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Welcome back to another post on hair color for the summer seasons! I wrote about the best hair colors for soft summer seasons here a few weeks ago — now let’s look at their sisters, the light summer seasons. 

Just like the last post — we’ll go over what makes a light summer, how to know if a hair color is going to work for you, how to talk to a stylist, and the best box dye options for the light spring woman. 

What makes someone a summer season?

All summer season people have a few things in common: cool undertones, little to moderate contrast between their skin and hair/eyes, and a mutedness or dustiness to their coloring. 

So that means:

• you look better in cool colors rather than warm colors 
• you have less contrast between your hair colour, eye color, and skin (that doesn’t necessarily mean no contrast!) 
• you have an ashiness or grey-ness to your coloring

​Each of these can be stronger or weaker traits in you. I’m oversimplifying a little bit, but more or less, whichever of these traits is the strongest in you will determine your seasonal subtype. 

If you are most defined by being cool and having cool undertones, you’re a cool summer.

Or, if you are most defined by having very little contrast, you’re a light summer.

If you’re most defined by mutedness, you’re a soft summer. 

In reality, you’re an individual and you might live somewhere in between these! I am a soft summer, but soft summers are often nearly neutral. I am more cool in my coloring than a soft summer “should” be. But since I am still more muted than cool, I’m still a soft summer. 

What makes someone a light summer?

A light summer is defined by having very little contrast between their hair, eyes, and skin. 

So, if you have light skin, you also have light hair and light eyes. And every article every about light summers pulls out a white woman with blond hair and blue eyes. But really, a person of any ethnicity or depth of skin tone can be a light summer. “Light” here doesn’t mean “pale” or “white”. It means less contrast (so it might mean lighter hair for your ethnicity). 

So, a person with deeper, cool-toned skin can still be a light summer. She just needs low contrast between her hair, eyes, and skin. If you have low contrast, you can be a light summer. (I see stuff on TikTok – make it sound like you absolutely must be a California blond to be a light summer. It’s not true and it’s not inclusive!)

So, your colour season is defined by your low contrast, but you’re also fairly cool and muted. A great way to confirm your color analysis is to either get professionally draped (honestly I never did this) or to drape yourself. Pull clothes in the light summer palette and check to see if it suits you. 

Another thing I often see people do to confirm a contrast-based season is to take a photo of themselves and flip it into black-and-white. If your hair and eyes do not look signficantly deeper than your skin in a black-and-white photo, you are probably low contrast. 

I thought color analysis meant you had to keep your natural color? 

You don’t have to do anything! 

Color analysis does suggest that your natural color is going to be the most flattering on you. 

And I will say that in the five years that I’ve been fully committed to my color analysis season, I have moved back towards my natural color. Now, I dye it once a year to bring the coolness back after I get red tones in the summer.  I keep my natural color because it is so harmonious with the rest of me. 

It is true that your natural color is in alignment with your natural beauty. Totally. 

BUT. Color analysis isn’t a life sentence! If you prefer darker colours, or you want to lighten black or brown hair, it’s your hair, it’s your body, it’s your life, it’s your statement. I feel like there’s some color analysis content out there that is so, like, strict? Like if you’re changing your natural hair color you’re somehow not “really” doing color analysis? 

And I just think that’s so, so foolish. My goal is to make sure that you have the information that you need to make good choices in changing your hair color. It’s going to look different but it’s all still going to go with your skin and eye colour. And you’re still going to feel good in it! 

We only live once! Dye your hair if you want to! Here are some tips and options.

Will dying my hair darker make me not a light summer anymore? 

It depends. If you’re dying your hair from blond to black or dark brown, then those light summer colors are probably not going to be your best colors anymore! 

If you’re a white light summer with naturally blond hair, and you dye your hair dark brown, you are no longer defined by being low contrast. So, that light summer palette is probably not your best palette anymore. And if the hair color you chose is cool (more on that in a second), it will still look okay. But your light summer wardrobe isn’t going to look quite the same. 

You should still have the mutedness in your skin, so you aren’t going to transform into a winter. Though, some light summers will be less muted than others and might be able to bleed into cool winter. Some versions of color analysis will describe a “deep summer”. Kettlewell, a UK brand that sells basics designed for the different color seasons, does this. They consider this to be the summer season that carries off the most contrast. But this doesn’t appear in every system. 

(Remember — there’s no “true” color analysis system. If Deep Summer is a framework that helps you understand your coloring and complexion, and make choices about what makes you feel your best, then it’s right.) 

