hair colour for sallow skin

[queenrollo]

having looked at some recent photos of me I look quite dreadful. I do tan well in the summer but haven't been out in the sun so much and so I still have this sallow skin tone.

In the past i've had my hair died various colours - black, dark brown, muted red tones, pillarbox red, bright purple, flamingo pink - you get the idea!

I'm currently sporting my natural colour which is non-descript mousey brown. I feel like dying it again but wondered if anyone had any suggestions for which colours will make my skin look less sallow.

[Lipstickgal]

If you add some warmth it will counter-act the sallowness of the skin. May I suggest a rich chestnut or even push it to a more mahogany tone. You basically need to keep some depth to it but warm it up. If you are a mousey brown naturally then you will need to keep the depth medium level so it doesn't fight with your colouring. Nice and Easy is the way forward. Start with a semi perm and it will add gloss to the hair. If you don't have greys you can just stick with the semi type.

[Lipstickgal]

Nice and Easy 114c looks good. See online guide. Colours always turn out darker then you think so it's better to err on the side of caution.HTH.

[queenrollo]

thankyou will write that down and have a look when i nip into town.

[Goldensnitchberry]

I disagree, Lipstickgal. I have yellow-toned skin and mousy hair, and used to colour my hair blonde. I found that any remotely warm colours made me look washed-out and ill. If I go blonde, it has to be ash blonde. If I go darker, I have to avoid anything reddish or coppery. Maybe that's just me though.

[Lipstickgal]

Goldensnitch you may well have a cool undertone even though you think you have a yellow cast.

[Lipstickgal]

Also you may have stepped outside of your depth range, that is too light/ dark. I am suggesting that adding warmth counters the warmth in the skin but we are talking gold rather than red auburn IYSWIM.

[queenrollo]

my skin has changed over the years too. Looking at old photos of me with black hair and I look radiant, but I just know I couldn't carry that off against my skin tone now. I used to be more 'olive' toned but after DS my skin has become more sallow and i know it's not down to diet or other factors, nothing changes it (apart from tanning).
I'm 35 and have managed to pull off looking 28 until the last few years when stress has wreaked havoc with my skin.
The most glowing picture I have of me in recent times is when I am wearing a pillarbox red wig and while i'm not scared of doing that permanently I just can't be bothered with the level of upkeep that would be involved!

[TattyDevine]

I would advise against adding warmth. If you are sallow and "cool" of tone, you are not meant to have warm hair. To add warmth to the "frame" that surrounds the face will simply have it out of context and make it look sallower.

I suggest a natural colour with a slightly ashy undertone to put your cool tones into context if your hair is naturally ashy or "nondescript" (that sort of greyish mouse tone)

[Lipstickgal]

In a nutshell you want a colour that is rich, deep and warm, so a red toned brown. It is important you keep the brown and not dye it ginger/bright red or take it too light into golden blonde or golden brown territory. Some of the colours that say they are rich auburn actually look vibrant orange on lighter brown hair. Think conkers, cinnamon tones etc. The brown stays within your natural colouring yet the red aspect should neutralise yellow tones in the skin. If you dye your hair in a blue/cool toned colour it will accentuate the yellow.
I have been all colours of the rainbow too in my more radical, ahem, youth when stargazer was the vegan dye of choice.
waves from Lincolnshire

[Lipstickgal]

By sallow do you mean pale,washed -out and colourless/ beige toned or yellow toned skin? How sallow is interpreted makes a huge difference. Sallow means yellow to me and warm but to someone else -a paler olive and so cool toned. What colours really suit you?

[queenrollo]

i have an obsession with wearing green, but very rich emerald and I always look good in that. If i go to paler green or acid green I look jaundiced.

[Lipstickgal]

I am! I'm in the land of the very (cough) special pumpkin parade.....

Re the green- obviously deep rich colours suit but emerald green can be deep/warm or cool or neutral. You sound like light warm colours don't do you justice so that helps on the hair front too.....
Can you wear black? Now I like black but the older I'm getting the more it doesn't like me, so how are you on that front?

[queenrollo]

I'm finding black harder to wear, yet it used to suit me very well. I have a few black tops, and always team them with a coloured scarf and that works, but if black sits next to face I look like Professor Snape
I had a quick look in my (meagre) collection of clothes and realised the colours i like most are rich warm greens and turquoise, some reds wrok well but others not so much. I definitely think that I need warm 'autumn' tones against my skin.

The other thing I've realised is that I'm going to have to start wearing some make-up daily. Just filling in my eyebrows and wearing mascara lifts my whole face dramatically.

I must face the fact that I am going to have to give nature a helping hand from now on!

[Lipstickgal]

From what you are saying - deep and warm hair colour isthe way to go which means you can push the red as far as Mahogany and it will look very natural indeed.
i have to wear a bit of make-up or I look like a corpse. If you are more of an autumn chocolate brown liner and mascara enhances but doesn't overwhelm. Also BWC does a great range of warm lip colours and blushes and the last time I checked they were selling it in the health food store in Boston.

[Lipstickgal]

Can also recommend BWC loose powder. They tend towards warmer tones and aren't full of rubbish for the skin. HTH.