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A woman with long, wavy grey hair
Will grey hair suit your morena skin? Read on to find out.

Which Grey Hair Color Will Suit Your Skin Tone?

Turn into a silver fox with grey locks. But first, here are some tips to finding the right shade that will complement your skin tone.

June 8, 2021
Read Time: 5 Minutes

Check Your Undertone>

Most greys flatter olive skin tones.>

Lighter greys flatter darker skin tones.>

Deeper greys flatter lighter skin tones.>


Going grey doesn’t have to mean growing old. These days, women choose to embrace their future fate — in the present — by dyeing their locks with grey hair color. If you’re wondering if it will even suit your skin tone, don’t worry, there are more than 50 shades to pick from. Silver mist? Palest pearl? Gradient charcoal? Here’s how to select which shade of grey is best for you. 

Check Your Undertone

Aside from determining your visible skin tone (warm skin tone, cool skin tone, or neutral skin tone), identifying your undertone also helps with hair color matching. Like with makeup, skin undertones can help determine which shades will highlight your features and not wash you out. The easiest and most common hack for identifying skin undertone is checking the color of your veins. If your veins are bluish, you have cool undertones. If they are green, you have warm undertones, and if they’re a mix of both, you’re neutral.

In the case of jewelry, silver tends to flatter cooler undertones, but you can still wear grey hair even if you’re cool. True grey is a mix of black and white, but grey dyes can have hints of color that can make them cool or warm. 

Most greys flatter olive skin tones.

Sam Pinto with silver hair wearing yellow and white
For olive skin tones, choose a bright, ashy grey like singer Sam Pinto (Credit: instagram/sampinto_)

Many Filipinos have olive skin tone, which includes light brown, dark brown, and pale skin colors. Olive skin tones can have hints of beige, yellow, green, and, yes, grey! This is why if you have olive skin, you can wear any shade of grey you prefer. Whether it’s ash grey, silver grey, smoky grey, or deep charcoal, it won’t wash you out or appear jarring.

For inspiration, check out Sam Pinto’s take of the grey hair trend. The contrast between her skin and her ashy grey locks is striking and complimentary. If you’re looking for a light grey color tone for morena skin, this is it. 

Protect your color-treated hair with TRESemmé Pro-Color Series Color Radiance Conditioner, an anti-fade conditioner that protects hair with jojoba oil and keeps color within the hair fibers. It keeps your bold hair color vibrant for up to 2x longer, as well as boosts radiance and shine.

Lighter greys flatter darker skin tones.

Patricia Prieto with silvery black hair
If you have a medium to dark skin tone, pick a light, ashy grey like influencer Patricia Prieto. (Credit: instagram/patriciaprieto)

If you have morena or bronzed skin, a lighter, soft ash hair grey color is just right for you. You can pick a variation of this shade — cooler or warmer — to suit your skin undertone. Protect an intense shade like this with a shampoo that’s formulated especially for color-treated hair. TRESemmé Pro-Color Series Blonde Brilliance Shampoo is formulated with purple conditioner and jojoba oil. It uses violet pigments to neutralize brassiness and help preserve blonde shades longer, making hair soft, shiny, and brilliant.

Got a golden glow? Check out more inspo for highlights and hair color for morena skin.

Deeper greys flatter lighter skin tones.

Kylie Padilla Abrenica looking fierce with gray and black hair
Women with lighter skin tones like Kylie Padilla should go for a deeper grey with lighter highlights to avoid getting washed out. (Credit: instagram/kylienicolepadilla)

If you have pale skin, choose a medium shade of grey, which will stand out better against a lighter canvas. Steer clear of lighter shades of grey, such as ash, because these will wash you out and make you look even paler. On the other hand, a grey that’s too deep, like charcoal, will look too dark and overwhelming against your skin. Protect your color-treated hair from dryness with a nourishing conditioner like Dove Nourishing Oil Care Conditioner. Its dual-action formula replenishes essential nutrients with coconut, almond, and sunflower oils and instantly softens strands.

So that’s how you determine grey hair color to suit your skin tone. Of course, if you think you can rock it, feel free to defy rules and conventions and just go with the grey you want. At the end of the day, your undertones are mere suggestions for what colors will suit you best — you do you, bestie.

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