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Hair color/style and clothes color/style

Amanda

Shiny mentioned hair highlights on one of my threads a while back and all of the recent threads on hair cuts has made me think more about how my hair color and/or hair style affects my choice in clothing styles and colors. I am naturally a brunette and for years I had blond highlights. Then I went all blond for a few years and when I got tired of that I went various changes of red/auburn for a few years. When I started grad school a couple of years ago, I stopped coloring my hair as part of lowering my expenses so now I am back to my natural brunette color.

When I was a blond, I wore a lot of red and olive green. As a redhead, I wore a lot of pink -- which explains all the pink currently in my wardrobe -- and yellow, which I couldn't wear as a blond. I'm still trying to figure out what colors work best for me as a brunette -- teal has gotten the thumbs up from the forum and I am starting to wear red again, which I love.

I don't think changing hair styles from long to short (and back again over the years) has had as strong an impact on my clothing choices. I'm curious if you all have noticed that changing your hair color and/or hair style changes what colors and styles look good on you or what styles you prefer to wear.

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41 replies

Latest reply was from Amanda

Anonymous

I'm impressed with how creative you've been with your haircolor over the years. You must have beautiful creamy neutral skin tone to be able to pull off these different hair colors. Sounds like fun to keep mixing it up, from makeup, to hair color, to clothing colors.

shiny

Veteran

Yes, I definetly think changing my hair color over the years has made an impact on colors I wear. My hair color changes have been fairly subtle. My natural haircolor is a dirty blonde with red undertones. With highlighting, I can vary from a little blonde to more blonde - only 1 to 2 shades lighter. In fall i get two tones - 1 shade lighter and a hint of red.

I have never gone platinum - though I did have a colorist who thought I could pull it off - and I have numerous colorist suggest I go red (considering my mom and sister are redheads, and i have red undertones). But red=too much maintenance. I did once have a really bad dye job that was orange - but I got that fixed the very next day.

What I notice the most is the impact on colors I look good in depends on whether my highlights are warm, cool or neutral. After years of experimenting, I know I look best with neutral highlights. Warm looks *awful* on me - though I can wear oranges more easily. Cool tones look okay but too cool and I start to look ashy. Neutral is best.

As for hair lengths, yes I do think this impacts clothing choices, though maybe not quite so dramatically as hair color. First example that springs to mind: long hair and turtle necks on me just don't mix!!! It works great on Tanya - but she has a long neck. I have a short neck and it just ends up looking shorter for some reason if my hair is long. If I pull it back in a pony, it works fine though.

Anonymous

Hair color definitely defines the colors I can wear. My hair is mixed grey (but a taupey grey) and dark brown. Before it turned grey I didn't look good in black or taupe unless I had it highlighted. If I dye it, I can no longer wear neutral tones as well.
My mixed hair color also makes it difficult to wear patterned fabrics. The hair is already a pattern that can compete with a different pattern. I still can't wear pastels, but my best colors have gone from jewel tones to more medium shades. Strangely I seem to be able to wear colors with more yellow in them than I could before.

Laura

(website)

Veteran

Yes, I have experienced this! Once I went to a new colorist and he made a faux pas and my hair came out strawberry blonde instead of plain blonde. I had to change my lipstick (suddenly brownish red looked fab) and I looked incredible in green (blue had always been my color). It was shocking how completely different I felt about color!

ImogenL

(website)

When you go blonde, from brunette, you are removing your natural contrast levels too, so you will find that the way you wear colour changes. When you are more light/dark (eg> pale skin, dark hair) you need a greater contrast in your clothes - so more light with dark in clothing, but when you take away that contrast you need to make your colour contrast lower.

If you have green eyes and red hair, you look great in more different colours together, whilst if you have brown hair and brown eyes, you'll look great in more neutrals and monochromatic looks.

Your hair enhancers are those that are opposite your hair colour - so if you have brown hair, your hair enhancer is blue, whilst if it's blonde, you are looking at purples, and if it's red, go for greens.

