Hair Colors That Will Minimize Redness In Face
To be honest, many people fail to realize that the hair color they have chosen may end up highlighting their skin a bit too much.
Among other things before deciding on a color, you should dedicate a considerable amount of time to check if it matches your skin tone and complexion. This is especially true for people with a red face caused by rosacea or skin sensitivity, as colors like platinum or ash blonde can draw attention to the redness.
However, there’s no need to worry, as we have created this informative guide to help you pick the right hair color for your skin’s redness. The right shade may even improve the look of your skin complexion by making you appear less flushed even without a lot of makeup.
So, without further ado, let’s get started!
What’s Causing The Redness On Your Face?
Before we tell you about picking the right hair color, let’s talk a bit about what may have caused the redness on your face. That’s because, at times, it’s better to address the underlying skin issue before you think about getting a full-blown hair transformation.
Another important thing to note is whether the redness is evenly spread all over your face or restricted to patches. In general, redness is a tell-tell sign of skin inflammation, so you’ll need to treat it as soon as possible to prevent the situation from worsening.
Here are some of the common causes of redness on your face:
1. Rosacea
One of the leading causes of a person having red skin tone is rosacea. It might be hard to believe, but around 14 million individuals in the US alone are affected by this issue that causes the skin to flush or blush.
As rosacea is thought to be based on genetics, nothing much can be done as a cure. Instead, people have to rely on making lifestyle changes and seek appropriate treatments to control the symptoms, which vary from person to person.
Even though most people associate rosacea with the redness being focused on the face, the condition may also affect your neck and chest. That’s why choosing the right hair color may help reduce redness throughout your body, rather than just focusing on the face.
For most people, rosacea begins to appear after middle age, becoming more prominent due to blushing and flushing episodes. Other than that, rosacea may cause symptoms like swelling of blood vessels, pimples, and inflamed eyelids. Triggers like extreme temperatures, spicy food, intense workouts, sun exposure, or high blood pressure can cause persistent episodes of flushing.
After diagnosing you with rosacea, a doctor will usually provide suggestions for managing the symptoms. The treatment often includes medications to regulate blood flow and prevent frequent flushing episodes. A proper diet is also important to eliminate foods that can cause inflammation, like alcohol, spices, and caffeine.
Furthermore, as cosmetic products can often irritate the skin, dermatologists advise against using heavy makeup. Hair color can be a better option to pull away attention from the redness. But, those with rosacea should avoid cool tone shades, like electric blue, as they may make the skin look more flushed.
2. Sensitive Skin And Allergies
Another common reason for having an occasional red complexion is skin sensitivity or allergies. Known allergens may often trigger inflammation in the skin, causing it to look red. The skin may also feel tight and raw, eventually turning more dry or flaky for some people.
While the issue is persistent for some, others may have redness or sensitivity due to a broken skin barrier. It lets in more environmental irritants causing sustained inflammation as the immune system tries to eliminate them. At times, people may develop acne due to the ruptured skin barrier, leading to more facial redness.
If you have any of these problems, it’s recommended to consult a dermatologist before coloring your hair. That’s because even the mildest hair colors may irritate the skin. A dermatologist will usually suggest treatments to strengthen the skin barrier and minimize skin allergies, significantly reducing the redness. This would even help accurately determine your skin tone to choose a hair shade that looks good in all situations.
How To Choose A Hair Color To Reduce Redness?
Those who still have their natural hair color might not be familiar with the process of picking the right hair color. While picking a shade may seem extra challenging for those with rosacea or redness, the steps are essentially the same for everyone.
A professional usually starts by determining the level of your hair color, asks you about the desired level, and tries to find the best matching tone. Another thing to note is that even though most people are familiar with the term “dye,” hair professionals prefer using the term “color.”
So, let’s learn a bit more about the levels and tones of hair color.
A. Understanding Hair Color Levels
The level of a hair color usually stands for relative darkness or lightness. Hence, those with dark brown hair and blond hair will be placed on different levels. Typically hair professionals follow a scale that goes from 1 to 10, where 1 stands for black hair and 10 stands for light blonde hair. This standard scale is used by colorists as well as hair color manufacturers to maintain uniformity.
Here are the levels of hair color according to the standard scale:
- Level 1: Black
- Level 2: Black-brown
- Level 3: Very dark brown
- Level 4: Dark brown
- Level 5: Brown
- Level 6: Light brown
- Level 7: Dark blond
- Level 8: Medium blond
- Level 9: Blond
- Level 10: Light blond
With the rising popularity of lighter-colored hair, levels 11, 12, and 13 are often used to categorize platinum blond hair, sometimes called ultra-light blond. A professional hair stylist usually takes a strand of your hair to match it with a shade card to determine the level.
B. Understanding Hair Color Tone
It’s often argued that finding the hair color level is relatively easy compared to picking the right tone. That’s because you’ll need to spend some time figuring out which hair color tone would suit your skin tone to negate the redness. Usually, just like skin tone, hair color tones are categorized into warm, cool, and neutral tones.
When preparing hair colors, brands often create them in various tones to have a diverse shade range. For instance, someone who wants a cooler hair color may choose colors defined as ash or beige. Others may choose an auburn or yellow-orange red color with a warm undertone to match their skin tone.
A hair stylist will usually have a swatch book containing the tones available in the desired level of color. In technical names for hair color, the specific tones are represented by letters. For instance, a color with the technical name 9W stands for light warm blond.
