Dye color hair skin tone DIY haircolor - Garnier Dye color hair skin tone DIY haircolor - Garnier

How to Find the Best Hair Color for your Hair

Are you thinking about coloring your hair at home but don’t know where to start? 
Trying to find the right hair dye color can feel like a daunting task. You’ve probably searched online for the best hair color trends of 2023, and you might even have some hair color ideas in mind but aren’t sure how to achieve your desired results. Understanding color theory, the hair color wheel and hair color levels can help you get gorgeous DIY hair color results.

What is Color Theory?

Color theory is the study of how colors work together and against each other. It shows what happens when you combine certain colors or when you lay one color over another. 

To better understand how hair color works, you can use the graphic for HairColor Tones for reference. The hair color wheel shows how warm tones are opposite of the cool tones. This illustrates how the colors or tones cancel one another out.

Haircolor tones warm hair tones cool tones combine hair color - Garnier

To neutralize gold tones, you would need violet or burgundy, which is why some blondes choose to use purple or violet shampoo. Ash cancels out copper or brassy tones, and green can cancel out or neutralize auburn. As you can see, these colors are opposite one another on the hair color wheel. 

Having an idea of how the hair color wheel works is a great first step in understanding hair color, but don’t worry, it’s not necessary to have Picasso-esque knowledge of color theory to get a great outcome when you color your hair at home using box color. 

If you have some hair color ideas in mind, you’ve probably found yourself perusing some of the box colors available to you at your local drugstore or supermarket. Our Garnier Nutrisse colors range from black and red to light blonde. Picking your next best hair color can be fun — and with just a little know-how it can be easy too.

What do the Numbers on Hair Color Boxes mean?

Garnier Nutrisse Ultra Creme Permanent Hair Color Chesnut Brown - Garnier

Have you ever noticed that box color labels have a name that corresponds to numbers?

For example, consider our Garnier Nutrisse Ultra Crème permanent hair color in 434 Deep Chestnut Brown. The color labels on the box consist of two components: levels and tones.
The level refers to the darkness or lightness of the hair color. It is the base value. Choosing the right color level helps to determine where you are on the scale of light to dark. Understanding levels will help you figure out what your natural color level is, and let you determine a target level for the hair color you want.

What level is my hair color?

To determine your hair color level, take a section of hair from the crown of your head and hold it out where you can see it, away from the rest of your hair. Then, compare it to the level chart below. 
Hair color levels or values are categorized 1 to 10. 1 being the darkest and 10 being the lightest.

Something to keep in mind is that the farther the number from what you have identified your natural level to be, the sooner you will see roots. The closer the number is to your natural color, the more subtle the hair color change will be, allowing for a less noticeable grow-out phase.

Blond hair color Brown Black hair change color light to dark from 1 to 10 - Garnier

How do I figure out What Tone I Want?

The shade on your hair color box can contain more than one number, which means it contains one or more tones. With so many choices, you’re bound to find a tone you love.  

Understanding the principles of color theory by consulting the hair color wheel and our Hair Color Decoded Chart can help you easily achieve your desired permanent hair color result because you’ll be able to identify how to neutralize or intensify undertones.

Number shade hair color tone Medium Golden Brown hair color - Garnier

For example, color 9.0 is a light blonde with a natural tone while color 6.1 is a light ash brown. You can choose a light golden blonde, a medium golden blonde or brown or even a bronze brown.
In this example, we have a Medium Golden Brown.

• It is medium brown (level 5)
• With a golden tone (3) 
• It is Medium Golden Brown

New to coloring your hair? Here are some helpful guidelines to keep in mind:

Check Out Our Virtual Try-On Tool

Now that you know a little more about color theory, tones, and levels, are you still wondering, “What hair color looks best on me?” Garnier’s Virtual Try-On Tool is here to help! Trying on a new hair shade has never been easier! Upload a selfie or virtually try on the Nutrisse hair shades you like.

Hair Color Virtual Try-On

Trying a new hair shade has never been easier. Have fun changing your hair color with our virtual try-on tool!

TRY ON VIRTUALLY