Ginger hair- where to begin with anything that compliments it?!

[thebearandthemare]

I have naturally ginger hair and cannot believe I have reached middle age without having any idea about how to style myself. As I get older it is becoming lighter and I’m looking into having it professionally coloured to add some richness- but I feel so lost about how to pick clothes or makeup to compliment my colouring. I have very, very pale skin with freckles. There is some slight redness on my face too.

Any ideas on what colours I should choose clothing-wise? Or complimentary makeup choices? Any tips of what to ask my hairdresser for? I’d never keep up with the roots from a full head of permanent hair dye. I would also love to ‘warm’ my skin up but have never dared using self tan.

Help! I’m fed up of looking rough!

Not the point but Ive always wanted ginger hair (I actually tried dying my hair strawberry blonde once but it didnt suite my skin tone at all :( ) I think what complements it depends on your skin tone/eye colour as well not just the hair. But assuming your quite pale toned I actually wouldnt go the fake tan route personally. Probably greens, beautiful rich colours would look lovely. Have you tried any colour analysis to find out what season you are? Im mousy haired/pale skinned and think I look so much better now I know what cloth and makeup colours suite me...

I didnt do an expensive house of colour consultation - I used this and it really helped... www.whattowearhowtodress.com/colour-analysis/

As PP said greens can look amazing with red hair. As a former red head (sadly dyed and not natural), I opted for greens and blues.

I avoided black, white, pink. Too harsh on skin and pink clashed with hair colour. Opt for navy in place of black and ivory/creams in place of white.

Are you cool undertoned or warm undertoned? To check look at your inside arms, are the veins blue (you’re cool) or greenish (you’re warm). Look at colour of your neck, does it have hint of yellow (in which case you’re warm). I’m pale with freckles and I’m still warm with hint of yellow (but red face sometimes). Choose shades of clothing that work with your undertone. Same for make up and jewellery!

Try a tinted moisturiser first before diving into foundation. Might be enough to even out redness. (Laura Mercier one is brill). Avoid shimmery eye shadows into middle age, opt for velvet or Matt finishes. Brown eyeliner and brown mascara can often give a softer but defined look on pale skin.

If you can afford to I would go to a make up counter for a tutorial in a day time look and evening look (Bobbi Brown are good for this ime). You don’t have to purchase everything!

You tube is your friend here for the basics too.

If you do choose to self tan avoid the face and use one of those building tan/moisturisers which will give you a ‘glow’ rather than a full tan.

What about having a consultation on what colours suit you? Old school but could be v useful.

Or look online for info about that and try to match your colouring to models’ / bloggers’.

I’m probably a bit darker than you, I have mid/dark copper hair and fair but not super fair skin (I get a tan quite easily in the summer).

I find greens work on me like PPs have suggested, and I wear navy and other dark blues as well - black is too harsh on me so I wear navy quite a lot. I also suit light, baby blues.

I have a lot of browns/creams and dark oranges in jumpers/tops - warm/earthy tones work for me. I wear coppery colours and I’ve had compliments on them ‘matching’ tones in my hair.

Maybe if you’re a bright ginger orange probably wouldn’t work but often earthy and neutral tones do.

I think jewel colours can be great with ginger hair although they don’t really suit me.

I wear brown eyeliner and Boy Brow in brown - again I’m guessing I may have darker eyelashes and eyebrows but brown may be better than blacks.

I'm a redhead in my mid 50s. My hair used to be a very vibrant red but its a bit paler now with a few grey streaks but not too bad yet. At the moment it looks like I've got some blondish highlights. Multiple hairdressers have told me not to get it dyed as they would never be able to match my natural colour and I would have to go a completely different colour which I can't be bothered with, so I've decided to go grey gracefully .
I wear mainly greens, browns and blues, though recently have bought a few purple things. I bought something online that looked blue and turned out to be purple but it looked surprisingly good so I kept it, having been told for decades that it was one of the colours redheads shouldn't wear. I look good in turquoise too.
As a PP has said, I avoid white as its too harsh, but ivory or cream is ok. I do wear black, but mainly on my bottom half, and with a brighter top.
I very rarely wear make up, but when I do I tend to go for neutral tones with brown eyeshadow and mascara and brownish lipstick or just a bit of lipgloss - I would never wear anything very bold.