Becky

Veteran

Thank you, Imogen, for your insightful posts about colors (here and on other threads). I have been pondering your recent blog post on wearing black. ( Here: http://insideoutstyle.blogspot.....riend.html for those interested.)

Anonymous

Thanks Becky I enjoyed ready Imongen's blog. I am so confused about color all my life, however this makes sense to me. It's going to take a while for me to get it totaly.
I splurged on a very expensive black wool coat with the high collar just last year. UUUGH! If only I had discovered YLF first. I'll have to try to squeeze a proper color scarf in under the collar around my face.

Amanda

Imogen - now I know why you always have such good advice! It was fun to discover your blog -- thanks to Becky. I always thought that black was a good basic cover but I've recently decided that I want avoid black as much as possible in tops because I think it just doesn't look good on me. And I like the idea of using grays and browns as the basic color for pants and skirts instead of blacks. I've also been thinking of navy as a basic color.

I have no idea if I am a warm or cool coloring. I guess I should try to figure that out. I do have some sense of what colors work for me (no matter my hair color, clear brights look better than pastels and heathered colors) and I always hold a piece of clothing up to my face to see whether it brightens my skin tone or makes it look drab. That can be difficult to see in dressing room lighting. I know that cream and winter white looks good on me but I still end up buying bright whites because they are easier to find and seem to be a good layering piece.

shell

interesting thread! i've also run the gamut on hair color, but i dont think it's ever actually played an impact on what colors i wear.

as most of you know, i LOVE to play with colors. according to imogen's rule, with naturally brown hair and brown eyes, i should be dressing in neutrals and monochromatic palettes. though my hair is now a golden-blonde-ish color, i could never wear neutrals or just one color, even when i had brown hair. too boring! in my opinion, color should be fun and you shouldn't have to limit yourself to just a handful of colors.

maybe i'm just breaking all the color rules, but I'm having fun doing it!

shell

oh, aj! one thing i did learn about determining your coloring...
look at the palm of your hand. if you see yellow-y undertones, you'd be considered warm. if you have pink undertones, you'd be considered cool.

Amanda

I think then that I am a warm because I have yellow undertones. I have bright blue eyes and when I was growing up my mom always dressed me in pastels because of my blue eyes. Once I was buying my own clothes, I did the same thing for a while but never felt comfortable. One day I realized that my brother --who has the same coloring as me except green eyes -- wears a lot of red and green and brown and looks great. So I started wearing those colors more and felt like they were such a better match for my skin tone.

Shell - I think that you pick colors that look good with your skin tone -- you just cover the whole palette! I love your colorful style.

Anonymous

Shell I like that idea of looking at the palm of your hand for cool or warm undertones. It does show there, I've got the pink. That must be why I don't like my yellow hair. It always seems to yellow to me even though I've had pro's color it for years. The yellow and the pink clash, right?
You are lucky to have coloring that is a pallette for wearing many combinations. You and AJ both probably never look 'bad' in any combo. I know you would never go boring because that is not your personality but I remember seeing you recently in a neutral sweater you were considering tossing, and in the picture your eyes and skin glowed next to that rich neutral. I wouldn't want you to do that everyday though because then you wouldn't be Shell with the colorful personality.

Laura

(website)

Veteran

What an interesting thread!

I am confused, though, because I have yellow undertones to my skin (I am medium blonde - although naturally by now I would be brunette - with blue/gray/green eyes). I am getting my hair cut next week and this thread is making me wonder if I should go more natural with my hair coloring, creating more contrast.

Anyway I think I look terrible in warm colors. Wearing yellow makes me turn yellow. I think I look best in cool colors - blue, green, reds that have a lot of blue in them, cool pink. Periwinkle is probably my best color. Blue and gray together is my fav color combo. Does this make sense or am I using color all wrong?

Becky

Veteran

Laura, my coloring is similar to yours (fair yellowish skin; medium to darker blonde hair, with lighter highlights; and grayish green eyes). I also know for a certainty that I look better in cool colors -- cooler blues, greens, reds, and pinks. I would like to think red or fuschia is my best color, but who knows? I avoid yellow like the plague (although I wore a yellow handbag this summer). I am still pondering how safe black might be for me to wear. I think navy or gray might be better, although I have to say I'm not sure I like gray close to my face.

