Five step guide to choosing your hair color

Hair color is the quickest and easiest way to cover up your gray locks – but making the right choice of hair color is the key to a successful younger look.

Get it wrong and you can end up looking years older – nothing is more aging than flat heavily dyed hair.

But a great hair color job can add warmth and radiance to your looks and give your confidence a turbo charged boost.

If you’re using a hair coloring kit at home the choice of hair color becomes even more difficult without the advice of a professional color stylist.

So – before you grab for the hair color that looks ‘about right for me’ – stop and take some time out to think about what you really need.

Here’s five tips to help you get the hair color that’s right for you

Stick to your base hair color as far as possible to That means your natural “base” hair color as it is now – not what it was like in your 20’s or teens.

Don’t go too blonde or you could look too pale all over. Your hair needs to frame your face and give a subtle contrast to your skin tone. Add some soft low lights to the overall color to give depth and tone.

Stop at light brown or light auburn if you have brown hair – you could look washed out. Reds are very harsh for most complexions so try ash browns. Use lowlights and highlights to lift the hair color – mid browns can look dull.

Lighten darker or deep brown/black hair – up to three tones away from the original color with additional highlights for a more realistic less flat look. Don’t go any darker than a deep chocolate brown or dark auburn. Hair color that’s too dark is an unnatural contrast with mature faces and can look a bit witch like.

Take care with red – covering up gray with red is very hard to do well since red emphasizes any ruddiness in your complexion. If you are naturally pale and fine skinned like Susan Sarandon – a natural redhead anyway then you may be an exception. Take the advice of a good hair colorist.

Overall – the important message is to keep your hair color natural and subtle and use lights to lift the color – the end result will give you a much younger look and make you feel great.