How To Choose Your Perfect Hair Colour

Brought to you by Schwarzkopf.

Thankfully, hairdressers have started to open back up, but appointments are hard to come by. And if you’re anything like us, you’ll have been strongly tempted by an at-home hair colour treatment.

At-home colour may seem a bit intimidating - there are so many options, shades and undertones to choose from! However, with the right tools and information, you can definitely achieve the look you want in the comfort of your own home.

One of the hardest things about colouring your hair at home is choosing the right shade. Hairdressers know colour theory like the back of their hand, but how can we mere mortals get to grips with it?

Today, we're sharing everything you need to know about choosing the right home colour shade for you with the help of Carolyn Newman - freelance colourist, educator, and the brand ambassador of Schwarzkopf Color Expert.

Here are Carolyn's expert tips for choosing the perfect shade for you.

First of all, Carolyn advises that you think about why you want to colour your hair. For example, do you want grey coverage?  Do you want to try out a completely new colour? Do you simply want to add shine to your natural colour?

According to Carolyn, there are three different types of "colourers":

1. Whisper: First-time colourers who only want to cover their greys or enhance their natural colour, but don’t want other people to notice that they have coloured their hair.

2. Talk: Go a bit further than the whisper and try out a natural colour that's different from their own natural colour. 

3. Scream: These colourers want to stand out of the crowd with their hair colour - they might like to have very vibrant hair colours like pink or blue.

Once you know which category you fall into, you can start looking at what colour you want and decide on the best brand for you.

Carolyn recommends Schwarzkopf Color Expert because of its highly nourishing ingredients - hyaluronic acid and OMEGAPLEX Anti-Breakage technology. The combination of these ingredients helps to protect your hair during and after the colouring process, so that you never have to compromise the condition of your hair for a new colour. She says:

"Schwarzkopf Color Expert is a very caring colour brand which provides perfect grey coverage and long-lasting natural results."

Now that you know what you want to achieve with your at-home hair colour and you have the right brand to do it with, the next step is to figure out what shades will suit you best. It's important to note here that if you're in any doubt between a couple of shades, Carolyn recommends going with the lighter one - sometimes hair colour comes out a little darker than you think. Plus, if you go too light, you can always make it darker. However, it's a bit more difficult trying to lighten hair that's too dark!

Knowing your undertones can be a great tool in deciding on your perfect shade.

According to Carolyn, if you like wearing cooler tones, for example, pink-brown lipstick or silver jewellery and you have bluish-looking veins, this means you would suit cooler hair colours such as beiges, chocolate browns, ash browns and ash blondes.

On the other hand, if your veins appear more green in colour and you feel gold jewellery and rusty brown lipsticks suit you better, you have a warm undertone. This undertone is best suited to golds, coppers, chestnuts and other warmer shades.

Schwarzkopf Color Expert is available in 16 rich and nourishing shades with something to suit everyone. Discover the whole range at selected SuperValu stores.

So there you have it - everything you need to choose your perfect shade. Best of luck!

Keep an eye on our Instagram stories over the next few weeks to hear how Beaut.ie readers got on with colouring their hair at home with Schwarzkopf Color Expert.