




Now it’s time for all you lovely redheads to find your best neutrals.
Similarly to the blondes, brunettes and grey haired among us, redheads need to work with their natural warm colouring and look for lovely warm neutrals that bring out those shades in their hair.
From camel and rust, to oxblood and aubergine. There are some fabulous options to work with.
Also consider your eye colour and repeat that in your neutrals.

From warm blues, through deep olive, khaki and a myriad of shades of brown look for neutrals that enhance your natural colouring, and don’t shy away from colour. You are made to wear multiple colours at the same time with your high colour contrast.






Thanks, Imogen. You did not disappoint :). This is such valuable information!!
Most of these colors are well-represented in my closet, but i’ve only just discovered aubergine. It’s hard to find, but it looks amazing. I’m always on the hunt for it now.
Are all redheads warm?
Coral or orange looks ghastly on my mum, who definitely had some red in hair when she was younger. but gold suits her better than silver and cream is also a great colour for her. Is it possible that she was warm when younger and when she had red hair, but now cool with brown hair (after giving birth at age 27 her hair lost its redness.) or she is maybe now a mixture??
Yes all redheads are warm. But there are different levels of warmth and some are just a bit warm whilst others are very warm. Yes many people cool down as they age, some people remain warm whole others end up cool in old age.
Interesting, thank you. I think she was slightly warm only and is now mildly cool or a bit of a mixture.
Do some people turn from cool to warm?
Do children sometimes change from one to the other as they grow up?
I’m a redhead, but … I’m really not warm. My skin has no yellow undertones – it’s more blue-pink, almost lilac. My eyes are deep blue-grey and ice-blue, except on days when they’re a cool teal. At best, my overall colouring *might* be neutral. Olives and browns are not my friends, nor is orange. Some of those reds and purples – maybe. I could get away with the blues (although warm blues are far from my best blues). Greys, purples, the occasional teal are far more flattering as neutral colours.
I’ll admit it’s pretty damn strange for a redhead to have such an absence of warmth. Aside from a couple of relatives (out of a couple hundred), I see very few redheads with this kind of colouring, especially in Australia. I’d say I’ve seen perhaps one or two others in my life – possibly as many as three.
Elspeth,
Though my sister is a natural ash blonde, she has been citing her hair shades of red from burgundy to copper for 2 years, yet she has the same skin tone you described. Porcelain fair, with very lavender undertones. Yet with her dark brown eyes the color (with some changes in intensity) is very pretty on her. She does not suit ivory or pure white well, and like you said orange shades, and olive actually “wash out” her tone. She suits emerald beautifully. I believe due to the contrast with her hair, it works well to liven her skin tone. Really for her, jewel tones like a rich eggplant, burgundy with more red than brown tones, and coral look wonderful on her. Try something opposite to your undertone. With my sister’s cool blue-purple undertones, warm but light corals and are beautiful on her. As a blonde she could pull off pure bright red. It’s trial and error, and listening to comments that you don’t like. I bought a bright yellow top this spring and I was wearing it, and my male cousin said “wow, you are so yellow! Is there anyway you can return that?” It hurt, but the mirror hurt worse! I returned it. I am too olive and yellow toned for yellow and bright colors. I’m still learning. Ugh, what a process. Good luck to you! I apologize for the wordiness of this post.
A good professional colour analysis really helps you discover the right colours for you – and which colours to dye your hair too! less trial and error – plus as you age your skin changes and you need to relook at your colours every 5-10 years
I’m the same way. A cool redhead, I say. I was copper auburn growing up and now I keep the copper and add high and low lights to play. My colours always change when my hair changes with the seasons (Canadian).
Hmm, maybe our PM needs to lose all the black and white in her wardrobe!!
wonderful focus!!
I’ve been dying my hair for so long, I don’t know what color it is anymore. It used to be a dishwater blonde that would go to honey tones in the sun, but now I dye it magenta about 2 or 3 times a year. After dying, it fades through many flattering-on-me shades from hot pink to watermelon to pinky-peach to an almost natural looking strawberry blonde. I admit that the starter magenta is a bit on the strong side and I have to strengthen my makeup when my hair is newly dyed.
What do you do with clients who choose to color their hair in more creative shades and completely love it that way?
Creativity which is expressed through hair, will also indicated that you break lots of other style rules. By the sounds of it you have warmer colouring.
Thanx for this article on colour for us redheads. My self being a natural redhead going grey (silver white) I wonder if you could add an article on natural red hair shades. I read somewhere there are about 250 of them. Could you please explain the differences between say strawberry blondes and auburns and ambers and gingers and every natural shade of red hair which is out there.
According to colour analysis red heads are either warm springs or warm autumns. I am, according to short tests on colour analysis websites a warm spring, though I personally think I’m a mixture between warm spring and warm autumn, for example and my warm and extremely fair complexion can’t stand many of the warm spring’s clear colours but rather wears many muted hues of the autumn well. I can have some clear colours of the spring. Sometimes I wonder if I’m not a Muted Autumn going towards Summer given for example that I think ivory clashes more with my light skin, but oyster becomes me very well. I even think that soft white looks better on me than ivory. When I tried a stark coppery tone on my golden blonde eye brows, it clashed directly with my skin, so it’s clear my hair is not a hard copper but rather a very soft browntoned red. I have found that red hair colors on bottle are much harder reds than I can wear, so I rather go for warm browns when toning my hair.
Which neutrals should I go with as a natural gold-blonde, dyed in a light strawberry blonde? Should I follow your advice for blondes or redhairs?
Nicole – have a look at both and use the ones from each that you like the best
I’m a redhead with very warm toned hair (orange, really…it was more orange as a kid and is now strawberry blonde)…I have no yellow undertones either…I’m just very white with a pink and blue veins in my wrists, and I have medium brown eyes with a lot of copper in them. I’m half Irish and half Hungarian, so I truly have the coloring of both cultures.
My best colors are emerald & forest greens, teals/turquoises, all shades of blue, lilacs, violet, some pinks (both blush pink and brighter candy pinks), and occasionally I can get away with rust. I do a lot of jewel tones but then just as many pastels. I try to keep my makeup neutral but shimmery and dewy looking.
Best neutrals: gray, black, chocolate, navy, camel…whites are a funny thing. It really depends on what it is. I got married in a pure white gown and it looked nice, but for our 10 year vow renewal next year I’m wearing a blush gown that I think looks so much prettier.
I look awful in most reds, burgundy, dark purples, olive, orange, neons, creams, coral, fuchsia, and I’m sure there are others. 🙂
I wear my hair very long and straight and stick to a lot of girly, romantic looks…lace, ruffles, crocheted lace, florals but delicate ones not big bold prints.
Hi Imogen,
Love reading your blogs!! I’m particularly interested in this one regarding redheads. I’m a cool summer myself, but my daughter has red hair. Does that automatically make her a warm season? Thanks, Keiran
Yes – red hair is always warm – their skin may sometimes look translucent or very white, but it has a warm undertone.
Thanks, Imogen
When I was young I had bright ‘orange’ red hair. It has faded to a washed out red so I’m now a ‘bottle redhead. Because of my age I tint it a very light warm red with reddish gold highlights. I have greenish grey eyes and the warm Celtic skin (I’m a Scot). Yes blues, greens and purples look good on me as well as mustard yellow but the colour that looks way way best on me is orange! I come alive with that colour.
I too am a strawberry blonde, but have grey eyes, pink/blue undertones and tan – both with sunlamps as well as spray, thereby making my complexion either warm or neutral – I guess. Color basics, other than black are very difficult for me. Black is easy, but may not be the best choice.