Light cool olive skin people, what color is your hair? (dyed or natural)

[Offie]

Hello! Are there any cool, light olive skinned people around here?
If you are part of the club, would you mind sharing what your natural hair color is, and what you dye it to (if anything)?*I am really looking for cool olive skin only. It has very different color needs compared to warm olive skin :)and it is talked about just about nowhere! the beauty industry pretty much considers it non existent- so I'd love to share with others in the same situation!*

How to know if you're a light cool olive? A few things to look at: If you have that greenish-greyish-muted cast to your skin (the 'olive'), tan very easily but are still light skinned and don't tan golden but more cool bronze; if you do not have any warmth in your skin (kind of neutral-ish looking - no gold, no pink, no blue), most likely also have very ashy hair (no red or gold to it, looks brownish grey especially if light), do not glow yellow or orange, look kind of sick in winter; if muted, darkish, coolish colors suit you better (ruby red, dark jewel green, navy blue, jean blue, deep purple, dark raspberry, etc); if you look yellow and sick in blue black make-up or hair; if you look awful in light bright vibrant colors (for example a coral-y peachy pink bra makes my skin look very distinctly greenish grey, like a corpse or an alien), if gold isn't good on you but silver is a hint harsh and rose gold looks best, if a neutral dark brown eyeliner suits you better than a jet black one. If no color analysis system has properly applied to you. You may have freckles, not peachy toned but rather brownish. Your eyes will be rather cool-toned, as well, not super vibrant unless under the right light, more muted, generally darkish. If depending on the darkness of a color, it needs to be more warm (darker) or more cool (lighter) to suit you better.

[GoddesJourney]

This sounds like my husband. His un-tanned skin is pasty white, but the areas that do tan are a cooler pinkish color compared to my yellow/copper color. He has brownish freckles and blue eyes with ashy brown hair. He was strawberry blond when very young and it became ashy brown. He looks great in those muted colors like brick red and faded navy and weak hunter green. He hates bright colors and wears silver okay but sticks with dark titanium for his wedding ring. He looks good in white, off white and very light grey because it shows that he's not completely pale, I think. It doesn't blend in like I see on some people (or his legs, haha).

[MidnightMoon]

Damn that's a very accurate description lol. I don't even know, I mean, I sometimes think I'm olive because I do look sort of muted compared to pale cool people I see here (north Germany). I look horrible in coral, yes, and good in the shades you mentioned. I hate coral and brown on me actually. But I'm also confused because what I think looks good is sometimes opposite to what the fashion industry considers looks good so that's confusing. My sister is peesumably the same tone but tan (I hate tans), and she wears pretty much all colours I don't.
Hmm what else? Silver looks best on me, my husband actually has said that out of nowhere without being asked, that gold isn't really my colour and silver looks better.
I think the fact that my face can sort of change colours doesn't help. When it's warm or I've slept well I have rosy cheeks, like pink, but other times I can look only yellowish. My lips are a pale pink, only when I drink or something they get some colour, and I would be quite darker if I didn't avoid the sun. I tan easily. My siblings tan sort of deep red lol if that's a shade. Anyhow, my natural hair colour is dark brown and I believe it's ashy. I also (think) I look good with orange copperish hair. Important is that it's not a purpleish orange over brown, pure intense colours look good, but anything like brown with a red tint not.

[MidnightMoon]

I wanted to add it's sometimes not as simple because dh has the same thing, his face is 100% cool, it's actually red/pink, but the rest of his body would definitely be warm lol. He can tan and never actually loses colour completely, but his face, even working outside in summer stays pink and doesn't tan, if anything it can get a biiit darker pink after weeks in the sun.
One interesting thing I've noticed are knucles and fingers. His are also pink, while mine look dirty lol. Like, a slightly darker shade, and that I think is a warm or olive thing.
But honestly I don't know what I am, it varies so much with light or with what the picture is taken that I've given up.

