For those who dye, how did you pick the color?

[Anywhere]

I'm sure many of you just know what color you like, and dyed it. But I don't know what color I want my hair. I know I want it different, but I'm afraid of how the results will look.
14 months since my last dye. I'm still a teenager, I like to change it..

Now if I could, I'd bleach it and dye it blue. But "normal people don't have blue hair."
So I need to pick from "natural" hair colors.

I personally love dark hair. but nobody really liked it too much on me and the root-upkeep was a huge pain, they always got so light so quickly compared to the rest of my hair. People said the color washed me out.

I don't care much for light hair, I feel like my hair's current color (lightish brown?) washes me out and makes me look colorless. I feel like a true blond color would have the same results, but everyone says blond looks best on me and makes me look younger (I'm 16, do I really need to look younger? :rolleyes:)

One of my friends says red hair would look good on me. Nobody else agrees, and I read red hair dye is the hardest to wash out so I'm a little afraid of it. Especially since I have prom this year and if it looks bad I want to be able to fix it..


How do you pick a color? Did you try a lot of colors first, or did you automatically know which one you wanted from the get-go?

[Elainehali]

When I was your age (haha ut oh.. I've started saying that) I made my hair pretty much all different colors.

They say if you want your color to look natural (but better) to take a look at a picture of when you were a little kid. maybe 5, and make your hair that color. You probably had natural pretty hilights and it will go with your skin.

Red, I have found is the easiest color to get out. Chemical reds go right down the drain and you will probably be left with strawberry blonde if you're a natural blonde. =P I made my hair red throughout high school. Red seems to work on most natural blondes.

Darker colors dont look great when the much lighter roots come in. I avoid those. You could do some darker parts in your under sections of hair. That looks neat and you dont get a bad root problem.

If you're trying to pick a color try the semi-permanant color first. It will wash out after a while, but your hair will be a little bit lighter than when you started due to the peroxide. However the change will not be drastic.

When you use permanent color, you're not going to get the color on the box, but rather the color on the box + the color you have right now = resulting color.

Very important to remember that :D

My last tip.. if you're bleaching hilights.. dont panic and wash them out before the time is up. Thats how orange hair happens. If you leave the bleach in for the correct length of time, they dont come out orange. (unless you're doing it on red hair.. then yeah...it's orange lol)

[deko]

Have you got a good photo of your face in digital form and some photo editing program? You could edit you picture and see what the different haircolors look on you. Maybe you could try a different color wig or scarf to see if the color suits your skintone and eyecolor?

I have colored my hair red for 20 years, so it's familiar color and I feel at home with it. I have tried blonde and dark brown and my own dirty golden blonde color but I always go back to red tones. That's why I switched to henna.

[Anywhere]

They say if you want your color to look natural (but better) to take a look at a picture of when you were a little kid. maybe 5, and make your hair that color. You probably had natural pretty hilights and it will go with your skin.
I had golden blonde hair when I was little..



Have you got a good photo of your face in digital form and some photo editing program? You could edit you picture and see what the different haircolors look on you. Maybe you could try a different color wig or scarf to see if the color suits your skintone and eyecolor?

I could try the photo editing.. I don't have wigs or hair-colored scarves.

[hennaphile]

Well here's my :twocents: using what I learned in all my years of art class :p

If you want to look natural, you want to find a color that matches your skin tone. If you have warm skin, you'll want a warm color, cool skin, more of a cool, ashier color (though it is possible to pull off red, it just takes some work).

Then look at your eyebrows. Eyebrows are often not quite the same value (light/dark) as hair, and not always the same color, but they give you an idea of what range you have to work with. Don't go too much lighter or too much darker than your brows :eyebrows:

Make sure you have some variation in your hair-- this gives dimension and brings out your face. Have it slightly lighter toward the front, an darker toward the back, as nature generally intends. This helps avoid the "flat" look which can inadvertently aid in washing out your face. You want your hair to compliment and interact with your face, not sit paralell.

Natural dyes like henna, indigo, and cassia tend to give natural looking colors, but are permanent.

Try looking at pictures of celebs with your coloring, and then maybe to to a wig store or something to see what different colors do to your face :)

[Kris Dove]

I'm sure many of you just know what color you like, and dyed it. But I don't know what color I want my hair. I know I want it different, but I'm afraid of how the results will look.
14 months since my last dye. I'm still a teenager, I like to change it..