Amanda

I don't know how the color thing really works but I do know that colors that have a lot of yellow make me look sallow and colors that are more bluish brighten my skin tone. So, for example, I can wear blue-reds but not orange-reds. Maybe it's that you want to wear the opposite of what your skin tone. I think I need to do some research on this.

Laura

(website)

Veteran

aj, that sounds right - maybe you wear the opposite of your skin tone. Becky, I used to wear loads of black when I was in my 20s but now it seems too harsh. Also, like you, I do not like gray next to my face, especially charcoal. Someone told me recently that I look good in navy, which surprised me, because I have never liked navy. But I may have to rethink that! Yellow handbags are the ONLY way I'd wear yellow! I agree!

shiny

Veteran

My skin definetly has cool undertones: on my wrists you can see blue veins and I tend towards pink ruddiness in my cheeks. This is precisely why warm or brassy hair coloring looks atrocious on me. And yet, go too cool, and I end up looking ashy and washed out. Which is why my colorists over the years have steered me towards "neutral" highlights... I never knew you could go neutral... but whatever magic they do, it works.

As for wearing black - Imogen, you are soooo right on this! Particularly once you get past a certain age. It was about 5 years ago I started to realize black was making my fine lines much more noticeable. I still wear black (a lot, actually -it's essentially the uniform here in Boston) but I try and add other, more flattering colors with it to offset the effects. Or for those days when I am craving a black top regardless - I just tailor my make-up a little more carefully. Add more color to my lips, for example.

I can seem to pull black off better in the summer than winter - and I think that's because (even though I'm religious with sunscreen) I'll have a bit more color to my skin. Besides, throw on a big pair of sunglasses, and those fine lines disappear completely.

Ana

(website)

Veteran

I definitely have warm undertones to my skin. If Brendan and I put our arms next to eachother, he looks super pink and I look really yellow. But I have very light skin, so maybe it's very very light olive, I'm not sure (my dad has olive skin and my mom has very fair skin). I have to wear warm colors. Some cool colors are okay on me, but they don't really do anything for me. They are much better if they have a warm base to them (instead of bright white, cream, and instead of kelly green, olive green, etc). And I can and do wear yellow, but it needs to be a warm sunshine yellow, anything too pale or too green and I look terrible, as AJ said. If you have warm skintone, definitely give yellow a try, you just need to find the right one!

When Bobby first did my highlights, I told him I needed a warm golden blonde, because anything ashy looks fake and washes me out. So San, if cool colors look best on you (and from what I've seen that looks to be the case), you might want to ask for an Ash blonde, or Champagne highlights/color, something with a cooler base. That would look much more natural. I like Shiny's idea of neutral highlights, but I've never heard of those before. Interesting!

Before I cut my hair, I really tried to avoid black, because it felt too strong and like too much was going on with all my hair, and the red lipstick and BLACK. But, when I went out yesterday and tried on a lot of clothes to kind of get a feel of what to look for with my new cut, I found that black didn't overwhelm me the way it used to. It still looks best paired with a more flattering color closer to my face though, as Shiny mentioned. So I bought *a* black cardigan (I'm not going to go crazy on the black).

Also, if I'm wearing a bright color in my outfit, I've found the red lipstick is too bold now with the short hair. Maybe because my face is much more noticeable, I'm not sure. I have to really blot blot blot and put a gloss over it to soften it. That kind of made me sad because I really love my red lipstick. But maybe since my hair will look the same everyday, some lipstick variety will be fun.

One last thing--has anyone ever had "their colors done?" That seasonal color thing? I read a book about it, and I figured out I am a "Spring," which is warm with light hair and light eyes. I found it mildly helpful, but I wouldn't follow it to the letter. There were some colors from other seasons that I've found I can wear, so it's a good starting place if you really have no clue about what colors you look best in. BUT, what's really helped me is just trial and error--going out, and trying stuff on with a friend who is good with color.