[SleepyTangles]

My younger brother has cool olive skin. He has deep, cool brown hair (virgin) with no glimpse of yellow or red, just a neutral, icy shine.
In winter he can totally look greenish if he doesn't match his skintone to cool, deep colors. In summer he gets a nice tan pretty easily. He took from my mom, which I suspect Is cooler than she looks, but she likes warmer haircolors and dyes her silver hair a sort of dark, coppery "bronde".

[pisinoe]

The subreddit OliveMUA on reddit has so many recommendations and experiences, worth looking up

[lapushka]

I am very pale, but "neutral", have ashy hair, but I tan really well in the sun. Would that then count? I'm unsure what is meant by cool olive, TBH. I'm a little confused. :)

[SleepyTangles]

As I indend It, lapushka, a "cool olive" Is a complexion with cool undertones and yellow overtones.
Aka a cool yellow/gold-based complexion.

Since cool yellow is closer to green than orange in the color wheel, a person with a "cool olive" complexion can look a bit sallow or greenish if the clothes are not well matched.
Just like a warm pink-toned person would look like he/she has rosacea if put in a fabric that's overly cool and pastel.

[GoddesJourney]

I wanted to add it's sometimes not as simple because dh has the same thing, his face is 100% cool, it's actually red/pink, but the rest of his body would definitely be warm lol. He can tan and never actually loses colour completely, but his face, even working outside in summer stays pink and doesn't tan, if anything it can get a biiit darker pink after weeks in the sun.
One interesting thing I've noticed are knucles and fingers. His are also pink, while mine look dirty lol. Like, a slightly darker shade, and that I think is a warm or olive thing.
But honestly I don't know what I am, it varies so much with light or with what the picture is taken that I've given up.

I have seen this a lot in Germans (we have a lot doing post doc work in California). It's like the face belongs to a different body and is a different color that reacts differently to the sun. My husband has a strong lineage from that part of the world so it makes sense that he would have that trait.

[lapushka]

My younger brother has cool olive skin. He has deep, cool brown hair (virgin) with no glimpse of yellow or red, just a neutral, icy shine.
In winter he can totally look greenish if he doesn't match his skintone to cool, deep colors. In summer he gets a nice tan pretty easily. He took from my mom, which I suspect Is cooler than she looks, but she likes warmer haircolors and dyes her silver hair a sort of dark, coppery "bronde".

Hmm :hmm: well it's still confusing to me.

I guess I "qualify" as I'm pale but tan easy? And have ashy hair?

My natural color is visible in my signature, it is a mid-tone brown ash, I think.

[SleepyTangles]

I know, It can be confusing! I can tell for my Brother because I see him.
Tanning doesn't necessarily means olive. My dad tans like a brick, but his skin has very strong red undertones. No yellow in his skin at all.

[lapushka]

I know, It can be confusing! I can tell for my Brother because I see him.
Tanning doesn't necessarily means olive. My dad tans like a brick, but his skin has very strong red undertones. No yellow in his skin at all.

Yeah, then I'm probably not, because I'm neutral/pinkish.

[BerrySara]

One of the methods to determine if you have olive skin tone or at least whether you fall into neutral, warm or cool is to look at the colors of your veins inside your wrist.

Hold up your arm in natural light and determine the predominant color.
If your veins appear green, you have a warm skin tone.
If your veins appear blue or purple, you have a cool skin tone.
If you can't tell if your veins are green or blue, you most likely have a neutral or olive skin tone.

What differentiates olive skin tone from neutral is it has a bit of yellow and greenish gray hue.

I used to think my skin tone was olive due to being neither warm nor cool toned plus having Mediterranean heritage (wrongly assumed region or skin color puts one in a specific catagory). But after asking several makeup artists, turns out I have neutral skin tone..so its not super easy to tell in my opinion.

[Laurab]

Skin tone stuff confuses the heck out of me. I feel like very few people actually fit into the strict categories.

