Light Spring hair color

The hair Light Springs are born with

This season is a palette full of soft, fresh pastels with a quiet, sunlit glow. Your hair usually matches that feel, so it tends to be light with a warm lean.

The shades this season's hair most often comes in are:

• a light, golden blonde
• strawberry blonde
• a warm light brown touched with golden highlights
• a soft light copper red

Undertone is the subtle warm or cool tint hiding just under your skin, and a tan won't shift it. For a Light Spring it sits neutral to warm, which is exactly why warm hair colors look so comfortable near your face.

Reading tone labels at the salon

Charts at the salon sort color two ways, by depth and by tone. Tone just tells you whether a shade runs warm, cool or somewhere between.

• Golden shades sit on the warm side, like honey or butter. They're your best match.
• Neutral shades land in the middle. One that leans a touch warm can be a good choice for you.
• Ash shades lean cool and slightly smoky. They have a way of stealing the warmth from your skin.

If you take away just one rule, make it this: pick golden or warm neutral. Cool tones turn the face grey, while warm, peachy ones wake it up.

The shades that flatter, and what they do

Let your eyes help you pick. If blue or green eyes are the ones you want people to notice, light copper is a smart choice. Very fair skin? Butter blonde is worth trying.

Highlights and balayage

A full head of new color isn't the only route to extra brightness. Balayage is when your colorist paints the highlights in by hand, so the tones melt into each other instead of forming tidy stripes.

Thin streaks of honey or butter blonde framing your face give you the gentle glow this palette runs on. And if your base runs darker, light golden brown softened with warm blonde pieces keeps things light without a dramatic change.

How to ask for the shade you want

Numbers on a chart don't mean much across brands, so describing the color in words gets you further. Follow these steps and you're more likely to leave with warmth than with a cool cast.

1. Bring along photos showing the kind of sunny, golden or strawberry warmth you're after, so your colorist can see exactly what you mean.
2. Tell them you want a golden or warm neutral result, and that ash tones aren't for you.
3. Request that the hair around your face stays light and warm, since that's the zone where color touches your skin the most.
4. If highlights appeal to you, ask for gentle, hand-painted ones instead of bold, chunky bands.

Colors to pass on, and the reason why

Start with the very dark shades. Jet black and deep espresso brown sit harshly against light, warm skin, the same way a black top near your face can leave you looking worn out. Deep burgundy red is too strong for your light features, so the hair ends up doing all the talking.

The very cool shades fail in the other direction. Silver or icy platinum blonde erases your warmth, and cool ash brown can pull your face toward grey.

Going gray

Gray and silver hair runs cool, a lot like those frosty silver blondes that leave this season looking drained. Some Light Springs mix their silver in with buttery or honey-blonde pieces to keep a little warmth close to the face. Others just let it grow as it pleases. Whichever route you take, a mirror beside a window is the surest way to judge how your skin looks beside the new color.

Warmth can travel to other spots too. Light gold and rose gold jewelry blends gently with your complexion, and soft ivory or cream tones by your face look gentler than stark white.