Hello everyone! Today I want to explore the extent to which changes in hair color affect one’s most harmonious seasonal color palette. I’ll be using Shakira as a more drastic example, along with Zooey Deschanel and Marilyn Monroe to look at more subtle changes. To look at how hair color affects seasonal color, I’ll be looking at the 3 color qualities of value, hue temperature, and saturation.
Understanding the Three Color Qualities
Value refers to lightness or darkness—whether someone is very light, very dark, or has strong contrast.
Hue temperature indicates whether someone leans warm, cool, or neutral in undertone.
Saturation shows whether someone is more muted or has a more intense, high-chroma coloring.
When you change your hair and brow color, you can affect multiple of these qualities—but your skin undertone typically does not change.
If you’re neutral, you usually have more flexibility with hair color. But if your skin is very warm or very cool, shifting too far from that inherent temperature makes it hard to harmonize. For example, very cool hair with very warm skin doesn’t usually work (I tried it in high school as a Soft Summer with very blue-black hair……it was bad).
Hair Color Changes and Cohesion
If you’re going to drastically change your hair color, I highly recommend changing your brow color as well, and making sure your wardrobe and makeup match the new palette. Cohesiveness is key.
Shakira: From Bright Winter to Soft Autumn
Shakira is a good example. With her natural raven hair (saturated and deep); she has strong contrast and high chroma. Her brows match, and her skin leans neutral-cool. She resonates with Bright Winter: fuchsia, stark white, electric blue, and black all look great. Grey can be too muted, and warm tones like orange and green are too warm.
When she goes brunette, she lightens both her hair and brows. Often her skin looks more tanned, lowering her overall contrast. She shows a more muted or moderate contrast. Her brunette hair irange includes both warm and cool tones, from caramel to ashy brown. Because her skin is neutral, she can harmonize with both. Her look shifts into the edge seasons of Autumn, as this honors her neutral skintone. Besides standard soft autumn browns, the brighter Soft Autumn shades and some gentler Dark Autumn tones work well, but stronger True Autumn colors like mustard or intense olive won’t suit her undertone.
When Shakira goes mega blonde, her contrast lowers even more. Her skin, hair, and brows are all light—but she doesn’t become a Light Summer or Light Spring. Her darker roots and brown eyes keep some depth. The highlights add dimension but stay muted and bronzy, with an autumnal quality. Her makeup still leans into bronzy tones. Softer Autumn colors work better than anything very light and bright, as her original high contrast quality is no longer present.
When Shakira has darker hair, she wears beautiful jewel tones well, like lagoon green, merlot, and plum. Still, super warm orange clashes. Similarly, reddish bright hair paired with warm green and gold doesn’t work—it exaggerates warmth she doesn’t have. Her undertone still needs to be honored.
Seasonal Color: Clothing Color vs. Hair Color
A little subtlety that I’d like to bring up is that (natural looking) hair color isn’t as exaggerated as clothing colors. Natural colors tend to have a limit in terms of saturation and are not so extreme in hue temperature, unlike clothing colors. Needless to say, less natural hair dyes like cherry red or bright green will have a more exaggerated effect. Keep that in mind when evaluating harmony.
Shakira and Miranda Cosgrove: Bright Winter to Soft Autumn Potential
Like Shakira, Miranda Cosgrove is a natural Bright Winter who can also shift into resonance with Soft Autumn colors when she lightens her hair, brows, and gets a tan. Her coloring behaves similarly to Shakira’s in that sense.
Zooey Deschanel: A Natural Summer
Onto a more subtle example. Zooey Deschanel is likely a True to slightly Soft Summer. Her dark brown hair has a muted quality, and she looks great in muted cool colors, with a penchant for grey. Peachy blush and gold don’t suit her undertone here as they are too warm. The brighter pink dress also does not seem to connect with her color qualities.
When Zooey Deschanel goes blonde, she needs toner to avoid clashing undertones. Undertone is still the anchor, even with new hair color.
Even when Zooey Deschanel darkens her hair and brows, she can’t pull off the deep, bold Winter palette. Lighter shades from Winter might work, but not the full-on heavy colors. Fresh faced in black, her features feel disconnected from such a dark shade. Her soft, dainty features also don’t seem to balance well with heavy makeup either. It’s not just about color; one’s features have to be respected. Zooey’s beauty is more airy and light-weight.
Marilyn Monroe: From True Spring to Light Spring
Marilyn Monroe had naturally coppery red hair and alabaster skin that tanned to a warm, peaches and cream tone. This places her in True Spring. She looks amazing in spring colors.
When she went platinum blonde, she lightened her contrast—but her undertone stayed warm. She transitioned from True Spring to Light Spring. Even with toner, her hair’s warmth is always visible.
In this case,Marilyn’s hair change exaggerated her value (lightness), but didn’t change her overall harmony much. She stayed within the Spring family, which is inherently light and bright.
That’s it for today’s video. If you’re interested in seeing more examples—especially from people with different skin tones or ethnicities—let me know. And as always, please check out my services if you’d like one-on-one guidance on your style or seasonal color. Thanks for watching!
xx
Nona