This post may contain affiliate links that support the site at no cost to you. 

I’ve been into color analysis for about five years now, and getting my soft summer colors has built up my confidence in what I buy and wear so much!!

Here are the best hair colors for soft summers. Looking for the best hair colors for light summers? I got that too.

What is the summer season in color analysis?

Color analysis is a process that, based on the qualities of a person’s coloring, suggests what colors they will look best in. They look at your undertones (cool or warm), how muted or vibrant your skin and hair are, and how much contrast exists between your skin, eyes, and hair. 

Based on the answer to these three questions, people are sorted into four categories that are named after the four seasons. This post is going to focus on summers, looking at the best hair color for soft summer type. 

All summer seasons share three qualities: their coloring is cool-toned, they look better in muted shades, and they have less contrast between their hair, skin, and eyes.

The four seasons all overlap! Winters are also cool, springs also have less contrast…but if you have all three of these traits, you’re a summer. 

The three summer types all share a somewhat delicate appearance. Their colors are light and natural, and they have little contrast in their shades. Though there are dark shades in the summer palette, like charcoal, the palette overall skews quite light. 

The palette lacks the richness of autumn, the clarity of spring or the power of winter.

What it has, though, is a gentle and feminine cohesion. The softness of the summer palette can be seen in the summer woman: she’ll have a cool and light eye color for her ethnicity. They might be soft blue eyes, green eyes, grey hazel, or a cool light brown. Across the summer season, many hair colors are possible. Light blond hair in light summer to the dark browns possible in cool summer. But all the hair colors will be cool. 

The best metals for a summer will be silver or white gold rather than yellow gold — rose gold may work for summers as well. 

If this seems…too general, it’s typically easier to look at the subtypes, which have stronger and clearer rules. 

The three summer seasons

And then, to make it even more specific (or even more confusing if you’re new). … the summer family is made up of three “types”: 

• light summer
• soft summer
• cool summer (also sometimes called ‘true summer’)

Light summer is defined by its lightness. they have very little contrast between their hair, eyes, and skin tone because they are all so light in shade. They wear the very lightest shades in the summer palette. 

Cool summer is defined by its cool undertones. They are still light and muted, but their most pronounced and obvious trait is their coolness. Any amount of warmth will look wrong on them. 

Soft summer, (me, and I guess also you if you found this post!) is defined by low-chroma-ness mutedness. We are not quite as cool as the cool summers. In my opinion this makes our lives easier, because we can wear neutral tones without the appearance of clashing. However–our defining trait is our muted coloring, so we are always looking for a touch of gray in our colors. That little bit of grey makes it a low chroma color. The best hair color for soft summer type will always have that low chroma too. 

I’ve got a bunch of other soft summer posts: Soft Summer Eye Makeup Ideas – Best Colors and Products, Soft Summer Nail Polish Colors – Best Seasonal Palette Ideas

What’s in the soft summer palette?

When I first self-identified as a soft summer I was so disappointed! The colors seemed to me to be…dated. Eighties. I looked at the colour palette and saw someone’s aunt’s bathroom, not a personal style that I could relate to. It didn’t help that I was finding this out in the mid-2010s! It was all about clear, loud, bright colors that looked terrible on me. 

But the signs were all there. Grayish blue eyes, crackled glass pattern, medium brown hair. And the slate blue that I had always thought of as my best colors was right there in the palette of soft summer colours. 

I complained, I grumbled, I looked longingly at other seasonal color palettes. I bought the summer soft blue tones and got tons of compliments when I wore them. But I stopped buying brown, which honestly improved my whole look a lot. 

I ignored the other colors. The purples were too wimpy, the teals too hospital-y. I bought the darker colors in the palette when I could find them. I don’t think of myself as a delicate person and I struggled with the delicate appearance of these colors. 

It has taken me years to come to see the soft summer color palette for what it is. Chic, sophisticated, refined. In modern shapes, it is a gorgeous extension of your natural features. In head-to-toe low chroma, soft summer colors, everything looks made for you. 