Laura

(website)

Veteran

Ana - yes, years and years ago my mom and I were into "Color Me Beautiful" - wasn't that the book? Sadly I can't remember if I am a spring or summer! Oh tragedy! That woman must've made gazillions on that book.

shiny

Veteran

I think I was supposed to be a summer, but I could be recalling wrong, and that was back in the days before I highlighted my hair, and it was darker, more of a dirty/dishwater blonde with red undertones.

Ana, are you sure it's not the highlights that are making the red lipstick seem off - and not the cut itself? That happens sometimes with hair coloring.... another reason I have many colors of lipstick to choose from!

Speaking of lipsticks, which color family do you all fall into? I always go for mauves.

Amanda

Now that I think about it, no matter what my hair color is I always wear the same color of lipstick -- I like the Clinique black cherry lip gloss -- and other than that I wear brownish red lip color. Ana inspired me to look for a good red-red but I haven't done that yet.

Ana - I do think that the highlight in your hair could be making the red lipstick look brighter. You might need to do another red lipstick search to find the right tone. Or you could just be noticing it more because you are aware of your face and your new haircut. Once your eyes adjust to the new look, the red lipstick might not stand out as much.

Ana

(website)

Veteran

Thanks Shiny and AJ! It could be the highlights, but he used the same color for highlighting that he used when my hair was long. I think it's the lack of hair making me notice my face more, good point. I do like the look when I'm wearing black and white, it's mostly when I'm wearing very bright colors, like orange, that I notice it a lot more. I'm not giving up on red yet--I love it! You should totally go for it, too AJ, I think you'd look great in red.

As far as lipstick color families, of course I always look for red, but if not red, it's got to be a warm color. I generally avoid pinks and go more for corals. I really like Clinique Black Honey lipstick though. That stuff is wonderful if I want a really natural look.

ImogenL

(website)

Unfortunately the palm of your hand trick won't tell you if you're warm or cool. I have sallow yellowish appearing skin but am cool, and have draped plenty of clents who are ruddy and pink who are warm. The whole pink skin = cool, yellow = warm is not necessarily true, as there is a difference between the undertone and overtone of skin colours, and often what we see is the overtone not the undertone (which tells us if we're warm or cool).

With hair colour, try holding up hair colour samples next to your face, and whichever look more flattering, ask your hairdresser to turn your hair into that colour.

Shell: You don't just have to wear brown with brown hair and eyes, you can definitely wear lots of colour (in fact, some of my favourite colours on the brown eyed brunette are burgundy, blue, red and pink tones, in the correct warm or cool category depending if it's a warm or cool skin we're looking at).

I don't use a seasonal colour system in my work, there just aren't enough seasons for the difference and variations in people. I use a system that works with Munsell colour science and has 14 different directions (which can actually be broken down into 42 directions if you want to get really picky).

Also, as your colouring changes as you age, you need to reassess your colours along the way - about every 10-15 years (plus colour systems have dramatically improved in the past 10-15 years). A colour analysis helps you to find a palette of colours that mix and match easily, that work with your colouring. How you wear them is affected by your personality and contrast levels (and personality wins out over everything else everytime, rules are made to be broken).

Generally, if you look much better in creamy white than whiter whites you're more likely to be warm. But like anything, it's a scale, some people are warmer than others, like some colours are warmer than others.

Colour is a complete passion of mine. I find when I drape my clients that when I'm putting them in unflattering colours, I feel sick in my stomach. When I find the right colours I feel calmed.

Jenniferblue

ImogenL
I would love to learn more about color. Do you know if people using
the Munsell Colour Science system are doing personal color assessments in the States? Years ago, I had a Color Me B.
draping done. Your description of the Munsell system sounds so much more advanced. Where can I find it? Or, more about it. Is there another system that you like? Thank you for any information. I live on the east coast. I'd be interested in personal color analysis. Thank you
JB

Amanda

I definitely look better in cream white than white white -- although I find myself wearing white white more often because its easier to find. I'd really like to find a cream button-front shirt but no luck yet. That's interesting that coloring changes as you get older. I hadn't thought of that as a factor. I do know that moving from Florida to Seattle made a big difference. In Florida I always had a tan -- partly because I was young and laid on the beach all summer and partly because even in the winter you are just out in the sun all the time. Once I moved to Seattle and lost the permanent tan, I discovered that my skin tone was a lot paler than I had ever realized.

