Hair and Skin Tones Clash... Will Henna Help?

[Caitpenn]

Hello fellow longhairs!

So I have very warm toned skin... pale white with red/pink tones. My hair used to be a nice warm golden blonde with red tones, but over the years, has faded to a cool toned dirty honey blonde. My cool toned hair and warm toned skin clash. It kinda bothers me... I'm a bit anal about what colors go together. lol

I've been thinking about doing a henna gloss to bring some warm tones back into my hair. Does henna color go with pink skin? Ideally, I'd like to have copper or deep strawberry blonde hair not bright red.

[Calaelen]

Just some observations, as a makeup artist and someone quite trained in skin tones, from what you describe, you may actually have cool toned skin. Pale white with pink undertones is a very strong indicator.

It is actually a yellow undertone that gives the warm shades. Some easy ways of telling are to look at your veins where they are closest to the skin, do they look green, or blue? Do you tan if you go in the sun, or are you prone to burns which do not turn into wonderful tans? Do you look best in gold tones or silver tones when selecting jewellery?

If you answer yes to the first part of each question, you have warm skin, if you answer yes to the second part of each question you have cool skin, if neither is clear in all instances it is likely you have neutral skin.

If you do have cool skin, as I suspect, from an aesthetic point of view neutral or cool toned hair should suit you far better than golden or red tones, however this is not a strict fact, and you should do what you feel most comfortable with and like best.

Henna glosses are not a science, and if you're wanting a very subtle overtone, a henna/cassia or even straight cassia gloss may be the better route. Many henna crops give very intense red orange even as a gloss.

From what I can see in your avatar pic, your hair and skin fit very well. Is that the faded shade you dislike? Or, the colour you're wishing to achieve?

[Littlewing13]

I have quite a bit of pink in my skin & I love henna. But I have been 2 different shades of red before. I know that a warmer red looks amazing, but a dark, cool toned red looks horrible. For that reason I really do not want to do too many applications of henna, because it will eventually go too dark/cooler.

I would highly suggest that before you try henna you use a deposit only colour just to try it. I used schwarzkopf live colour in red embers. It is advertised as 8 washes, took a bit longer than that but at least it isnt henna permanent. Then if you love it go henna.

[Caitpenn]

Oh quick replies, thanks!

@Littlewing13 I will definitely try some hair ball/lock tests first then and will keep in mind the darkening effect w/ reapplication of henna. I'll look into that schwarzkopf thanks!

@Calaelen Maybe I do have a cool skin tone then. I don't really like how typical golds or silvers look on me, though bright white colored silver and greenish black hills gold look good on me... I typically go for the silver. I definitely don't tan. I burn and then stay red all summer and get some freckling... it looks like I have burnt, dirty skin with the red and the fine freckles.

Here's a picture that best conveys my hair and skintone, though it changes with the light:

http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h349/LesediDancer/IMG_7465.jpg

It's the faded shade that I dislike. I loved my bright golden hair. It used to have more copper/red strands in it than it does now.

[Caitpenn]

And another if that helps:

http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h349/LesediDancer/IMG_7607.jpg

People tell me they love my hair color... maybe I'm just being picky cause I'm used to the old one? I wonder if I should do cassia gloss or honey/chamomile lightening or just get out in the sun more. lol

[missdelarocha]

You most definitely have a cool skin tone!

I think more of what you're feeling is just what some people feel about their natural colour, that it is not... 'dramatic' enough?

I think it's beautiful and suits you perfectly well but I also think you should experiment with a henna gloss, no harm can be done and you may really like it :).

[fridgee]

Honestly I think your natural colour is beautiful and really suits you, but I totally understand wanting hair like you used to have. I think trying something nonpermanent first would be wise, either a deposit only colour (ETA: or a vegetable dye) for something more dramatic or something more natural and gradual such as ACV or hibiscus rinses just to slightly enhance what you already have. :flower:

[gabee]

I personally found that the red in henna brought out too much of the pink in my skin tone.
Now I henndigo my hair to a dark brown (almost black), and it suits my skin much better.

Maybe the reason you find your hair clashes with your skin tone is because it is light. I found the same when i had blonde hair.
Perhaps a darker colour would help?

[longhairedwolf]

For what it's worth, I think your hair colour and skin tone go well together.

[Finoriel]

Imo your hair color and skin tone look really good together.
And that's some really lovely pictures, too. :)

If you'd like to try for a slight change in tone you could look into doing final camomile tea rinses. They tend to cause a golden/warm shimmer for many people and fade quickly if you don't like it.

Cassia can turn out warm or cold toned, it often turns out yellowish and not so much golden. But there's a lot of possible variation depending on the cassia you get, the chosen recipe and of course the hair. Sometimes it also changes from golden to yellow while it's fading and might require more upkeep than you'd like to.

