Is My Hair Color Warm, Cool or Neutral?

Question of the day—are you warm, cool, or neutral? We’re not talking about your personality here, just your hair color.

You know what color your hair is, how light or dark. What you might not know is whether your hair color is warm, cool, or neutral in tone. If you color your hair lighter or darker, it can change your whole look. Taking your color warmer or cooler is certainly less drastic, but it’s still a fun way to mix things up. All you need is the right semi-permanent color and you’re in business.

Warm or cool hair colors?

Warm shades with red, orange and gold tones—like honey blonde, golden brown, rich auburn or bright copper—bring out color in your cheeks and add warmth to your complexion. Cool shades with blue, violet and ash tones—like platinum blonde, smoky brown, cherry red and caviar black—cool down your complexion and neutralize redness in your skin. Take a warm shade and a cool shade at exactly the same level, and you’ll see two very different looks.

If you’re a warm caramel brunette, all this talk of tones might have you wondering how an ashier brown color might look on you. We’d be curious, too. You could commit to a new shade of permanent color... or you could try Color Reviving Gloss, a fantastic way to play with different tones and add healthy-looking shine while you’re at it. Gloss adds a semi-permanent tint that washes out gradually over several weeks... so no pressure. Here’s how to play this game of tones:

If you want to cool down your color…

Try Espresso Gloss to add cool tones to brunette hair. If you have light brunette hair, Espresso will take you temporarily darker as well.

Expresso

Try Barolo Gloss to add cool reddish tones to auburn hair. Brunettes can also apply Barolo to go auburn for a few weeks.

Barolo

Try Crema Gloss to add cool tones to blonde hair. You can also use Crema to neutralize warmth in gray hair.

Crema

If you want to warm up your hair shades

Try Amaretto Gloss to add warmth to any shade of brunette hair. This bronze caramel shade is a serious show-stopper.

Amaretto

Try Cannella Gloss to add warm golden tones to lighter shades of red hair.

Canella

Try Miele Gloss to add warm honey tones to dark blonde or light brunette hair.

Miele

Try Prosecco Gloss to add warm golden tones to blonde hair for a flattering, sunkissed look.

Prosecco

Gloss also works beautifully to enhance the tone of your current hair color. For example, if your smoky brunette shade has a tendency to turn reddish over time, use Espresso Gloss to neutralize that unwanted brassiness.

So you see, you can easily experiment with different tones to discover your personal preference. Just remember, have fun and stay cool. Or don’t... the choice is yours.