Make-up and Your New Hair Color

You just visited your stylist and they gave you a great new color for your hair. You start to apply your make-up and it just does not look right. I see this happen to a lot of people. The most important thing to keep in mind is that your hair color will create a different colored shadow on your face if the color is different from what you started with. Let me give you an example. You started out with golden blond hair and a few natural highlights. Your hair stylist says, "You know you would look great as a redhead." O.K. that sounds good to me. Now you have this beautiful mane of fiery red hair that will cast a reddish tone onto your skin. The colors that we see in our hair comes from light. Your hair color absorbs a certain amount of light depending on the color it is. It also reflects light. This is the reason that red hair will make your skin appear to have more redness in it.

Now that you have a little insight about how the color of your hair can affect the color of your skin, let's see how you need to adjust your cosmetics. If you happen to be planning a change like this you might want to have someone take a picture of you without your make-up on with your starting hair color, then another with your new hair color. This way you can see the difference for yourself.

When you look at yourself in the mirror pay attention to the color of your hair. If you have more red in your hair than before, use colors that will compliment it like browns and other earth tones. Maybe you had a light to medium brown hair color to start with and your hair stylist suggested using a cool or ash brown to cut down on some of the red. Now you will need to add more color in your make-up to counter act what your hair color took away. To help you understand this point further red is what adds life to any color. Be it your skin tone or hair color. This is what you should be looking at when you change your hair color. Ask yourself, "Is there more red or less red in my hair now?" This will let you know if you need to wear more neutral colors or more lively colors. The next step is to work with your hair stylist. Most hair stylists are fully licensed cosmetologist, which means they should know a little bit about all facets of the beauty industry (i.e. hair, skin and nails). Talk to them personally and get their opinion about the different colors they would suggest. It is a lot easier for them since they can see how your new hair color has affected you. You can also use our Free Facial Charts for suggestions.