Hair Color Wheel Explained: How to Combine or Cancel Out Colors for a Flawless Look

@berlinstacy in Arctic Mist Diluter, Virgin Pink, Sunset Orange, Cosmic Sunshine, Iris Green, Aquamarine, Purple AF, Violet Dream, and Poseidon What is the Color Wheel? The color wheel is a visual tool to explain and visualize the relationship between colors. When it comes to coloring hair, the color wheel is your personal hack to understand how colors will combine or cancel each other out when you’re creating your dream shade! Understanding the color wheel will help you better understand color theory so you can better predict how specific colors will mix together and how to avoid results you weren’t expecting. Color Definitions When speaking to the color wheel, there are a few terms to know. Primary Colors - What we learn in Kindergarten! Red, yellow and blue. These colors cannot be made from any other colors. @erez_ivan in Poseidon Secondary Colors - Two primary colors mixed together that create orange, green, and violet. @kunailuv in Sunset Orange, Cosmic Sunshine, and Purple AF Intermediate Colors - One primary and one secondary color mixed together: blue-violet, red-violet, red-orange, yellow-orange, yellow-green, and blue-green. @lilygraceglam in Blue Jean Baby, Purple AF, Violet Dream, Poseidon What Are Complementary Colors? Complementary colors are two colors that live opposite each other on the color wheel. For example: violet and yellow, red and green, orange and blue. When mixing these colors, you will get a brown shade. We receive a lot of questions around natural shades from the Fox Fam, so this color wheel hack is good to know in case you want to go back to natural color OR to avoid mixing colors or applying over faded color that might yield a muddy result. Knowing complementary colors can also be great in creating looks that are bold and contrasting, especially for split dyes or layering colors. @ashley.smit17 in Space Cowgirl, Aquamarine, Virgin Pink, Violet Dream, and Purple AF @hairwaytoheavennn in Poison, Phantom Green, and Space Cowgirl What Is Your Base? When choosing a color, it’s important to consider how your base shade will affect the final outcome. Using the color wheel and color theory, you can have a better educated guess on what might happen or how to plan to get the result you’re looking for. Starting From A Natural Base Your natural hair color will affect the outcome of your look. Learn all about hair levels here and which AF colors will work best for your natural base. Starting From A Processed Blonde Most Arctic Fox hair dyes will look and perform best on hair that’s a level 9 or higher, for some, that will require processing. Using the color wheel to figure out the tone of your blonde will help determine which colors to choose to get the results you want. Most natural hair colors that are bleached to blonde will start with an orange undertone and may reach a yellow/brassy color at the lightest. There are multiple ways to cancel out unwanted yellow/orange tones. One option is to use a commercial toning product found at your favorite beauty supply store. A second option is to use the color wheel and “tone” with AF colors. If your hair is leaning toward the yellow side, pre-dye using Arctic Mist Diluter and Purple AF to create an extremely diluted purple color. If your hair is leaning toward the orange side, you might try pre-dyeing with Arctic Mist Diluter and Poseidon to create an extremely diluted blue. @salinesimon in Arctic Mist Diluter and Aquamarine For example, if you want a Poseidon to appear as a nice true blue, but are starting out with yellow undertones, your color might pull green. Since we know that violet is opposite the color wheel from yellow, mixing in a little bit of Purple AF may help counteract those yellow tones. Starting From A Faded Color If you’re a DIY dye queen, you might already have a faded color on your hair. Using color theory, you can get to the next color seamlessly without creating a muddy mess! This video by Stella Cini is a great example of how to use color theory to get your desired color or read this blog by Thuy Pham on how she shifted her hair from green to purple. AF Colors Charted Each of our colors have specific undertones. Knowing where our colors fall on the color wheel, can help you make decisions on which dyes to mix to get the results you’re looking for. @nadine.xoo in Cosmic Sunshine and Sunset Orange @chjango_john.n115 in Violet Dream, Cosmic Sunshine, Sunset Orange, and Virgin Pink @angelicabarragan3 in Space Cowgirl and Neon Moon @_kenzurrito in Poison, Purple AF, Periwinkle, Aquamarine