Choosing a Hair Color

Owing to the increasing fashion charm among people, especially the teenagers, the popularity of hair colors is constantly rising. But, one must be very careful while choosing a hair color. This is so because, not every color suits to every person. There are certain complexities associated with it. In this context, it is very necessary to know which color to choose or which color is suitable for you and will most suits your personality.

One of the best methods of choosing a hair color is first to decide or be sure about the results you expect from it. Don't just choose a color because your friend or relative has chosen it. As we have said, not every color is suitable for every person. So, you can either take the assistance of a professional hair dresser or go through the below given information.

Points to Remember While Choosing A Hair Color
Your appearance is greatly influenced by your hair. Surely, nobody will like to spoil his hair by applying a wrong color on it. If you take note of the below given points, you will seldom make a mistake:

• Color your hair according to your skin tone.
  Suppose, you have a ruddy coloring, don't choose a red hair color. Instead, you have to choose some contrasting color or the color which will soften the redness in your face. Similarly, people with sallow skin tone have to choose some dark color rather than a light or yellow color.
  
  
• Choose your hair color in accordance with your skin complexion.
  Skin complexions are primarily of two types i.e., warm and cool. Folks with a yellow or golden skin undertone have a warm complexion. On the contrary, those with pink or blue skin undertones comes under the cool complexion category. For people with a warm complexion, warm undertone colors like deep brown with gold or red highlights, strawberry blond, gray-yellow etc. are suitable Similarly, for cool complexion people, cool undertone colors like blue black, ash brown and platinum blond are suitable.
  
  
• Eyes color also plays a vital role in selecting the hair color.
  Nobody would like to make his or her eyes less alluring and beautiful due to wrong hair color selection. So, if your eyes are green, golden brown, or hazel in color without speckles of any color except brown or gold, then your complexion falls in the warm side. Instead, if your eyes are gray and blue or dark brown and black, your complexion comes on the cool side of the spectrum. The hair color selection in both the cases will be according to the colors mentioned in the above point for warm and cool complexion people.
  
  
• Always choose the hair color which suits your original or natural hair color. Simply saying, the suitable hair color is one which is slightly light or dark than your original hair color. This is a very important factor which if neglected, will lead to an odd look.
  
  
• The golden rule, as far as hair coloring is concerned, is to always use a warm hair color for warm complexion and a cool hair color for a cool complexion. Any color selected in contradiction to this rule is straight away, a wrong color.
  
  
• It is always preferable, not to opt for a radical change if you have any kind of doubt in your mind. If such is the situation, it is advised that you use only a few shades lighter or darker than your genuine color.
  

Must Apply a Hair Color Test
In some cases, hair colorant may cause some allergic reaction, which in certain cases is very dangerous. So, a skin allergy test must be done at least 48 hrs before the application of any hair color.

Possible Mistakes While Choosing A Hair Color
Following are some most common mistakes that one might commit if not being careful in choosing a hair color:

• Choosing a permanent hair color is a big mistake. People think that it will last for long and hence good. But, it contains chemicals like ammonia and peroxides which may adversely effect sensitive hair types. It can also cause skin allergy (on head skin) sometimes. So, you must be cautious about that. Remember, not all things are good for all.
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• Impressed by the advertisements, some people choose a hair color which is not according to their complexion. A rational person should think carefully, make a prior research and then only select the hair color. One should not be carried away by the misleading advertisements.
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• Choosing a hair color in a haphazard is a blunder that most of the teenagers commit. First of all make it very clear in your mind that what are you looking for; if possible consult a professional or gather information yourself, then only go out to purchase a color.

Although, there are not any hard and fast rules for selecting the hair colors, but if above points are taken into consideration while choosing a hair color, it will be of great help.

Choosing a Suitable Hair Color
Your face shape defines your ideal hair cut style. But your hair color is based on a combination of your natural hair color, eye color, and skin tone. The most important of these factors is your skin tone. The hair color that looks best to you is the one that complements your natural skin tone. Tone refers to the warmth or coolness of a color. Beauty experts are the right persons to tell whether we are "cool" or "warm" depending on our eye color, skin tone, and natural hair color. This is explained in the table below:

Warm Category

Cool Category

Eyes

Golden brown, Turquoise, Green, Green-Blue, Hazel with gold or brown flecks

Dark Brown, Dark Blue, Black-Brown, Gray Blue,or Hazel with white gray or blue flecks

Skin	Peachy or with peachy undertones, Brown with pink or golden undertones, Pale with gold undertones, Freckled, Ruddy	Very dark brown, Medium with golden undertones, Pale, Bronze, True olive, Medium pale,
Hair	Deep brown with gold or red highlights, Red, Natural Golden Blond, Strawberry Blond, Gray-Yellow,	Blue black, Ash Blond, Platinum Blond, Deep brown, Ash brown,

Know The Color Wheel
Once you know the cool or warm tone, you understand tones and levels, the next step is to know the natural pigment in your hair and adding artificial pigment (color product). After you've made up your mind, its time to inspect the color wheel.


As one can see in the color wheel given above that complementary colors are opposite to each other. These complementary colors or used for canceling or neutralizing the unwanted highlights, caused by any of them. For example, blue will cancel out any orange color highlights and vice versa.