What hair color suits me? Undertone, contrast and upkeep

No chart can tell you what colour you will love. What a chart can do is narrow the field and help you avoid the more expensive mistakes. The honest framing is this: the advice below is what colourists have found useful. Studies of how hair colour affects perception do exist, but we did not find any that test whether following these rules makes people look better. Treat it as a good place to start, then check it against your own face.

Three questions do most of the work. What is your undertone? How much contrast suits you? And how much maintenance will you really do?

Hair color for skin tone: start with undertone

Your skin's depth is how light or deep it is. Your undertone is the colour underneath, and it can be warm, cool or neutral at any depth. Stand in daylight, with no make-up on your jaw and neck, and try these checks.

• White paper. Hold it beside your bare face. Skin that looks more golden, peachy or yellow suggests warm. More pink, red or blue suggests cool. Skin that shows neither suggests neutral.
• Metal. If gold jewellery flatters you more, that hints warm. If silver does, that hints cool. If both look equally good, that hints neutral.
• Inner wrist. Green-looking veins hint warm and blue or purple hint cool, though this is the least reliable check of the three.
• Sun. Skin that tans easily is often read as warm, and skin that burns easily as cool. This is a weak clue, and it does not work well on deep skin.

If the results conflict, you are probably neutral, or you may have an olive tone, which can look slightly green or grey and often falls between warm and cool. Redness and sunburn can also confuse things, so look at your jaw and neck too.

Contrast: how far from your natural colour?

Undertone guides the temperature of a shade. Contrast guides how light or dark to go.

Look at how far apart your skin, eyes, brows and natural hair are. Someone with very dark hair and brows and fair skin has high natural contrast. Someone with soft brown hair, hazel eyes and a similar skin depth has lower contrast.

Staying close to your natural contrast tends to look effortless. Moving away from it tends to look more deliberate. That is not wrong, only more noticeable, and it may involve changing your brows or make-up to match. If you are unsure, change the colour by a small step or add colour only around the face, which you can take back more easily.

Hair color ideas by colouring

Use this table as a list of starting points. "Approach with care" means the shade takes more skill to get right, not that you cannot wear it.

Neutral undertones can usually borrow from either temperature at the same depth. Eye colour can shift the decision too: shades that echo or set off your eyes can be flattering, but this is a matter of taste more than a rule.

The part charts leave out: upkeep and your starting point

A shade that suits your skin can still be the wrong choice if it does not suit your hair or your life.

Your starting colour limits the route. Going darker is relatively gentle. Going much lighter generally means bleach, and bleach permanently damages the fibre, with the cost building if it is repeated. A platinum you have to lift from black is a very different project from a platinum you lift from dark blonde. Ask what state your hair would be in at the end, and not just what shade it would be.

Some colours fade faster. Reds and vivid shades need the most top-ups, and blondes usually need their toner refreshed. Why colour fades, and which shades go first is worth reading before you choose a high-maintenance shade.

Regrowth is part of the look. The further you go from your natural colour, the sooner your roots will show. Soft highlights grow out more gently than a solid all-over change.

Hair color try on: see it on your own photo

Once you have narrowed it down to two or three shades, stop reading and look. Your eye will settle the question faster than a table will.

The Kera app offers colour try-on, with 25 shades across classic, trending and bold, from platinum to plum, applied to your own photo. You can keep the results you like and compare them. Use a photo facing the camera in even daylight, since coloured or harsh light changes how any shade appears.

Remember what a preview can and cannot do. It shows you how a colour might look with your face. It cannot tell you how your hair will take the colour, how it will fade or whether your hair can survive the lift. Those questions need a look at your hair's condition and, for bigger changes, a colourist. Bring your preview along, as it gives them a clear picture of what you are after.