Red Hair Colour Ideas And Looks
Looking for some solid red hair colour ideas to help match your red hair shades to your new look? Garnier can help.
Interested in knowing what your favourite shade will look like on you? Don’t forget to use our Virtual Try-On feature to see what shade best suits you. Find out more on our Virtual Try-On homepage at the end of this article, or by clicking on one of our products with the 'Try It On' icon.
Make sure the colour you try on works on your hair. Take our 1-minute hair colour quiz to be certain.
What is the secret of red hair, what is its enduring appeal and which shade should you choose? Well, let's find out.
Which Red Hair Shades Do I Choose?
It's the question everyone asks, regardless of colour. Do I go for something bold or something more natural? Choosing hair colour is never easy; whether you are a home-dye expert or a virgin queen, there are a lot of red hair colour ideas to consider and matching your red hair shades to your new look will largely depend on your natural skin tones, original hair colour and the effect you are going for.
The Garnier Color Match tool is a great place to start your quest, providing a simple questionnaire to help you find the right red for you, but there are some basic tips every girl should know:
Know your Skin Tone
The key to home hair dyeing is working with your skin tone, not against it. If you have pale skin, red hair can be a great natural look for you, giving you that ultra-fashionable Celtic goddess vibe. It's certainly easier to find a red if your skin is porcelain or pale pink. Even pale complexions vary though, with some featuring warm hues like pink and others cooler in tone with yellows.
In fact, it's the 'temperature' of your skin tone that matters most – that is, whether you have 'cool' or 'warm' skin. Cool skin tones are not necessarily pale – you can have ebony skin and still have cool undertones – they simply have undertones of pink, red, blue and violet. Warm-toned skin, by contrast, has yellow, peach or golden undertones.
To help you decide which one you are – cool or warm – try the classic jewellery test. Which suits you better, silver or gold jewellery? If it's silver, you probably have cool undertones; if gold, then warm.
If all jewellery suits you – lucky you – then look yourself in the eye. If the flecks of colour in your irises are blue or brown you have cool skin; if they're gold or yellowish, your skin has warmer undertones. Simple.
So now you've worked it out, this is the deal with choosing reds. Cool undertones will always look fabulous with deep true reds. You can even carry off a spicy intense copper, verging on tangerine: a super trendy shade at the moment. If you go too light you risk washing out your pale complexion, so opt for bright vibrant coppers rather than pale blondes.
If you have warm undertones with pale skin, freckles and light eyes, then strawberry blonde and coppery reds will look fantastic on you. If your olive, tan or brown skin has warm undertones, your best red hair shades will be mahogany reds and dark auburns. You could even try a rich burgundy, like Nutrisse Crème Deep Red, another hugely fashionable colour.
If you don't fancy going all-out red straight away, dip dyeing or an ombré finish might be a great way to begin your redhead odyssey.
