face, picking the right shade can make your skin glow and make you look years younger. Whether you have warm skin tones, cool skin tones, or anything in between, we're here to help you get a custom hair color that brings out the best in your complexion. Read on to follow our guide to your most flattering hair color yet.

Identifying Your Skin Tone

To uncover your skin's undertones, look at your wrists or the top of your hands in natural light. Are your eyes seeing blue or purple veins? That’s an indicator that your skin tone is cool. More greenish-looking veins peeking through? Then your skin has warm undertones. For those that see both, you most likely have a neutral skin tone.

If you’re still unsure about your skin's undertones, try this trick: Put on silver earrings or a silver necklace and look in the mirror. Then switch to gold jewelry. Which color looks better? Cooler skin tones look more radiant in silver, while gold jewelry pops against warm skin tones.

Finding Your Best Hair Color Match

Now that you’ve determined your skin’s undertones, it's time to discover a new hair color that will highlight all of your best features. Our colorists suggest this rule of thumb to follow, “Select a hair color tone that’s opposite of your skin's undertones.” Need more guidance? Reach out to one of our colorists for a little help—they’re more than happy to help.

“Our colorists’ rule of thumb: Select a hair color tone that’s opposite of your skin undertones.

Hair Color for Fair Skin Tones

If you have quite fair or pale skin with cooler undertones (meaning you have a lot of pink, blue or red undertones in your complexion), you want your new hair color to help minimize any redness in your skin. Golden or warm hair color with warm tones look flattering on light skin with cool undertones, so go for golden blonde hair, warm reds, or neutral brunettes that will help counterbalance the pinky tones in your face.

For warmer undertones (think hints of yellow or orange), your ideal hair color should give your skin a healthy, natural-looking flush. Go for hair colors that are cool, ashy, or have reddish tones, like honey or strawberry blonde hair, golden copper, cool beige brunette, and rich golden brown.

Hair Color for Dark Skin Tones

Striking the right contrast between your complexion and hair color is key. What you don’t want is your hair color to perfectly match your skin—your features will disappear. If you have dark skin with golden or warm tones, beautiful shades of mahogany or copper bring out the sunniness in your skin. You may even want to try a soft golden brown hue.

For cooler skin tones, accent your pinky-blue undertones with cool hair colors like soft red browns or icy dark browns, and rich blacks. Warm shades with a darker finish, golden black, may also bring out the best in your face and eyes.

Your perfect custom color is only a few steps away, but the key is figuring out your skin tone first with this handy guide. Whether you have pale skin with yellow undertones or dark skin with neutral undertones, your colorist can help you choose the ideal hair color that highlights your best asset—the beautiful skin you're in.