While everyone would fall in love with the royal purple hair color, not everyone would venture out into the DIY dye job at home. Today, we will provide you with some creative strategies on dyeing your hair purple or violet and give you insight into making the dynamic hair color work for you.
In this article:
- How to Choose the Perfect Purple Hair Color for Your Skin Tone
- How to Dye Your Hair Purple
- How to Maintain Purple Hair
- Makeup Tips for Purple Hair
- Fashion Tips for Purple Hair
How to Choose the Perfect Purple Hair Color for Your Skin Tone
It is absolutely essential to choose a purple hair shade that flatters your skin tone. Ignore this advice at your peril! The wrong purple hair pigment can wash you out at best and look cheap and tacky at worst. Luckily, this is an easy blunder to avoid. All it takes is a strong understanding of your skin tone.
Quick pointer for establishing whether you have warm or cool skin. If you have a warm undertone the veins in your arm will appear green, and if it is cool your veins will appear blue. If your veins appear to be a mix of green and blue, then you have neutral undertones and can generally get away with a wider range of purple hair shades and pigments.
Warm shades of purple will look best on those with warm skin undertones, while those with cool skin undertones should give their preference to cooler shades of purple hair. Of course, women with neutral undertones are the lucky ones, since they can experiment with a wide range of violet hair color shades.
Best Purple Hair Colors for Fair Skin
Porcelain beauties, this one’s for you. Women with fair skin should choose a purple hair shade that is more subdued and muted. Vibrant, energetic shades will wash you out and create an unappealing contrast. Choose a periwinkle, heather, or lavender hair shade.
Incorporating a pale pink hair dye or blue into your purple hair color will look graceful and romantic. The cool shades will enhance the cool base of your skin tone. Women with fair skin can get away with incorporating fun shades of pink into their purple hair, creating a dreamy and whimsical colormelt.
Best Purple Hair Colors for Light Skin
Women with light skin have a slightly deeper tone than women with fair skin. A lavender hair color will bring out the cool shades in your skin while also subtly flattering the warmer tones in your hair.
Women with light skin can experiment with a deep and cool shade of ice violet. A metallic, luminous shade of lavender can be immensely flattering when rendered with a cool overlay.
Best Purple Hair Colors for Medium Skin
Medium and olive-skinned women have a naturally tan skin tone. Medium skin typically, but not always, has a warm undertone. Medium skin pairs beautifully with a more vivid shade of electric lilac, violet, or indigo.
A more vibrant shade of bluish-purple will enhance the warmth of your skin while creating a striking silhouette. Warm skin tones can be livened up with lively shades of magenta and royal velvet purple hair colors.
Best Purple Hair Colors for Deep Skin
Women with darker skin have a lot of latitude when it comes to choosing a purple hair pigment. You can go for a baby purple hair shade for a playful and sassy contrast or you can go deep for a romantic and alluring aesthetic.
A rich eggplant or plum purple will play up the deep and warm undertones of your skin. You can experiment with some metallic lavenders and lilacs but ensure that they are on the warmer side, as a cool tone may have a dulling effect on your skin tone.
How to Dye Your Hair Purple
Women who are looking to dye their hair purple have a dizzying array of options. If you are ready for a full-fledged commitment, go monochromatic and dye your entire hair, from root to tip.
If you fancy a casual flirtation, experiment with some balayage purple hair or babylights. An ombre strikes a happy medium. Violet hair can certainly be experimental but it can also be easily incorporated into a more conservative aesthetic.
If you are looking for a total revamp on your look, be forewarned that violet hair, like many of its pastel counterparts, requires a certain level of upkeep and commitment. If you’re into a low-maintenance style, stick with a few highlights and err on the side of subtlety. Even better? Why not go for a temporary purple hair dye!
Temporary Purple Hair Dye
Temporary hair dye has always been the fun and furious go-to for punk princesses and the counterculture set. These days temporary dye has a much wider milieu and can be enjoyed by women of all sensibilities.
Temporary purple hair dye is perfect for women who want to indulge themselves in a foray into hair color without the huge commitment. Temporary dye typically lasts a few days to a week, making it a tempting option for parties, events, or experimentation. It is also a great trial step for women who want to dive into permanent hair color later on down the line.
Semi-Permanent Purple Hair Dye
You can also try a semi-permanent purple hair dye that doesn’t require bleach. This technique involves using a deep burgundy, eggplant, or plum hair shade directly over your natural hair color. After you have dyed your hair, you may notice either deep or subtle results, depending on your base color.
Brunettes will likely only notice a sheen or tint of purple, whereas blondes and redheads may have more true-to-form results. You can then overlay your slightly purple locks with a temporary hair dye for some added violet voltage!
Semi-permanent purple hair dyes usually wash out after about six washes. We recommend using dry shampoo to increase the shelf life of your semi-permanent purple hair.
Permanent Purple Hair Dye
For the determined, there is the permanent purple hair dye solution, in which case you will enjoy the royal color for a longer period of time. These are the steps to follow if you want to dye your hair purple at home:
Step 1: Prepare Your Hair
Let’s make one thing clear, girls: no bleach or dye job should be performed on weak, brittle, or dehydrated hair. For beautiful results you need healthy and strong locks – pre-dye. This step holds true for women who are using permanent and temporary dyes, alike.
Luckily, prepping your hair for its bright violet future isn’t too challenging of a task. All it requires is some forethought and dedication. Moisturizing masks, conditioners, and hot oil treatments should be used a few times a week in the month leading up to your bleach and dye sessions.
