To go gray or not to go gray?
Leaving your hair to naturally go gray is a very personal choice -- there are many factors you may consider as inputs into your ultimate decision. Some may include:
- Your lifestyle needs and wants
- Time and financial commitment for upkeep requirements of hair colour
- Health and environmental considerations
- Does going gray align with your personality and vision for your appearance?
Have you ever considered also factoring in whether going gray aligns with your optimal hair color palette to give off your best? How can you tell if your natural gray hair color will...
- Make your appearance sparkle, be vibrant, harmonious and diminish skin imperfections such as wrinkles.
OR
- Make your appearance dull, worn, outdated, even older, unbalanced and magnify skin imperfections such as wrinkles.
Here are two easy steps to reveal whether going gray may add a sparkle to your appearance OR make you look duller.
1. Determine If Your Natural Gray Aligns With Your Skin Undertone - Your skin undertone is the hue that shows through the surface of your skin. It is best seen in natural lighting. Your skin undertone can be either cool, warm or neutral.
When the undertone of your hair color is aligned with your skin undertone, your hair color choice more than likely will add a sparkle to your appearance. This is why knowing your undertone is key when choosing a hair color for you.
Most natural gray hair that has not been influenced by external factors such as environment, hair products etc. has a cool undertone.
To determine your skin undertone and whether your natural gray hair color aligns with your skin undertone, there are a few options you may consider for support -- a color analysis consultation with a trained professional, consulting with your hair colorist or completing online do-it-yourself methods.
2. Determine If Gray is in Your Optimal Hair Color Palette - A color analysis consultation or a consultation with a hair colorist trained in or with significant experience determining your best hair colors will guide you on what your optimal hair colors are.
If your natural gray hair coloring is aligned with the undertone, value and intensity of colors in your optimal hair color palette, going gray is more than likely suited to your coloring and will add a sparkle to your appearance. You may want to review periodically as more gray hair grows in.
So what do you do if your natural gray hair coloring is not aligned with the undertone, value and intensity of colors in your optimal hair color palette?
- If you still want to go gray - it is quite possible adding a toner to your gray hair to better align your hair's undertone with your skin undertone may just do the trick to add some sparkle to you. Discuss this option with your hair colorist.
Your hair is one of the first things people notice about you. Does going gray add a sparkle to your appearance? There is no time like the present to find out and factor into your "going-gray-decision" whether or not your natural gray hair color aligns with your optimal hair color palette.
I hope this blog inspires you to wear your authenticity!
Carol Brailey is an Image Consultant who specializes in color analysis. More of her color blogs can be found at carolbrailey.com.