​So what you need to know: a light summer can dye her hair darker, but she might need to tweak the colors that she wears around her face. The easiest way to think about it: if you’re more muted than cool, you’re now a soft summer. If you’re more cool than muted, you’re now a cool summer. And you stay that way as long as your hair is that color. 

And if a light summer dyes her hair lighter… As long as it’s cool, it’s almost always going to look fine. 

How to ask your stylist for a light summer hair color

Even though it feels like seasonal color analysis is EVERYWHERE to those of us that live on Pinterest, not everyone knows about it. And depending on your stylist, they may or may not have been trained to try to bring everyone towards a fictional “neutral”. 

(This is the opposite of color analysis, where we’re trying to lean into what makes us specific/unique and continue or echo our natural features.)

So,  I wrote about this in the last post but for years in the late 2000s I had a great stylist who insisted on warm tones in my color. Including an orangey red that was the warmest colour that you could possibly imagine. He said we needed to warm me up! 

That orangey red would be a disastrous clash with the light summer color palette. It would look just fine on warm springs. 

Anyway, when you talk to your stylist, the feature of your color that matters the most is that it must be cool. You can play with the depth and make your hair darker, so long as you keep your hair undertone consistent with your skin undertone. 

What to say

So, 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. 

Can a light summer dye her hair black?

She can do whatever she wants! 

It might not be a classic color analysis choice, because it’s so high contrast when your current season is so low contrast. It’s going to change your perceived color season a LOT, especially if your skin is lighter. A dark ash brown or a blue-black dye will create a dramatic look in a light summer. Light summers with light skin should consider the possibility that it might bring out red or pink undertones in her complexion!

Grab a jewel tone sweater before you dye–your soft pink blouses may not feel quite right after. 

Best box dye hair color for light summers

If you’re a DIY girl, you’re in good company. We’re into that here. 

So, here’s how to use these color recommendations: your classic color analysis shades will be no more than 2-3 shades away from your skin tone. Whether you want to follow that rule is up to you.

So white light summers are not going much darker than the light ash brown–they can only go darker than their skin tone, or platinum. 

For women of color: you can go lighter or darker than your skin tone. The “classic” advice would be to limit yourself to similar depth or darker, but I think lighter can be so striking. Just stick to your cool tones. 

Best platinum hair dye for light summers

PLATINUM IS RISKY TO DO AT HOME. It really is. I singed off a lot of hair once in college. But if you’re going to do it — here’s how. 

First, you lift the color.  Then …..

Clairol has a product called Blonde it Up that will manage the undertones — light summers are going to like the Radiant Opal, photographed above, which is cooler. (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 nice and cool and would look so ethereal on a light summer. 

Best blonde hair dye for light summers

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, which I love because it’s going to help you keep this color as cool and lovely as it is. 

This ultra ash dark blond is classically considered the “darkest hair” for soft summers. Again, that’s an 80s mindset where every light summer is a white girl, so we don’t care about this rule. But that’s what they used to say, and I want to acknowledge it because I don’t want someone in the comments telling me this post is wrong! This ash blond could be a great choice for a light summer of any race who wanted blond with less upk. 

Best red hair dye for light summers

Okay…. so typically red hair is firmly in the spring category and summers need to run from warm colours. But….red hair is really, really fun. So, here’s an oddball red that might work for light summers. 

This is not the same color I suggested for soft summers — that rose gold one, I think, is too dark for lighter-complexioned summers. The one above is a slightly odd red and the reviews note it as having purple in it! Which suggests to me that it’s going to be cool enough to work for a light summer. You might need a purple shampoo to keep it in your light summer colours.

If you’re a darker-complexioned light summer itching for a red color, this one may work: 

It’s actually called a rose gold blonde, and it will maintain low contrast for deeper skin tones.

Best brown hair dye for light summers

Once we’re getting into the true brown dyes, we’re looking at something that is “outside of light summer” for white light summers. Again — any light summer can look for her best choices outside the classic palette, and these colors can be very much in the palette for Black or Latina light summers. 

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

Clairol’s Natural Instincts Light Cool Brown. Again, I’m a soft summer type, but the cooler tones of this color will keep you in balance, whether this is a lighter or darker shade for you. 

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 then Dark Ash Brown will give you a deep brown color that maintains ash shades — this is important because brown dyes do tend to pull red eventually. 

​Final thoughts

So there you have it! If this seemed too long (it feels too long!) it’s because I want to make sure that people understand their options — it feels terrible when people talk about color analysis like it’s a prison! 

I definitely remember feeling limited by my soft summer palette at first. I really want to bring some discussion into the color analysis world about how to follow the rules but also how to break the rules strategically in a way that’s going to stay feeling cohesive.