I THINK I'm neutral with a slight warm lean.
I also found this video helpful https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY-Z-bnRIXA , and would definately say I'm muted not clear. Would that put me at Olive, since that means there's some grey in my skin?

I'm definately pale, and I burn less easily than some of my friends who are just as pale as I am.
I've got a friend who's pale and most definately cool toned (She's got grey-blue eyes and pink undertonews) and a friend who's pretty fair skinned and definately warm toned (golden undertones, warm brown eyes and hair) and my complexion's pretty different from both of them.

My hair is ash brown, which like, ash typically means cool, but I also feel like there's a lot of warmth in my hair? But also, I know hair tends to lean warm, no matter what. Even the most cool-toned blondes seem to have some warmth in their hair.

I'm not sure this has at all been helpful, but thanks for opening up the discussion at least :laugh:

[lapushka]

One of the methods to determine if you have olive skin tone or at least whether you fall into neutral, warm or cool is to look at the colors of your veins inside your wrist.

Hold up your arm in natural light and determine the predominant color.
If your veins appear green, you have a warm skin tone.
If your veins appear blue or purple, you have a cool skin tone.
If you can't tell if your veins are green or blue, you most likely have a neutral or olive skin tone.

What differentiates olive skin tone from neutral is it has a bit of yellow and greenish gray hue.

I used to think my skin tone was olive due to being neither warm nor cool toned plus having Mediterranean heritage (wrongly assumed region or skin color puts one in a specific catagory). But after asking several makeup artists, turns out I have neutral skin tone..so its not super easy to tell in my opinion.

Some veins are green others blue. Go figure. :rolleyes: :lol: Always have to be difficult. :p

[SleepyTangles]

I've never trusted much the veins method because the veins in my wrists are purple, blue and green in equal amounts.
I think looking at such a small area doesn't really help most people. A face is much more complex than a wrist.
I prefer to see how my skin reacts once they are next to a color, then I draw my conclusions :).

[Bri-Chan]

Me! Light skin (but not pale), cool and olive skin. My eyes seems black in several light condition, but they are actually of a dark and cold brown. My natural hair color is an ashy light brown. I can totally feel you with the beauty industries thing! Finding a matching foundation is very hard: if they are light enough, they are pink. If they are yellow enough, they are too dark.
I also received a color analysis from a specialist, according to the season's method. I looked for a translation for my "season" and it seems to be "toned winter" or "deep winter soft".

[Offie]

Thanks y'all!
If you're pale enough, the vein thing really doesn't tell you anything. My veins are all the colors haha.
I do know the OliveMUA subreddit, found it only a few weeks ago. Was nice to find my crowd! But they don't speak much at all of hair, while here hair is the topic, and hair is my question of concern right now :)
It IS indeed very hard to figure out. If you're olive you most likely don't blush at all, and if you overexert yourself at the gym and thus get a blush and look in the mirror, your skin will look very distinctly green next to the very strong red flush. My brother is almost exactly like me except not olive. So he's a cool-neutral palish guy, colorless face, except he can blush, and doesn't look green or grey. Some of our best colors are in common because we're both mostly cool but non pinkish - but some colors that he could wear and look good in (example, medium orangey red hair) would look awful on me because anything light or bright makes me look very definitely green and sick. Basically he can afford to go much more vibrant than I can. He looks wonderful in a rather strong emerald green top (his eyes are moss green so it goes well with that too), while I need a darker, more muted green to look good.

