Summer hair colors depend on your sub-season, not the calendar. See which ash, beige and soft shades suit Light, Cool and Soft Summers, and which to skip.
By Lisa Routa
“Go lighter for summer. Add some sun-kissed gold.”
It sounds like a rule.
For a Summer, it’s often the wrong move.
The word does double duty. One summer is a stretch of the calendar: sun, beach, brighter light. The other is a season of the method: cool, soft, never loud.
Your hair follows the second one. Your face doesn’t know what month it is.
A Light, Cool or Soft Summer needs the same cool, soft shades in January as in July.
Hair sits right against your face, and its shade bounces onto your skin, the way a colored scarf would. Gold warms the skin. Ash cools it.
The Summer season is cool, muted, pastel and light, with low to moderate contrast. A shade that adds yellow works against that base.
The warm months pull toward golden highlights and brighter blond. A Spring or an Autumn can wear that gold well. A Summer wears light differently: ashy, beige, softly blended.
In my view, a hair color should follow your face, not the weather.
The three Summers don’t share one shade, though. They share a direction. Depth and softness change where that direction lands, and that’s what the next three sections sort out.
Very light, as long as it stays cool.
Light Summer is the pale end of the season, with low contrast and a slightly cool base. Its hair shades are light ash blonde, beige blonde and cool light brown. Strong golden or coppery tones are out.
The classic mistake is a golden or honey blonde. It feels natural, so it feels safe. But honey belongs to your neighbor, Light Spring, which is warmer and fresher. Near your face, it turns your skin yellow.
Beige blonde needs a watch. A beige that leans soft and pale suits you. One that leans yellow is a golden blonde in disguise.
Going deep doesn’t help either. Black and dark brown look harsh on you, and a heavy dark shade does the same job around your face. If you’re a brunette, a cool light brown keeps you close to your natural color without the weight.
It leans on the coolness. That’s the strongest thing about you.
Cool Summer (also called True Summer) is very cool, medium in depth, soft to medium in intensity, with moderate contrast. Your hair shades are ash blonde, ash brown and cool brown.
Medium depth gives you room. You can travel from an ash blonde to a cool brown and stay inside your season, as long as the shade stays ash.
The mistake to watch is warming your hair with gold or copper. Orange-leaning tones muddy your complexion. Ash suits you better.
A total black can also harden your features. A cool brown at its darkest end does the same job more softly.
Your neighbor is True Winter. Both are very cool, but True Winter is higher in contrast and more saturated. Cool Summer stays softer.
And if your hair is turning gray or white, you’re in luck. On a Cool Summer it looks naturally good.
Your whole face is blended, so your hair color should be too.
Soft Summer sits at medium depth, with a neutral-to-cool base, grayed softness and low contrast. Your hair shades are ash brown, ash dark blonde and soft brown. If you add highlights, keep them very blended rather than strongly contrasted.
Bold, chunky highlights read like a bright color, too sharp for a low-contrast face.
You may go back and forth between gold and silver, because your undertone sits close to neutral. That makes honey and caramel look tempting. Those are the hair shades of Soft Autumn, your neighbor: warm, golden, melted.
The line between you is temperature. Stay on the cool-leaning side, soft and quiet.
If you’re a brunette, that means a soft brown, kept quiet and even.
Everywhere, with a different version for each.
Blond exists in all three Summers. It’s a light ash blonde for Light Summer, an ash blonde for Cool Summer and an ash dark blonde for Soft Summer.
Brown does too: cool light brown, cool brown, soft brown. If you want brown summer hair that doesn’t look flat, choose the version with ash in it.
Dark hair can belong to a Summer. Your natural color doesn’t set your season. Summers come with fair, olive, tan and deep skin, and with dark hair too.
Red is the hard one. The hair shades listed for the three Summers include no red, and copper or golden reds lean warm.
Still, a natural red doesn’t decide your season by itself. For the redhead, blonde and gray cases, read hair color and your season.
Usually the ones in your saved photos. Those photos show another face, in another light.
| The shade you’re tempted by | What it does near a Summer face | A swap that stays in Summer |
|---|---|---|
| Honey or golden blonde | Adds yellow to cool skin | Light ash or beige blonde (Light Summer), ash blonde (Cool Summer), ash dark blonde (Soft Summer) |
| Copper or auburn | Adds an orange lean that muddies | Cool light brown, cool brown or soft brown |
| Jet black | Adds a hard edge to soft coloring | Cool brown (Cool Summer), soft brown (Soft Summer) |
| Bold, contrasty highlights | Pull the eye away from your face | Very blended highlights, as Soft Summer needs |
To see how undertone, the tone beneath your skin’s surface, steers these choices, read hair color for your undertone. It covers golden, ash and neutral shades.
Keep the temperature. Change anything else.
You can go a little lighter after a sunny month, or a little softer for a new cut. A lighter ash is still an ash. A lighter gold is still gold.
My advice: change one thing at a time. Shift the depth or the blending, and leave the cool reflection alone.
You can test the direction before you book. Stand at a window, tie back or cover your hair, and remove makeup. Hold two fabrics under your chin, one cool and one warm, and compare:
The fabrics stand in for ash and gold. They show a direction only, not how the dye will turn out on your hair. Watch your skin.
When the right one is near, your skin calms, and your eyes look brighter. When the wrong one is near, you look tired and yellow.
Redo it another day, because one look can mislead. Keep your hair covered both times, since hair throws its own color onto your face.
You might love honey blonde anyway. That’s your call. Sometimes your goal matters more than your palette. If you choose it, let your clothes and makeup bring the cool back.
The one that matches your sub-season, not the month. For a Summer, that means ash, beige or soft brown tones rather than honey or copper. Sun-kissed gold flatters Springs and Autumns. On you it adds yellow, so keep your lights cool and blended.
Think pale, cool and airy: light ash blonde, beige blonde or a cool light brown. Honey and copper belong to warmer seasons. A heavy dark shade can weigh on a low-contrast face, so lighten before you deepen.
Ash tones: ash blonde, ash brown or a cool brown. Your coolness is the anchor and your depth is moderate, which gives you room to go from blond to brown. Just don’t warm things up with gold or copper. Gray or white hair also looks good on you.
Ash brown or soft brown, with very blended highlights if you add any. Stay in the middle of the depth range and keep the finish quiet. Golden light browns and honey tones belong to Soft Autumn, your neighbor. Hold a warm and a cool fabric near your face before you book.
Yes. Dark hair can sit on a Summer face. A Cool Summer has medium depth and suits cool brown, and a Soft Summer suits soft brown. What decides is how your skin responds to cool, muted colors with your hair covered. Dark hair just needs ash, not warmth.
When the shade is right, you notice your skin first. It looks even, your eyes stand out, and nobody comments on your hair.
When it’s wrong, the hair arrives first, and your face looks tired next to it.
Not sure which Summer you are yet? Start with the color analysis quiz. Ten questions, a couple of minutes, no account, and it points you to the Summer sub-season to check first. Then open that sub-season page for its full palette, makeup and hair advice.
With all my heart and passion, Lisa
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Seasons mentioned in this article
Take the free quiz for a first hint of your season, then explore the 12 seasons to see your palette.
