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If you want to color your tresses red and you have olive skin, keep away from the hair color until you get the lowdown on how to pick the right hue. Unfortunately, that fab shade you've fallen in love with may not be the best pick for your lovely olive skin. Yes, you can still satisfy your desire to become a redhead, but you need to pick a compatible shade of red to keep away a sallow or washed-out skin tone.
Check Out Your Veins
Make tracks to an area filled with natural light and eyeball the inside of your forearm so you can check out your veins. If your veins look greenish, you have warm-toned skin. If they look blue- your olive derm has cool undertones. Once you determine what the tone of your skin happens to be, you can make an informed decision about possible red hues that will look most flattering on you.
Skin Tone Hair Matches
If you have warm-toned skin, go for rich, darker reds such as burgundy or auburn. If you don't want to take the plunge and go all red, you can go for a chestnut or mahogany base with cinnamon or deep red highlights instead. Cool-toned olive skin will work best with cool-toned colors such as bluish reds like plum, cherry, ruby, bordeaux or garnet.
Colors to Avoid
If your warm-toned olive skin has a major yellow tint to it, avoid a sallow look by choosing red colors other than orange, yellow or golden-toned reds, because those colors can emphasize the yellow tint. Cool-toned gals should avoid coppery red colors and stick with deeper, darker more intense red hues. If you really want to find out what color your hair will turn before you apply all-over color to your 'do, you can trim a few strands of hair close to your roots and place the ends on a piece of tape. Dye them with your chosen color, leave for the recommended processing time, rinse and dry. Look and see what you think.
Professional Help
If you can't make up your mind about your skin undertones or the color you should pick to dye your hair, it's time to seek out a pro. A stylist with coloring experience can help you figure out some red colors that would be a good match for your olive skin tone. She might even have some colored hair swatches on hand that you can hold next to your skin to get an idea of what your skin would be in for if you picked a certain hue.