Here are the common hair color tones available from popular brands with their respective letters:
1. Cool Tones
- A: Ash
- B: Beige
- B: Blue
- G: Green
- V: Violet
2. Warm Tones
- C: Copper
- G: Gold
- O: Orange
- R: Red
- W: Warm
- RB: Red/Brown
- RO: Red/Orange
Note that hair colors are also available in neutral tones, which are meant to be a balance between cool and warm tones. Finding the right color tone for most people can be pretty challenging as any shade can look different based on lighting. That’s why professional hair stylists train to understand color theory so that your hair doesn’t look flat or dull after coloring.
Best Hair Colors For Rosacea And Red Skin
Now that you know about the level and tones of hair colors, it’s time to check out the colors that look good on people with skin redness. Remember that you’re trying to achieve a contrast that reduces redness and makes your affected skin look better.
Choosing a color tone that is too close to your skin tone can make you appear washed out, similar to what happens when a pale person wears white shirts. Your goal is to find a complementing hair color that makes you look good in different settings while giving your skin a natural glow.
Those who don’t have any redness are usually recommended to choose hair colors that are opposite to their skin tones. But, this doesn’t work for someone with rosacea or inflamed skin, as the blue or green base colors often tend to bring out the redness.
Instead, it’s better to opt for soft, warm shades that make the redness less noticeable. Those with a neutral skin tone can be a bit more playful with their choice of hair colors. Moreover, some professionals prefer to use a neutral base color like strawberry or copper on people with rosacea or a rosy complexion to be on the safer side.
Another thing you can do is to avoid going for hair colors that are too light or too dark. In case the natural color of your hair is pretty dark, try going a bit light, but remember to stay within three levels for a more subtle look. Having an extremely dark hair color can deliver a washed out appearance and make the redness noticeable, especially if people have fair skin.
Here are some of the different colors you can try to reduce the redness of your face:
1. Gold Colors
As we said earlier, one of the best hair color options for those with flushed skin can be natural-looking warm tones like gold. The ideal color should uplift your skin tone to provide it with a sun-kissed appearance rather than making it look dull. So, make sure to have ample photo references for the exact hair color when visiting a professional.
If you’re interested in gold hair, ensure to visit a stylist who practices glazing to make gold hair look shinier. Glazing helps your hair reflect more light for a healthier appearance as well as giving your face a refreshing glow.
We know that it might be a bit intimidating to embrace gold hair colors at a mature age. Instead of a permanent color, opt for subtle highlights to create a warm glaze. It works even better if you already have some nice highlights that just need a bit of color.
Are you unsure about which golden color would look the best? One of the safest options has to be bronze, as it’s a warm gold shade that complements almost all skin tones, especially those with a flushed appearance. Also, most warm gold tones work well with both light and dark hair colors.
Remember to use tone-enhancing and color-preserving shampoo to protect your warm-toned hair from becoming brassy or dull.
2. Hints Of Red
It might seem quite a bold idea to pick red hair color for rosacea or facial redness. But, in reality, warm tones like red and copper work well for those with a pink or reddish skin tone. Also, contrary to popular beliefs, the red in the hair color won’t clash with your skin tone. Instead, it’s more likely to draw attention away from rosacea, acne, or allergies.
However, if you aren’t up for coloring your whole hair in a warm color, maybe think about adding hints of red. This would give you a much-needed break from the usual blond, brunette, or black colors while making your hair more interesting. You can also use temporary colors to see whether the outcome is as expected before jumping on the bandwagon of getting permanent hair colors.
Make sure to check the general tone of your hair by stepping into the sun, as this will allow you to find a shade that won’t conflict with the natural color of your hair. And always choose a red color that has a yellow or orange base. Also, avoid hair colors with cool tones of green, blue, or brown as they will not complement your skin tone.
When opting for hints of red, you should choose to color the different sections of your hair a few shades lighter than the natural hair color. This is especially important for dark hair, as a darker color may make the skin look redder.
An additional tip is to apply a bit of the warm-toned color to your eyebrows. This can create a more cohesive look and minimize facial redness even further by removing traces of ashy tones.
3. Red Colors
Have you always wanted to color your hair auburn or strawberry blond but fear they’ll make your face look redder? Don’t worry, as everyone can opt for a suitable warm-toned shade they can sport that won’t make their rosacea or flushed skin look worse.
In fact, those with a fair skin tone can easily opt for a ginger hair color that is flattering without being too dark or bold. It also looks pretty good on people with blue eyes. Another popular option for fair-toned skin is dark strawberry, which draws out pink from the complexion to provide a more neutral look.
Choosing a hair color for a red face can be a bit more challenging for those with dark-toned skin, but shades of copper or orange almost always work perfectly for all skin tones. Furthermore, purple reds have been a popular option, especially for those with dark hair. Colors like black cherry, mahogany, berries, merlot, and plum look quite flattering, especially on olive skin tones.
Those with a neutral base tone can opt for a neutral red hair color with the right balance of copper and blue tones to avoid a harsh look. Having said that, we do recommend checking out shades like electric orange, bright auburn, or bright crimson if you aren’t shy about wearing more bold colors.
Even though blue tones and cool shades aren’t preferred for those with flushed skin, there are some exceptions. In some cases, a blue-red or true red color may help to balance the excess pink or yellow tones of the skin for a more neutral appearance.
Final Words
All in all, if you want to reduce the redness of your face through hair colors, it’s best to choose warm-toned options like red, copper, or golden. If you’re in doubt about the level or tone of your hair, don’t forget to visit a professional hairstylist.
Another thing to note is that warm colors, especially reds and coppers, tend to fade faster than other shades. So, you’ll need to use a high-quality color protectant shampoo to slow the fading, or else your hair may look dull.
Condition your hair regularly and don’t expose your hair to too much heat to prevent damage. And remember never to miss a hair color appointment to keep your hair looking lustrous and healthy.
Until next time, goodbye, and take care!