Here are some photos that look very clearly light cool olive. No warmth at all on the face, greenish grey tinge. In more flattering lights, we look beige and can look soft. When I had lightened my hair one level to a still super ashy, almost greyish brown tone, it made my skin look more beige / pinkish (reflecting the light) whereas when I wear pure light orange hair I look quite green. With this type of skin, because it's kind of colorless on its own, what it is paired with makes drastic differences... So does light. It's hard to figure out. Beauty pros keep telling me I'm a warm but oh god no I am not. In fact it's very easy to see, if I flip my hand palm up, there is basically no olive tone there (skin thinner and so less melanin or something) and it looks very much like a cool toned person, pinkish with blueish veins, just a hint of yellow from my melanin. But the top of my hand is very much olive; so, yellowish beige in nice lights, and greenish grey in mean ones.

https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/i/Randomroam/0/gffttg.jpg
https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/i/Randomroam/0/20200327_114406.jpg
https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/i/Randomroam/0/RTIsipausa-21202247.jpg

[Offie]

GoddessJourney thanks for sharing! That does osund like he's a cool olive. It's very interesting to me that he was born with strawberry blonde! Yep grey is one of the best color for light cool olive skin - because it has no saturation so it lets our skin look more alive!

MidnightMoon I can understand how you're confused, it is super confusing! Just neutral skin can be difficult to differentiate from olive skin, then there's of course all sorts of variables and in betweens possible...
From your description I'm not sure what you are either! The rosiness would be very uncharacteristic of olive skin, unless you're the palest possible on earth and still have some olive tone, but I've never seen that haha. Still can be a thing I'm sure!

SleepyTangles it definitely sounds to me like yoru brother is cool olive too.

lapushka you could be some sort of neutral, or a cool with olive undertones... From your description it's not enough to say... What colors do you favor? You said you are pinkish, which would be strange on someone with olive undertones. Like, if you're always pinkish. Occasional pinkish tinge is possible.

For more examples -

This girl here (https://imgur.com/a/IcSDe14) is a light cool (perhaps leaning neutral) olive. As you can see, in some lights and circumstances (in the cold, with the right light), there is almost a bit of reddish pinkiness under the yellowish on her face, but in other (and most) circumstances, none at all. You can see that she gets a tan, but it is not very warm at all. But truthfully it's hard to see in pictures, lighting makes a big difference.

I also truly thing this lady to be a light cool oliv (https://www.instagram.com/norelle.k/)e,which would make her my best example for you all. Even though she wears so much make up she gets away with more colors than I would, because I never wear any! See how her skin looks either beige or downright greenish next to some of the bright colors she uses? I'm glad for her that she embraces it, I want bright colors but I feel bad about my green tinge haha.

[lapushka]

lapushka you could be some sort of neutral, or a cool with olive undertones... From your description it's not enough to say... What colors do you favor? You said you are pinkish, which would be strange on someone with olive undertones. Like, if you're always pinkish. Occasional pinkish tinge is possible.

For more examples -

This girl here (https://imgur.com/a/IcSDe14) is a light cool (perhaps leaning neutral) olive. As you can see, in some lights and circumstances (in the cold, with the right light), there is almost a bit of reddish pinkiness under the yellowish on her face, but in other (and most) circumstances, none at all. You can see that she gets a tan, but it is not very warm at all. But truthfully it's hard to see in pictures, lighting makes a big difference.

I also truly thing this lady to be a light cool oliv (https://www.instagram.com/norelle.k/)e,which would make her my best example for you all. Even though she wears so much make up she gets away with more colors than I would, because I never wear any! See how her skin looks either beige or downright greenish next to some of the bright colors she uses? I'm glad for her that she embraces it, I want bright colors but I feel bad about my green tinge haha.

Oh thank you so much for answering!

Why don't you just go with your natural color. Always nice and healthy and much better (and no dye upkeep). Have you thought about that. Your natural color is probably there for a reason. It took me a long time to accept though (near to going gray) that my own color is the best for my complexion. :)

[Offie]

Oh thank you so much for answering!