I have reddish brown hair, I was much redder when I was younger but unfortunately my colour is fading the older I get!
I tend to wear alot of greens, greys and black, my favorite outfits are anything in a rich jewel colour. Emerald green, teal, purples.
I don't wear alot of makeup, but keep it simple with tinted brows and lashes. Mac Deep Throat blusher is lovely for warming my skin, and I usually pair it with a rose tinted lip balm or nude lipstick. Anything coral pink works well on my skin tone.

Would definitely recommend getting your colours ‘done’ with House of Colour or similar. It’s helped me NO END (Dark blonde, blue eyes, v pale with red cheeks) and also helped me picked colours for my DC, one of whom is a redhead. As a pp said, it’s your skin tone not your hair colour that dictates which colours suit you.

Generally, there will be a shade of every colour that suits you, but avoid black. You could be a warm or cool tone (look at the veins in your wrist - if they’re green you’re probably warm toned, if they’re blue you’re likely to be cool toned). Also, if you suit silver jewellery you’re cool, and warm if you suit gold.

Are you brave enough to post a pic?

What colour are your eyes?

PS You’ll find that the right colours will warm you up naturally So no need for self tan, unless you want to - my red cheeks literally fade into the background if I wear the right shades, esp on my top half.

As someone said earlier, get your colours done. House of Colour. I had a consultation with someone who had red hair. She was an autumn. Omg, I couldn't believe the transformation in the 'right' colours, orange, kingfisher blue especially, just truly stunning. I would highly recommend it.

Olive greens, dark teals and turquoises, navy, certain mustards (but you'd need to try them on in good lighting to check there's no clash), greys, browns, wine/burgundy, rustic. Autumnal palette basically, so this is the best time of year to be looking in shops.

"rustic" was supposed to be rust, sorry, but like mustard, you'd need to try them on to see how clashing/toning they are.

Not sure how close it is but I always thought the character of Miranda from SATC had the most incredible styling towards the end and in the first film in terms of colours for her hair. Rusts definitely.

I’m naturally ginger with pale skin thats prone to redness. (I have also been using henna for a few years now to keep my red tones as they were fading away with age).

I wear a lot of autumn type colours - mustard yellow, rusty oranges etc. Greens also look good but the darker shades rather than brights.
I find ‘dusky’ and muted tones more flattering. For example a dusky Pink top looks great on me but a neon or pastel pink doesn’t. I would go for a muted grey top over a marl grey. Red can be hit and miss and really depends on the shade - orange reds work better that blue/purple reds or a true bright red.
Browns and beiges are nice too. They work nice but can be a bit bland. White is hard to pull off (I actually had to get a champagne coloured wedding dress as ivory and white made me look ill) but black always works.
Pinterest is always good for inspiration search something like redhead outfits or ginger outfits.

Hi! I have ginger hair that’s also faded with age to a strawberry blonde, v pale but not mega freckly and not too much redness. Blues and greens definitely my go to but getting a bit bkred with them now! Navy,darker greens rather than the brighter ones. Dark grey also has been ok and,against all the rules, but I like black, my mum says it suits me, I guess the contrast of the hair and pale skin. Yes to a previous poster I had a goldy champagne wedding dress as stark white would have washed me out. Recently experimented a bit with colour-I think everyone can wear most colours it’s just getting the right hue/tone in that colour. Most pinks look awful but I have a raspberry pink gym top that looks ok I think against my hair and skin. I really want to try mustard this autumn/winter.