ImogenL

(website)

There are all sorts of people who do colour analysis around the world - you could check out the http://www.aici.org website which lists image consultants around the world. Also try http://www.bodybeautifulonline.com for consultants as they do great colour analysis. I'm are there are more, I just don't know them personally.

A tan will let you wear colours that are a bit brighter than might suit you without a tan, as you won't look as washed out.

As our hair goes grey, our skin and eyes also loose pigment, which is why dying our hair back to our 'natural' colour that we had at age 20 is not flattering at age 40 or 50+.

tarzy

Veteran

What a fascinating discussion. I am very baffled by color, and for years wore mostly black because I just couldn't deal with it. I naturally have very dark hair and pale skin (I'm a blue-red, at least for makeup, according to Prescriptives) with hazel eyes.

I've always loved wearing black, but as I've gotten older I worry that it's too harsh. I've been coloring my hair for years to cover the grey, but then it starts to get brassy very quickly, which I don't like. I end up with cool skin and warm hair and it can be confusing. I look horrible in yellow or beige, but I look good in rich brown and black. I can wear a blue red, but not a warm red. I'm comfortable in the cool colors, but now it's starting to change as my hair gets more grey.

I can't color my hair really really dark brown anymore - it's starting to feel too harsh for my age. I'm starting to think I'm ready to let the silver grow in and wear it quite short (think Meryl Streep in THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, except mine is curly.) I think I could handle a fab head of silver hair, but I'm terrified of looking like an old hippie with long frizzy grey hair! But as someone who's had very dark hair all my life, it's hard to imagine having lighter hair. And I definitely do not want to look "old." It's a huge psychological leap! And if I do go all silver, I wonder what colors I can wear? Will I look washed out? Hair color is definitely driving my fashion concerns at this moment!

shiny

Veteran

I hope this isn't going too far off-topic, but Tarzy's post has me thinking about a question on my own mind.

First, let me say that I adore women who go natural and have the Meryl Streep type look. My own DH went grey very early (in his 20s) and dyed his hair for a long time. A few years back, he bit the bullet and stopped dying it. His hair is a blue-grey - not white, not silver. It took me awhile to get used to it, it was such a shock because with very short hair, you can go grey in a single haircut (he just told them to keep cutting until all that was left was the natural color. I was in shock, because it was a one-day dramatic change. But now I love it. He's got a george clooney thing going on!!

The question is:

If one was to go natural, and wound up with a color that isn't silver but more grey or white, something not quite so stunning - can that hair be colored - not red or blonde or brown, but in a more flattering shade of grey, like white or silver or whatever flatters one's skin tone?

I'm curious, because while I only have a few greys so far and they are easily hidden with coloring, the greys I have are more of a stark white than a silver. And the more bothersome thing is that their texture is so very different - more thick than fine, with a tendency to want to stand up and spray this way and that, or to curl.

Amanda

Actually, Shiny and Tarzy, I started thinking about gray hair too. Now that I am not coloring my hair I can see that the gray is coming in -- not too much and I'm probably the only one who really notices. But I've been hoping that my hair turns a nice shade of silver gray because I'd rather than let it be gray when the time comes. I have awful visions of women with too dark hair color and gray roots! My mother is 68 and her hair didn't really start going heavily gray until she was in her 60s and my dad's hair is still mostly black and he's also 68 so maybe I won't have to worry about this for a while. On the other hand, my brother is 3 years younger than me and already has a lot of gray. I'm am getting gray hair in my eyebrows which is very annoying because I don't want to pluck them out and have eyebrows that are too thin and it seems like they would be difficult to dye. I'd prefer not to have gray eyebrows and brown hair!

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