Why don't you just go with your natural color. Always nice and healthy and much better (and no dye upkeep). Have you thought about that. Your natural color is probably there for a reason. It took me a long time to accept though (near to going gray) that my own color is the best for my complexion. :)

I agree, I have spent almost my entire life with my natural color :) Really, I am just curious to see what others do :)
I got it lightened 1 level once, then figured, I could play around with it since it's lighter, and colored over, and after that wanted to go back to just normal (was too used to normal!) but the hairdresser made a massive mess and bleached my hair blonde somehow. That's been about two years ago and now I'm slowly growing that out but in the meantime the parts that were bleached keep lightening back and I have to constantly cover them (with non damaging dyes, such as Adore or Arctic Fox). So I figure I might as wel try different things (without lightening any more; with hendigo I got my hair back to a 3-4; naturally it is a 2-3). But basically through these hair messes is how I realized that I am olive and have to be careful with what colors I wear! So it's all very interesting to me to hear others' experiences.

I understand what you say about accepting your natural color. I used to love my near black hair, completely ashy and colorless - but ever since being an adult I've started to hate it. I've become a colorful person and it doesn't do my personality justice. To the point that people ask me 'why do you dye your hair black?' (which I don't haha) or, 'why don't you pick something brighter, you look like an angry old witch but you're so not!'....
But also, it is very much a constant reminder of my origins and a side of my family that I don't want to think about. On one side of my family it's all pale faces and red hair; on the other it's hispanic genes, which is what I pulled of course. I have nothing against hispanics of course! It is just that I don't have good experiences with that side of my family and don't want to carry them on my face hair and etc. I feel like I was born black in a white family - like I don't quite fit because of my coloring and hair. In truth, part of my whiter family rejected me for decades for that very reason. So my relationship to my looks has changed from 'I love dark and mysterious' to 'why can't I be like the rest of my family and the people of my community' - but mind you I live a continent away so it shouldn't really matter haha! But some emotional wounds make it matter still. Even though most of my friends are hispanic etc. But by this point I just want my natural back. All I'd do to it is slap some arctic fox to get a tint of color whenever I get bored and basta.

Anyways - thanks for your time!

[Ligeia Noire]

Hmm i thought I was a light olive skin tone one but my wrist veins are unmistakable blue. Actually, on my arms, legs and neck too. I tan easily and I don't know if I burn because I religiously protect my skin from the sun. My undertones are pink... so, let's just say, it's complicated.
We Iberians are a mix of celtic with moors and more...My hair is auburn, my eyes are brown with green. Don't know what you call that.
I am of the opinion your natural colour is the one that, in the long run, will suit you the best. Of course that does not prevent you from dying your hair whatever colour strikes your fancy.

[lapushka]

I agree, I have spent almost my entire life with my natural color :) Really, I am just curious to see what others do :)
I got it lightened 1 level once, then figured, I could play around with it since it's lighter, and colored over, and after that wanted to go back to just normal (was too used to normal!) but the hairdresser made a massive mess and bleached my hair blonde somehow. That's been about two years ago and now I'm slowly growing that out but in the meantime the parts that were bleached keep lightening back and I have to constantly cover them (with non damaging dyes, such as Adore or Arctic Fox). So I figure I might as wel try different things (without lightening any more; with hendigo I got my hair back to a 3-4; naturally it is a 2-3). But basically through these hair messes is how I realized that I am olive and have to be careful with what colors I wear! So it's all very interesting to me to hear others' experiences.

I understand what you say about accepting your natural color. I used to love my near black hair, completely ashy and colorless - but ever since being an adult I've started to hate it. I've become a colorful person and it doesn't do my personality justice. To the point that people ask me 'why do you dye your hair black?' (which I don't haha) or, 'why don't you pick something brighter, you look like an angry old witch but you're so not!'....
But also, it is very much a constant reminder of my origins and a side of my family that I don't want to think about. On one side of my family it's all pale faces and red hair; on the other it's hispanic genes, which is what I pulled of course. I have nothing against hispanics of course! It is just that I don't have good experiences with that side of my family and don't want to carry them on my face hair and etc. I feel like I was born black in a white family - like I don't quite fit because of my coloring and hair. In truth, part of my whiter family rejected me for decades for that very reason. So my relationship to my looks has changed from 'I love dark and mysterious' to 'why can't I be like the rest of my family and the people of my community' - but mind you I live a continent away so it shouldn't really matter haha! But some emotional wounds make it matter still. Even though most of my friends are hispanic etc. But by this point I just want my natural back. All I'd do to it is slap some arctic fox to get a tint of color whenever I get bored and basta.