As soft summers, we can carry off neutral tones as well. Having those in the mix has managed my concerns about the palette looking too delicate. Everything I buy now has that low chroma grey tone, and everything looks so much better than it used to.

Aren’t I stuck with my natural hair color in color analysis? 

Look – color analysis is done based on your natural hair color, yes. And dying your hair changes that. The best hair color for soft summer type is her natural shade or very close to it. But getting your colors done doesn’t make you 100% obedient to your prescribed colors for the rest of your life.

You are still your own person! If you want blond for the summer, go nuts. If you want to go for darker hair, go for it. Don’t think of your soft summer colors as meaning that you’re stuck within a prescribed and limited scheme. Think of it as a guide to help you make the best version of your choice rather than rules you have to follow. If you want blond, pick an ash blond not a honey blond to keep your harmony. 

But if you make a dramatic change, you may find that you have a change in your season, because your contrast may have changed. If you had the medium-brown hair typical of soft summer white girls, and you opt for an ash blond, you’ve dramatically changed your contrast level. You may find that you’re now looking at more of a light summer palette, and the medium contrast colors that used to look best on you are now a little overwhelming.

But if you like the ability to change your hair colour, this is not a huge deal — just something you account for when you’re shopping. If you tend to color your hair lighter in the summer and darker in the fall and winter, then you buy your seasonal clothing accordingly. Lighter shades in lightweight clothes, and darker shades for sweaters. 

Above all else — let your color analysis make your personal style look more “you”. Don’t let it be confining or restricting or something that makes you miserable. 

(If you’re looking to change the undertones without changing your hair color, I have a post about that too: How to Neutralize Red Tones in Hair: Guide for Cool Seasons)

When and why I color my soft summer hair

For me personally, I color my hair once a year. I am an outdoor type of girl, so over the summer I am running, biking, hiking, and beaching. I wear sunscreen very diligently (and you do too, don’t you?!). But my hair gets lighter, and over the course of the summer it brings out some red tones in me. They look fine over the summer when I have a light suntan! 

But when it’s time to go back to school and my summer color starts to fade, the red tones in my hair start to bring out the pink in my skin. I want to look like a soft summer again! So at some point in September every year I dye my hair back to its natural medium ash brown. And these red tones are quite common in soft summers — we borrow them from our sister seasons, soft autumn. 

A lot of us with soft summer coloring, with our pink undertones, will be prone to rosacea. So if you have pinkness or redness in your skin that you want to minimize, ensuring that you keep your cool colours in your hair will help you out a lot. 

What are the best hair colors for soft summers?

Just like in fabric tones, soft summers can carry off a slightly neutral or neutral cool shade if they wish (unlike our cool summer sisters who really need those cooler tones). However, our most harmonious choices will generally be cool colors. It’s going to be best to avoid warm tones.

It’s also important to note than when we’re talking about hair, “muted” doesn’t mean “not shiny”. You still get to have shiny, gorgeous, mirror-like hair. “Muted” here means that it’s got those greyish tones in it, like in the example below. 

If you’re shopping for a box dye, key words are going to be “cool”, “ash”, or “smoky” — all of these are going to indicate that a color is going to come out cool-toned and will be the best hair color for soft summer type. 

Words that you want to avoid are “warm”, “caramel”, “golden”, “chocolate” or “auburn”. All mean a warm undertone to some extent. The current trend for “bronde” is also often going to mean a warm tone and is best avoided. 

What box dyes are the best hair color for soft summer? 

If you’re a DIY dye girl like me, picking the best box dye is going to be the difference between your very best color combinations and a clashing mess. We’re going to use those keywords above to pick out the very best home hair dye for soft summer types. For this section, I tried to pick only dyes that could be fairly easily found in stores and linked them all on Amazon. (These are affiliate links — if you buy them, I get a small commission and I really appreciate your support!)