Make up wise I wear browny/taupe type eyeshadows. You can do bold red lipstick if you find the right shade,it can look stunning against red hair. Maybe a CC cream to conceal redness. Benefit do a light version of their hoola bronzer for paler skin. I use fake tan for special occasions, love the look of it, it takes the edge off my paleness. I like the St Tropez mousse.

Thank you so much for all of your responses! Some really good ideas and options to look into. I’ve been looking at Nicola Robert’s Instagram page for inspiration. I’d love my hair to be that shade of auburn (still not sure I’d like to commit to a full head of hair dye though). I used to love a few pieces from her Dainty Doll makeup range and am missing something straight forward like that to choose from.

I’ll try and keep those colour choices in mind for when I’m buying clothes. I’ve always just gone for whether I like something or not and not considered whether it was particularly flattering colour-wise.

I wonder if those colours would work as nail varnish choices too? I’ll have to be more considered about these things!

What i find always works is to Google images of women (usually actresses) with your colouring - usually the name and dress/fashion - a d see what they wear and what looks really good.

They have the benefit of stylists.

For redheads I'd google;

Jessica chastain
Julianne Moore
Amy Adams (not a natural redhead I think, not sure but ..)
Maybe Emma stone is as above, not natural but usually dyes hair red.
Christina Hendricks - not sure if natural but as above.

Some redheads wear a lot of black and navy which looks good but can be a bit boring.

One person with red hair who struck me as absolutely hitting the spot was Marcia cross in desperate housewives. She often wore jewel colours and they looked amazing. Also worth a Google.

YouTube is usually good fit makeup videos in every possible subject; worry a look fur redheads.

Ah I see you're already on it with a instagram

Having googled Marcia I see her hair is a v strong colour so maybe not super relevant.

A "Jessica chastain dress" Google pics yields some wonderful colour results.

I doubt you look rough.

I used to work for TOPSHOP and so did one of my friends. She’s a TOPSHOP personal shopper at oxford st and has ginger hair. She literally pulls off every outfit and makes a ridiculous amount of sales from the outfits she wears - I don’t think there’s anything she avoids due to her hair.

I've always thought navy blues and greys look great with red hair.

I'm a redhead too and love wearing bright colours. I don't care whether colours clash with my hair - I choose colours that complement my skin tone instead. I can't wear rusts, any kind of yellow that I've tried and find black and many reds work well, as does cobalt blue. So I'm not sure there's a rule for redheads as such. Look at what makes your skin look great. And bronzer can be your friend if you want to warm up your face.

I looked very much like Lindsay Lohan as a child so possibly different type of redhead to you - I am warm toned I think, freckly across my nose and cheeks with green / grey eyes and almost invisible eyelashes.

I wear lots of reds, forest greens, deep teals, navy blues, purples but not maroon as it makes me feel sad. I was surprised to find that coral suits me better than I thought, and have started to experiment with the occasional mustard. I avoid black and white, most shades of yellow and pastel colours.

For redheads I'd google;

Jessica chastain
Julianne Moore
Amy Adams (not a natural redhead I think, not sure but ..)
Maybe Emma stone is as above, not natural but usually dyes hair red.
Christina Hendricks - not sure if natural but as above.

You forgot the Ultimate redhead - Jessica Rabbit!

I’m on the strawberry blonde end of the red spectrum - I suit greens, blues (but not cold ice blues), navy and grey. Black is ok sometimes but can be a bit draining. Cream is fine, white can be a bit much if it’s too close to my face.

Makeup-wise, I sometimes wear tinted moisturiser to even things out, then eyebrow pencil (not dark, just maybe one shade darker than my brows, which are blonde, to get them closer to my hair colour) and mascara, always. When such things are possible again I’m getting my lashes tinted. In winter I often do a red lip as I feel a bit washed out - in summer I don’t bother. I have cool toned skin with some freckles.

I hated my colouring when I was younger and was bullied no end for it, but I’ve grown to like it now 😊