Do you feel like your gray hair is making you look old? This may be because you’re wearing the same color clothing you wore when you had brown hair or black hair. They may not be the best colors to wear with gray hair. Now that your hair is a new shade of beautiful gray you might need to add some more vibrant colors to your wardrobe.
I used to have very dark brown hair and over the years have tried lots of different shades in my hair from blonde to red. Letting my hair go gray was one of the best decisions I’ve made. Mainly because it saves me money not having my hair dyed every four weeks to hide the gray roots! I was worried it would age me 10 years. I was worried gray hair would be dry and wiry. I needn’t have worried at all. It took about a year for my blonde highlights to grow out completely, which really helped the transition from my dark hair. What I was left with was a beautiful silvery white colour that I actually love!
But having this natural color of gray framing my face has changed the colors I need to wear close to my face. Beige, brown and pastel colors don’t look as good as they used to.
How Do You Know Which Colors Will Work With Your Grey Hair
Your skin tone will have a lot of say when deciding the best colors to wear with gray hair. Skin can be cool, warm or have a neutral undertone to it. Deciding what your undertone is will really help you choose the color palette to suit you best. My recent post on deciding whether you should wear gold vs silver jewellery with gray hair explains how to find out what skin undertone you have. But in a nutshell if your veins are blue you probably have cool undertones, if they’re more a green color then you’re more likely to have warm undertones to your skin. But an easier way to decide what colors to wear with gray hair is just to try lots of different colors and watch how it interacts with your face. Does the color make you look radiant and youthful or is the color you’re wearing making you look washed out and tired?
Use a good shampoo and conditioner that works with grey hair.
Choose Your Color Palette
When you’re out clothes shopping the choice of colors on the racks can be overwhelming. Kristeen Cherney’s article on identifying your skin undertones has a very useful little chart on the colors that will look good on each one. As my hair is a silvery white color and my veins are blue I mostly suit bright colors or jewel tones. Think vibrant purple, bright blue, emerald green and hot pink. If you’re a warm tone then the chart advises lighter shades or earth colors such as sage green, mustard yellow, pastel orange. Image Consultant, Sandy Dumont states that black, white or navy blue goes very well with gray hair.
There are always going to be exceptions to the rule. Your skin make be a neutral undertone, an olive undertone or have more yellow undertones. Your natural hair colour may be more salt & pepper or ash gray. My advice, as someone who is not an expert, is to use the color charts as a basic guide then take yourself off to the mall and have fun trying lots of different colors on. Take a friend along if you feel you need a second opinion and be your own personal stylist. I always feel this is the best way to really decide what will suit you.
Older Women with Gray Hair Look Fabulous
There are a few older women in the spotlight now who look stunning with gray hair. Jamie Lee Curtis, Helen Mirren and Jane Fonda are all silver sisters who look fab and can usually be seen in colors that make their gray hair pop. Just google their names and you’ll get some inspiration on what might look good on you too.
Accessorize to Make Your Face Glow
If you’ve got a dress in your wardrobe that you love but your new hair colour doesn’t quite suit it, then to give you a more elevated look try some earrings or a necklace in a colour that suits your skin’s undertones. This is a great option for adding color to your wardrobe without spending a lot of money. Your jewellery doesn’t have to be expensive and you can choose the best earring type to suit your face shape. Small stud earrings in sterling silver, rose gold or gold jewelry tones with a little pop of your birthstone color are a popular choice to help brighten up your face if you’re wearing a more neutral color outfit.
Try a Red Lipstick
Years of experience of trying different shades of red lipstick led me to believe that I just didn’t suit it. But the good news is since I let my natural gray color grow in I’ve found a red lipstick is a great colour for me. Check out my post on how to choose the best lipstick for gray hair. Have fun trying out different shades till you find the one that works for you.
Going naturally gray doesn’t have to make you look or feel old … in fact it can make you feel fabulous! 🙂
Interesting! It’s so difficult to find the right colours especially when one seems to get whiter every time you have your hair cut, that’s how I see myself anyway. I don’t see you as silvery white on my iPad, you actually seem to have warm white hair, I’m wondering if this is your dark hair adding colour to your white. Lighter colours look as if they suit you more than the dark ones and I like the red better than the blue next to it. But it is really difficult to tell when using computers as they do often change the colours that you’re seeing, they are not the same as the actual colours. That’s why I agree with you, the best thing is to try them against your face in good light, preferably daylight.
I’m never too sure why we use undertones of the skin instead of taking overtones into consideration, although everyone says we should. Yet, they frequently type celebrities while they are wearing makeup. I would be interested in your opinion.
Hi Judi
It is hard getting the colours right on camera and I feel that my hair does have different tones depending on the shampoo I’m using. I think most people don’t think about undertones or overtones at all and just choose colours they like. From what I’ve read about it an undertone is invisible which is why we use veins etc, and the overtone is the actual colour of your skin which could change with the seasons (tanning in the summer), so while are base colours will stay the same we can probably change up our colours to darker or lighter versions of the tones throughout the year. It’s probably hard to tell what type a celebrity is from their natural undertones as they are very rarely seen without makeup!