Now if I could, I'd bleach it and dye it blue. But "normal people don't have blue hair."
So I need to pick from "natural" hair colors.

If you really love the idea of blue hair, you could do some tipping, just a few inches at the ends. This makes it easy to hide in an updo for employers who insist on "natural" haircolours, plus you'll only be damaging a few inches of your hair with the bleach.



I personally love dark hair. but nobody really liked it too much on me and the root-upkeep was a huge pain, they always got so light so quickly compared to the rest of my hair. People said the color washed me out.It can make you look paler, though I personally love that gothic look of black hair against pale skin, although when I dyed my mousy blonde hair black I felt the need to wear a lot of eye makeup. Darkening your hair can be sometimes unflattering on some older people, so getting older and the high maintenence was why I went back to my roots after a few years.
Another option might be a blue-black most employers consider this an acceptable colour, and you'll get that blue sheen off the light.


I don't care much for light hair, I feel like my hair's current color (lightish brown?) washes me out and makes me look colorless. I feel like a true blond color would have the same results, but everyone says blond looks best on me and makes me look younger (I'm 16, do I really need to look younger? :rolleyes:)Lightening your hair is more damaging than any other colour, so if you aren't even keen on the look yourself, I'd avoid this.
Perhaps a warmer rather than darker toffee or caramel shade of light brown could look good? Try a 2-3 wash-out rinse if you're doing something close to your natural colour.

[walterSCAN]

What's your natural color? (Forgive me if it's posted somewhere and I didn't see it.) From what you've said, I would suggest a dark/medium red-ish brown, but that depends on what you're working with to start.

Personally, ever since I was about 11, I've wanted to have my hair darkest brown. It's the color I was born with, and the color my eyebrows stayed, and the color I feel works best on me. Unfortunately, it lightened to a color I refer to as 'woodland creature brown'-- a strange red/brown/blonde/dishwater color-- when I got to gradeschool and I was at the mercy of my mother until my senior year of high school with regard to color, so I couldn't change it. My experience was close to yours-- most everyone in my family told me that lighter colors looked better and that a darker color would/did wash me out, but I never agreed and really dislike the way light colors look on me (I felt/feel the same way about the color making me feel colorless).

Heh. Long post. Moral of the story though, is that I think you should follow your own intuitions here as to what you like on yourself, especially if you have the leeway to do so. I agree with Elainehali about using a semi permanent dye, too. Especially if you are using a color darker than you natural, it will stay longer than the box says, and there's no reason to damage your hair more than is necessary. AND henna is an awesome alternative also! but very time-consuming.

Hope this helps!

[Allegra]

They say if you want your color to look natural (but better) to take a look at a picture of when you were a little kid. maybe 5, and make your hair that color. You probably had natural pretty hilights and it will go with your skin.
I couldn't agree with that more, if you're looking for the most flattering color definitely try to match the color you naturally had as a young child. I've tried and tested it and the only color that suits me is the blonde that i was as a child (i highlight it blonde now, my natural color now is really dark brown and looks horrible on me!).

[Madame J]

AND henna is an awesome alternative also! but very time-consuming.

Henna is NOT a good idea for someone who likes to change his or her hair color "for a change," as henna is permanent and a pain to remove if you tire of red hair.

Other than that, you've gotten plenty of good advice already. The color that looks the most natural will generally be the color you have, or have had in the past.

[Liluri]

I started out with rinses you buy at supermarkets that aren't permanent, I got blueberry which is purpley red, mulberry reddy purple and red. I tried all sorts of colours and they only lasted a few washes so were easy and fun and they even seemed to condition my hair nicely. I even tried black though as it was not permanent it didn't take.

Black and henna are the hardest things to get out of your hair and if you like black I'd follow the put on a wig first and know that you can't get it out without major hair damage. Hair rinses are fun and I've only seen my blonde friend have trouble with it sticking in her hair.

[Wind]

I got my first chemical color several months ago. When I sat down with my hairstylist, we picked two colors, one just lighter, and another a shade darker than my natural color and did highlights/lowlights. This gave it the look of three different colors and I love it.

[Asocialisten]

I started colouring my hair when I was eleven. I wasn't allowed to use permanent dyes, so I used those rinses that will fade in just a few washes. My hair was fire engine red back then.
Then, when I was 13, I bought a permanent blue black dye. That was my birthday present.
I always knew I wanted to have black hair. And that's the colour it's been the last five years.