What's The Right Hair Dye For You?

In this guide, we'll detail the 3 steps you'll need to go through in order to figure out the right hair dye for your latest color.

Determining your skin tone

The first step is determining your skin tone. We all have different skin tones, and it's important to know yours first in order to find a hair dye color that will complement it.

Warm skin tone

In order to find out if you have a warm skin tone, answer the following questions:

• Does your skin seem to have a yellow or golden undertone?
• Are the veins inside your arms green?
• Is your eye color black, brown, or a similar shade?
• Do you have gold or brown specks in your eyes?
• Is your hair color black, brown, red, or dark blonde?
• Are you curiously resistant against sunburn?
• Does gold jewelry look better on you than silver?

If you answered yes to most of these questions, then you probably have a warm skin tone.

Cool skin tone

In order to find out if you have a cool skin tone, answer the following questions:

• Does your skin seem to have a pink or reddish undertone?
• Are the veins inside your arms blue?
• Is your eye color blue, green, gray, or a similar shade?
• Do you have blue or green specks in your eyes?
• Is your hair color light blonde, light brown, or other light colors?
• Are you always getting burned by the sun?
• Does silver jewelry look better on you than gold?

If you answered yes to most of these questions, then you probably have a cool skin tone.

Neutral skin tone

If your skin has no noticeable veins, or if the veins have no outstanding color, then you're lucky to have a neutral skin tone. Those with a neutral skin tone can wear and choose virtually any color and any jewelry they want, as they look good in everything.

Choosing the right hair color

Once you've determined the correct skin tone, it's time to choose the right hair dye that will suit you best.

Hair colors for warm skin tone

People with warm skin tones tend to look better in warm, earthy hues like brown, orange, and yellow. Gold jewelry always looks amazing in them, compared to silver jewelry.

The rule of thumb for warm skin tones is to choose a color that has these main colors as the base: brown, red, gold.

• browns - dark brown, warm brown, chestnut brown, chocolate, mocha, golden brown, golden caramel
• reds - auburn red, dark red, red-orange, copper
• golds - warm gold, golden blonde, bronze

If you have light skin with warm undertones, some of your options are also red-based and gold-based lighter blondes like strawberry blonde and honey blonde. If you have olive skin, you can also choose richer brown shades like ebony brown, as well as mocha. Lastly, if you have dark skin, it's best to go for darker browns like mahogany, maple, or toffee.

Remember, don't choose colors that have blue or violet as the base or it will make your skin look ashy or washed out.

Hair colors for cool skin tone

People with cool skin tones tend to look better in equally cool hues like blue, red, or violet. Silvery jewelry looks so much better on them than gold jewelry due to their pink undertones.

The rule of thumb for cool skin tones is to pick out colors that have blue, violet, or purple as the base color. However, the range of suitable colors for cool skin tones is much wider than that of warm skin tones. Aside from red, dark golds, and dark browns, most colors are fair game for cool skin tones.

• ash - ash brown, ash-blonde
• cool blonde - champagne blonde, platinum, icy white, nordic white, mink
• light browns - wheat blond, sand blond, walnut brown

If you have dark skin with cool tones, you can also make do with black and espresso.

Picking out the dye

Even the right colored dye isn't the right hair dye if it's not the right kind.

Other than the color, the other main thing that you have to consider when picking out the dye is how permanent you want it.

There are three main types of dye in this category: permanent, semi-permanent, and temporary.

• Permanent dyes - these dyes stay on your hair until you cut off the colored parts. If you're really sure of the color and you really want to go for it, permanent dyes are less of a hassle to maintain than semi-permanent dyes. If you want to go lighter, you can also just keep using lighter colored permanent dyes since they stack up. But of course, it still doesn't beat bleach. You probably won't go from black or brown to white with just multiple dye sessions.
• Semi-permanent dyes - it doesn't wash away as fast as temporary hair dyes, but they do fade with constant washing. But if you just want to change the tone of your hair, this is usually good enough.
• Temporary dyes - As its name implies, this kind of dye does not stay forever. It usually washes out after just a month or two.

We hope this guide helped you in picking out the right hair dye for you! If you'd rather use hair extensions than hair dyes, you can visit our ZALA shop to see our vast collection of extensions, all in different colors, lengths, and kinds! For any questions or clarifications, feel free to ask in the comments below.

And of course, for more hair tips and tricks, don't forget to check out our ZALA blog!