Finding the Right Hair Color as a Natural Brunette with a Cool Skin Tone

Glamorous stars, with their deep pockets and professional stylists, can pull off drastic color changes going from light blonde to dark brown--to a fiery red and back again--seemingly before we can count our change and pull into the corner drugstore. But, we everyday women will likely benefit from keeping our beauty-driven appetites in check. Working with natural shades given your skin tone usually proves to be most flattering.

Can a Dark Brunette Pull Off Being a Dark Blonde in the Real World?

Seeing celebrities who can rock both light and dark locks well--Jessica Alba, Julia Roberts, Beyonce and Mandy Moore, to name a few--can't help but make us real women wonder if we could pull off such drastic changes also. There are, however, a few differences between those household names and people like me.

Let's ignore the fact that a highly-credentialed professional hair stylist mixing dye colors exclusively for a particular celebrity will turn up with better results than me picking out a $9.99 pre-packaged box from Walgreens--although, I do love the look of L'Oreal Feria Hi-Lift Brown. Let's also ignore the style differences that will take place when a well-trained guru carefully creates a multi-tonal look and when I haphazardly throw a dollop of goop onto my hair. Let's even pretend that touch ups and continued maintenance won't cost a fortune. At the end of the day, being blonde still won't add up for many of us.

There are women who can rock a variety of hair colors--it's true. When you start with a face like Julia Roberts', you probably can't go too wrong with hair color. And although we might have the same skin tone and eye color as her, we weren't featured in People Magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People." To put it gently, our look might not be as versatile as some of the celebrities we know and love.

Dark Brunettes Interested in Natural-Looking Results: Reds, Browns & Almost Black

Follow your instincts and proceed with what you think is best, but realize that naturally-dark brunettes will often benefit from sticking to naturally-dark dyes: auburns, dark chocolates, nearly blacks. Even purple-reds and blue-blacks can make for fun yet flattering alternatives, helping you successfully switch things up.

Save for blonde, I've tried all of the above at various points and enjoyed the results each time. I stick to using over-the-counter dyes from the drugstore, which can be cost-effective, easy solutions for experimenting with color and finding what's just right given a person's skin tone, eye color, and personality. Remember, women with cool skin tones should look for dyes explicitly labeled as "cool" in order to avoid uncomplimentary brassiness. Best of luck!

Sources:

"L'Oreal Feria Hi-Lift Brown Permanent Haircolour Gel." Walgreens.com.

"The 50 Most Beautiful People: Julia Roberts Shines." People.com.