​Platinum 

Okay, doing a platinum dye job at home is for DIY pros. I did this once in college and cooked half the hair off my temples. I am officially and strongly not recommending that you dye your hair platinum yourself. 

That said, if you’re gonna do it: you’ll lift your color and then tone it to manage the warm brassiness that comes along with bleach. 

Clairol has a product called Blonde it Up that will manage the undertones — soft summers can choose between the Luminous Pearl, which is quite neutral, and the Radiant Opal, photographed above, which is cooler. (I included the Opal pic to illustrate what it looks like when someone has the wrong undertone hair color! The model is gorgeous but her coloring is warm and the hair is much too cool for her.) There are also some statement color options including a pink that is cool, but probably too clear for a soft summer. 

Blonde

If you’re looking for dye only or you’ve already lifted your hair color, this L’Oreal light ash blond will work for hair that’s currently dark blond or lighter, adding cool tones and minimizing brassiness. 

L’Oreal also has a line called Cool Supreme that includes this Ultra Ash Dark Blonde. It also includes a purple shampoo! I feel like purple shampoo is always advised for platinum and light blond hair or highlights. But it’s probably a worthwhile investment for anyone who cares about maintaining ash tones in colored hair.

Red

Can you be a soft summer and have red hair? 

​Red tends to run a little too warm for soft summers — we associate it with springs for a reason! But if I was a soft summer with my heart set on red hair, I would try this from Clairol: 

They actually call the color a Dark Rose Gold Blonde, so it’s red without being a true red. I don’t want to repost someone’s review photo without their permission, but if you scroll down on the Amazon page and look at the long-haired woman in the green shirt, that’s about as red as a soft summer is likely to want to get. (Note that the reviews are for all the different shades on that listing, so the woman with the RED RED hair bought a different color!) 

Brunette

This is my personal color and the one I can vouch for myself:

Clairol’s Natural Instincts Light Cool Brown. I use this one every fall to dye my hair back to its natural color after i’m out in the sun all summer. Resetting my color to its natural cool-toned shade does so much to minimize the appearance of my rosacea! This is definitely the best hair color for soft summer type for me personally.

If you want something a little darker, Garnier Fructis has a Medium Ash Brown  that’s going to have those same cool muted undertones. 

And for a soft summer looking to go full Rory Gilmore, Dark Ash Brown will give you dramatically increased contrast while still keeping your undertones the same. I’ve done this a couple times with semi-permanent color and it’s generally very forgiving as long as you have those cool tone. Butttttttt you no longer look as good in the lightest colors of the summer palette, if that matters to you.  

Is black the best hair color for soft summer type?

Soft summers don’t look their best in black. If you want that high contrast effect, you’re likely to be best off with the dark ash brown above. 

However — if you really want to do it, do it! Opt for a blue-black rather than a straight black to keep some coolness in the mix. 

Want an “unnatural” or statement hair color? Scroll down.

What do I ask my stylist for when I’m getting my hair colored?

If your stylist keeps current, she’s probably at least heard of seasonal color analysis in The Year of our Pinterest 2024. You should still specifically ask or explain that you’re looking for soft summer hair. She may not automatically reach for a cool hair dye just because you’re a cool season. Being clear about what you want is best. Especially since often people with our coloring ask for warmer colors to “warm you up”. When I was regularly coloring my hair in a salon, I was often encouraged towards red hair to add warmth. I guess stylists were taught that for a while.

I don’t love to look at those old pictures! The best hair color for soft summer type should harmonize with her coloring rather than try to change it.

So if you’re new to color analysis, tell your stylist you want something with cool ash undertones, and then describe the depth of color you’re looking for.

That might sound something like, “I’m looking for a medium brown with cool ash undertones, and I want some dimensions of colour around my face,” 

Or, “I want cool ash blonde hair with babylights,“

Or “I’m looking for dark ash brown–how dark do you think will suit me?” (Very dark hair isn’t really in our palette, but it can be such a dramatic look contrasting with light soft summer eyes!).