Anyways - thanks for your time!

Ow that's not very nice to say to you!

That's so sad about that side of the family. I have historic Spanish roots, and so far the only "joke" in the family is that's where all the "good" (thick) hair came from. Nobody is really serious about it because of course not all Spanish people have thick hair. It's as varied as any other population, and maybe that's what you need to keep in mind. Hispanic people come in all shapes and sizes!

Don't work that "anger" out on your own hair. I mean that that side of the family, to you, is not "all that" is just fine, but there's no reason you need to be unaccepting of your own features because of it. It's a hard way to travel, and a tough lesson to learn. I get it. :flower:

[Offie]

All you say is exactly true. Especially since I love those styles on other people still! So really I make no sense in this regard. I think it's just, judgment from people close to me made me start to see it ON ME as the problem they see it as. Meanwhile I've always had a thing for dark hair and tan skin on others and used to like it on me. Definitely some thinking I have to do over all this haha.

But yeah, I am regrowing 100% natural now and not going to bleach or color, except like I said very teporary stuff (veggie dyes on unbleached hair don't stay).

Thanks again

[Nono]

Hmm reading this I think I'm a cool olive!
I've always had some trouble defining my skin tone, since it's very light with no redness to it. I did realise I have olive tones since I tend to look yellowish. I also find that I tan easily, but have a "light tan". It's a bit unusual, it's like I look really dark but comparing to others I'm still quite white. Kind of a muted, ashy tan.
My hair colour is a very dark blonde, or more of a light brown with golden reflexes. I do currently henna it, around 1/2x a month. It's a very subtle orange tint. I find that it really suits my skin!

[spirals]

I had to look it up and found Loepsie did a blog post on it: http://loepsie.com/2017/05/pale-olive-undertone-struggles/

[SleepyTangles]

Spirals, that's great. Loepsie looks like a good example of cool olive fair skin. It's hard to tell because she matches clothing and make-up colors to her skintone so well, all I can see Is a healthy complexion.

[lapushka]

All you say is exactly true. Especially since I love those styles on other people still! So really I make no sense in this regard. I think it's just, judgment from people close to me made me start to see it ON ME as the problem they see it as. Meanwhile I've always had a thing for dark hair and tan skin on others and used to like it on me. Definitely some thinking I have to do over all this haha.

But yeah, I am regrowing 100% natural now and not going to bleach or color, except like I said very teporary stuff (veggie dyes on unbleached hair don't stay).

Thanks again

That's great to hear! :D

Happy growing! :)

[Bri-Chan]

I used to have every kind of color on me ahah. I can so give my considerations.
The best colors are cool, medium dark and not bright. For "crazy" colors, to me, dark green (https://i.pinimg.com/originals/cd/6c/4c/cd6c4c1743923605b6817567bf8dd902.jpg) is the best, but also a dark blue or a violet with blue undertone (https://i.imgur.com/tdX8NuT.jpg). To avoid any kind of pink and red, and also purple.
To avoid also natural color with red or golden tones. Blonde is usually too light. Now my hair is a kind of ombre with several shades of golden blonde and I find it really pretty, but it doesn't feet me at all. And the worst thing is that is too light. It seems like to make my face and my black eyes less intense.
I loved black hair so bad, I had it for several years, I always felt it as my "safe" color. But it looks a bit too intense.

[Dark40]

I'm olive complexioned. My natural hair color is dark brown but when I was born it was cold black. As I got older in to my toddler years I lightened up to brown, and then as I got older into my adolescent years it darkened back down to dark brown, and it's been that color ever since. As I'm in my late 40's now I do dye my few gray hairs dark brown/black.