Combined cassia camomile mix could be interesting for you though.
Use strong camomile tea to mix the cassia with, avoid using actual camomile bits in the cassia mud :wink: if you don't want to shed camomile pieces for quite some days. Don't ask how I know :lol:
And maybe some camomile rinses inbetween to slow down the fading.

Henna gloss can turn out cool or warm toned and range from bright copper to barely a hint of strawberry red. And henna is permanent. For some a henna gloss fades enough to not be that noticeable, but not for everybody. Especially with blond hair it's not unlikely that it will last longer than expected and need to grow out. I think a light strawberry red and a bright copper would both suit you, but if you just want to achieve a warmer tone and don't want to do it for the red color... dunno, it might not be worth the risk of it still turning out more cool toned than you prefer.
And not sure if this is a concern for you, depends on what colors you like to wear, but when changing from blond to red some of the clothes you have might clash with strawberry/coppery hair.

Hibiscus rinses turned my hair an obvious purpleish toned red after some uses and it took several washes to get rid of it. For me it was definitely on the cool toned side and longer lasting than expected.

Hope that didn't make deciding more difficult :wink:

[Hollyfire3]

This is how i feel about my natural brown hair, it just seems too light (it isn't "light") but my eyebrows are very dark and my eyes are brown so i just look weird with medium brown hair, i dye it 2 or so shades dark warm brown and like it much better. I would go with the deposit only color first, your natural color is great, but I also think the henna red would look "natural" on you if you decide to try it. Good luck!

[Calaelen]

Weighing in again. You have cool toned skin. :) and those pics are so lovely the blue looks so wonderful on you.

I too think your hair fits your skin tone well, but I can understand wanting more flash. I can give you a wonderful tip. Green tea rinses after you wash. Right after you get out of the shower, rinse your hair with a strong green tea rinse that you've let go cool first. Leaving it on without a final rinse is perfectly safe, and it will give more noticeable results.

The green tea will bring out whatever strawberry gold tones you have naturally without having to resort to other treatments or henna/cassia. You should notice a difference after about 2 weeks of doing this each time you wash.

True redheads who find their hair starts to fade often do this, and it really does show, but after giving it a shot you can certainly try the henna or cassia gloss if you want stronger results.

[spidermom]

I agree; your skin tone is cool.

Maybe what you're not liking is that there isn't much contrast between your skin tone and the color of your hair. I used to have the same thing, except warm. Hair plus skin = golden beige. I couldn't (and can't) wear bold makeup colors because of it - it looked clown-ish, whereas somebody with a lot of contrast (like milk-white skin and dark hair) can.

But your hair color really is lovely, and if you play around with color, I recommend non-permanent color, at least until you find something that gives you the WOW! factor you seem to be craving. I don't think it will be henna-red/orange, though.

[Valfreyja]

Agree with Spidermom, I think it's the lack of contrast. I actually have similarly cool skin tone and I like to add henna despite the fact that's what people recommend I DON'T do. I love the effect but you may not. So, to be safe you might want to try a gloss or some diluted henna with indigo (and lots of cassia) added first. Buxus is also great since it's not as permanent as indigo, but it tones down the red somewhat.

Some people even dye their hair with coffee, but I don't know anything about that!

[Caitpenn]

Thank you gals for all of the comments and compliments! You probably saved me from doing something drastic without thinking about it (ie: dumping a bunch of henna on my head!). You're all right... I am kinda craving something more dramatic, and probably because I look at the same hair color every day (I like change. I tend to do things like rearrange the rooms in the house every 6 months or so lol). My husband loves my hair color though, so I'm going to go for something less dramatic first and see how that goes. You're so right about contrast being part of my problem with my hair and skin. And I hear ya on the makeup thing. I don't wear makeup often anyway, but when I do it has to be brown mascaras and subtle lipstick colors otherwise I look clownish or whorish.

I did a rooibos tea wash the other day, and didn't see any results other than a nice smell and a bit of shine. I'll try a green tea rinse every day for a couple weeks to see how that goes. Hopefully this will give me a nice subtle change. If that doesn't do what I want, I'll look into cassia and chamomile and cassia/henna/indigo glosses... might be fun being a bright readhead or a nice auburn. But for now, I'll go subtle and non-permanent. I don't want to have to cut off all of my hair because of a dying mistake.

Thanks again everyone! :)

[Caitpenn]

Oh and I'd just like to say that I'm so glad I stopped lurking and started participating. I really appreciate the advice and kind comments. :)

[Littlewing13]

I personally think you'd look great with a lighter coppery tone. Even using something like jamila with a bit of cassia or just a gloss. Would brighten it up but keep it subtle, & bring out your features more :)