If your stylist pushes back on the idea of cool ash tones for you, especially if they’re older, you can try saying, “I don’t want warm undertones in my hair. What color do you suggest?”. But at the end of the day, you are the client. A stylist is giving you good advice when she says, “I can’t lift your hair eight shades in one appointment”, but the undertone of a color is not related to that and should be up to you. 

Your color season analysis does not influence what haircut or style you get — so get whatever you like! 

What statement colors are best for soft summer types? 

If you’re not looking for a “natural” hair color, the best shades of statement colors will still follow the rules of the soft summer season system: cool, muted, with medium contrast. The best hair color for soft summer type can be a statement color too!

Hot pink Manic Panic is not a natural choice for a soft summer. 

However — you can do our chic, sophisticated, and refined palette in a powerful, assertive way with statement dye that picks up and extends your coloring. The colors below are not natural colors, but they’ll look natural or “right” for you because they’re in your palette. 

If you need a drugstore color, this Dusty Mauve is a light and cool statement color that you’ll find in most US drugstores or on Amazon. 

And the current lavender trend was made for soft summers! IGK has a Cool Lavender that’s a little more expensive than most but that is going to match your undertones perfectly. 

If you’re looking for ~options~ in your statement colors, Lunar Tides also has a smoky collection that’s all similarly muted tones. Look at this Lunar Tides Smoky Purple!! And they advertise a Smoky Teal, Smoky Navy, and Smoky Mauve that all have the same cool muted undertones. (Their smoky mauve shade is quite a bit darker than the Paris one above.) Lunar Tides has two grey shades that would also be gorgeous on soft summers — Silver Lining and Slate Grey. I have never bought from Lunar Tides myself but the reviews are excellent. 

What I love about all these colors is the way that it can take the soft summer palette in a totally new, fresh direction. There’s nothing old, traditional, or vintage about our palette when it’s a statement dye job!

What hair glosses are best for soft summer?

A hair gloss is a great option for sprucing up your color without committing to a full dye, with the added benefit of adding shine and luminosity to your hair. Companies are now releasing tone-correcting hair glosses. You can use these glosses to manage your color between hair appointments or to change your tone on your own. 

Since lightened or lifted hair can tend towards brassiness after dye, even when you’re cool-toned, this is especially useful for soft summer women who go lighter. Those brassy tones are very very warm. So you’ll want to stay on top of tone correctors like your purple shampoo or conditioner and a colored gloss like the ones below. 

I have to admit at this point that even though you would guess from this, um, 3,000 word blog post that I am completely devoted to my soft summer coloring, the hair gloss that I use the most is the Kristen Ess hair gloss in Crystal Quartz, which is her clear shade. She has a whole line of ten colors…ALL of which are either warm or neutral. I find this incredibly annoying! But I’m still buying it most of the time, because it’s sold in Target stores and when I walk past it, I pick it up and gloss my hair. The quality is excellent. 

(Another annoying thing about the Kristen Ess line is that she has a shade called ‘Smoky Topaz’, which SHOULD mean cool-toned, because ‘smoky’ always means ‘cool-toned’, but the box is marked ‘medium neutral bronde’. Some day I’ll buy it and test it, but come on!)

L’Oreal has a box gloss called Le Gloss that appears to be fairly new in the last few years. This product comes in a Cool Blonde, Smoky Bronde, Cool Brunette. There was also a Blush Blonde with a hint of pink that would be gorgeous on a light summer. I came across this product while researching for this post and ordered it. I’ll post about it when it arrives, because honestly there’s a real dearth of options for cool-toned tinted glosses!

If you liked this post you might also like:

• Colors That Go With Olive Green Pants – Female Outfit Ideas
• How Long Does Lip Filler Bruising Last? And What To Do After
• How Long For Hair to Fall Out After Laser Hair Removal?