Whether you’re a natural redhead or you’ve recently dyed your hair, you’ve most probably asked yourself what colors look good on redheads. Can redheads wear red or would that create an unsavory look? Should they go for warmer or cooler tones?
Fortunately, the answer is that a lot of colors look great on redheads – both warm and cool, and yes, that includes red as well. It should be mentioned that it depends on the exact color of your hair – whether you’re a ginger or a deep red color – as well as on the color of your skin and eyes. However, even with those caveats, there is still a very wide range of colors you can go for.
But let’s not beat around the bush and go straight into what colors should redheads wear?
The best colors for redhead women?
So, what are the best colors to wear with red hair? All the smaller details like skin tone and type of red aside, it can be mostly a matter of opinion as most people have different color preferences for redheads. So, in no particular order, here are the many great colors for redheads:
- Green – all types of it. For a lot of people, green is the best color a redhead can choose. And that goes for clothes as well as for eyes and jewelry. That’s not a surprise considering that red and greed are at the opposites sides on the color wheel. The exact shade of green depends on the shade of red of your hair. Strawberry blond or ginger red look best with lighter green, while deeper and richer reds can be stunning with emerald or mossy green. Really, though, almost any green looks awesome with almost any red.
- Purple. Similar to green, almost any shade of purple can go well with almost any type of red – dark purple, mauve, thistle, lilac, and many others. This royal color simply complements most red colors much like the color that we’ll touch on next.
- Deep blue. A contender to green for a lot of people, deep blue colors such as cobalt, royal or navy blues can really make red hair pop. Teal and turquoise hues help quite a bit as well.
- Red. You might have heard the myth that redheads shouldn’t wear red. It’s most likely made up by someone who just doesn’t like the color since redheads can pull off red clothing with ease. The trick is to simply find a shade that works with your skin tone and your particular type of red hair.
- Black. A great choice for virtually every hair color, black works great with redheads as well – regardless of their skin tone too!
- White, silver, and neutral colors. Now, these can be a little tricky as extra pale ladies with very light ginger hair may not look great in white or neutral colors. However, with the right lipstick and makeup, even a pale ginger gal can do it. And for deeper, richer red hair – white can be fantastic.
- Gold and beige. Similar to the ones above, light beige can be tricky if the lady in question is pale, with light-colored hair, and unsuitable makeup. If those are color-coordinated well, however, beige as well as gold can be stunning on a redhead.
- Yellow. Very similar to rich gold colors, a strong yellow can make your red hair pop in a gorgeous way.
- Pink and coral. Particularly good on darker redheads, coral and pink can be beautiful as well. Not really recommended for lighter red hair, however.
The best colors for redhead guys?
What about the guys, however? We suspect most people who came here were interested in the colors that would suit a redhead lady but let’s not ignore the fellas either. When talking about redhead guys most people typically mean gingers since there aren’t too many men that would dye their hair in blood red. So, what would work best for ginger guys?
- Dark saturated greens. Bright greens don’t generally work great for men unless it’s Saint Patrick’s Day but a nice dark green suit is usually marvelous on a ginger guy, especially if he has green eyes as well.
- Cool or light navy blues. Where redhead gals look fantastic with deep blues, ginger fellas can be great in lighter and cooler blues as long as their skin is not too pale.
- Dark brown. Brown has an unfortunate reputation of being “boring” but that’s necessarily true. Similar to greens, brown suits can offer a nice contrast against lighter skin color. Look for richer and more saturated browns instead of ones with red undertones such as Hickory, Cayenne or Auburn brown.
- Black. A classical choice, black is not great in and of itself but if combined with a much lighter or white shirt, black can create a contrast that looks good on most ginger guys.
What are the worst colors for redheads?
As you can see, there aren’t very many strictly “bad” colors for redheads – men and women alike. Women, particularly, tend to have a lot more tools at their disposal with which to make almost every color work – makeup, jewelry, a typically wide array of hairdo options, etc.
Usually, however, for both sexes, the riskiest colors to wear are pale colorless fabrics or citrus hues. Yes, women can make even white and beige work really well but usually with strong and deep red hair color and some makeup. Especially if your skin is pale and your hair is closer to ginger red than to a heavy red – avoid pale or citrus colors.
What are the best lip colors for redheads?
The quickest answer? Most red lipstick shades work great on redheads, especially the richer ones. In fact, it’s not so much the hair color but the skin tone that matters for your lipstick choice, with the biggest question being whether you’re with a warmer (beige/golden/peachy/olive complexion) or a cooler (pale/rosy complexion) skin tone. We won’t go too deep into that subject but here’s a quick breakdown:
- If you have a fair-medium skin with pink undertones you should go for blue-pink red lipsticks.
- If you are more of a pale or neutral tone you should go for neutral reds.
- If you have olive skin or yellow undertones, we’d suggest orange-red lipstick colors.