Deep conditioning treatments can be done at home or in a salon but whatever your choice, don’t skip out. These treatments nourish dehydrated hair follicles and impart shine and vibrance from tip to strand. We also love using natural hair oils like coconut oil and avocado oil. They contain compounds that strengthen and nourish the hair shaft.
While you’re at it, why not subject your hair to a simple trim? Chop off the split ends and say goodbye to brittle, breakage-prone strands. Wash your hair with a clarifying shampoo and alternate with a moisturizing conditioner so you can remove build-up, dirt, and oil from your hair and scalp without stripping your hair of natural moisture.
Step 2: Bleaching 101
(At The Salon)
We suggest conducting a strand test before diving off the bleach deep end. A strand test in a non-conspicuous region of your hair will provide you with an idea of how your hair reacts to bleach.
Avoid washing your hair for two to three days before your bleaching appointment. This allows natural oils to build up. The oils accumulate on the roots and taper down to the ends and they protect your hair from the harsh effects of the bleach. Of course, not all violet-minded gals need to bleach their hair but if your hair is anything darker than medium brown that means one thing: bring on the bleach.
If you have lighter hair, you can certainly skip this step and dye the purple pigments directly onto your hair. Women with brown or black hair must subject their strands to bleach, particularly for those who want to experiment with a vibrant lilac or lavender shade. The darker the hair and the lighter the desired result, the more bleaching sessions you will need to undergo.
We always encourage women to get their hair bleached at a salon. This minimizes risk and damage and allows you to undergo this harsh procedure in a clean, safe environment. Salons also use the innovative Olaplex, a product that reduces the damage of bleach and improves the health of your hair.
If you have darker hair, you will need more than one bleaching session. If your hair is in optimal and healthy condition, you can undertake the second bleaching session within the next few days. For finer hair that is more susceptible to breakage, we suggest waiting at least a week for the next session.
(At Home)
If you’re the DIY kind and want to try at-home bleaching, you certainly can. However, we only recommend this for women with naturally blonde or light brown hair. Women with dark brown or black hair should always get their hair professionally bleached for better results.
If you are bleaching your hair at home to get that gorgeous purple hair color, make sure to do it on dry, unwashed hair. Divide your hair into four to six sections of 1-1 ½-inch strands and apply the bleach working your way up to the mid-length of your hair. You can use a hair clip to pull back the sections that might be hindering you.
Make sure to bleach your roots last. Keep the bleach on your scalp for less time than the rest of your hair, since the heat from your scalp will process and develop the bleach faster.
As you are done, wash your hair completely removing the bleach and apply a moisturizing conditioner. Leaving the bleach on longer than the stated time will not deliver better results, but rather will damage your hair. In case you experience severe scalp itching or hair breakage after the process, make sure to wait at least a week before the next bleaching session.
Step 3: Choose Your Salon Wisely
When it comes to dyeing your hair purple, you want to find a salon that specializes in innovative and unique colors. This means choosing an edgier salon with stylists who have extensive repertoires with artificial hair colors. Your neighborhood cut-and-trim hairdresser may simply not be the best choice.
While many of these stylists have longer waitlists and demand higher price tags, it is absolutely worth it. They have the expertise to diagnose the condition of your hair and can monitor the bleaching process to minimize damage.
They also have valuable insight and can recommend the best purple hair color for your skin tone and features. Stop around on the salon website or Instagram to find examples of their previous work.
Step 4: Toning the Hair
Hair toner is next to necessary for women who want hyper-vibrant, lighter shades of purple hair. Why? Toners mitigate the yellow-orange color that bleach creates.
Based on color theory, purple and yellow-orange are on the opposite ends of the spectrum. When you mix them together what do you get? Brown. If you overlay purple hair dye directly onto hair that hasn’t been adequately bleached or toned, your hair will turn a muddied shade of brown-purple. You don’t want all your hard work to be in vain!
After toning, many hair colors will veer either on the side of silver or the side of white. If your hair is more orange-hued after bleach it will turn silver, whereas if bleach renders your hair yellow tones, it will come out more white in color!
A purple-based toner will help you get the perfect end results. Apply the toner like you would bleach and allow it to fully saturate your strands and soak in. Let sit for 15-20 minutes. Wash the toner out with cool water.
Step 5: At-Home Purple Hair Dyeing
So you’ve bleached your hair and now you’re ready to bring on the purple! While we advocate visiting a salon specialist for your purple transformation, you can definitely try and capture the magic from the comfort of your own home.
- To dye your hair purple at home, give your strands a few days rest after the bleaching and toning treatments. Begin with dry, unwashed hair, since shampoo and conditioner can create a build-up around the hair strands, making it harder for the purple hair dye to adhere to the strands.
- To create an at-home purple hair color-melted look, you can combine different shades into your hair. Prepare the different purple shades in different bowls, mixing each in with white conditioner.
- Painting your hair in different purple shades will lead to a beautifully blended balayage look. In this case it’s important to place the shades in a uniform way to avoid a stripey, patchy color job.
- Apply the lighter violets and lavenders on the lighter sections of your hair and the darker shades of wine and eggplant on the darker parts of your hair for a lovely color-melted job.
- Incorporate a fluorescent pink into your purple hair dye for a punchy, highly pigmented, and spectacularly vibrant color.
- Mix up panels of pink, indigo blue, and purple for a dreamy violet colormelt that feels organic and original. These three colors effortlessly complement each other and can bring your purple locks to a whimsical new height.
- Purple is such a crowd-pleaser because you can go vibrant or you can go muted. For a subdued shade, use a less concentrated pigment.
- Divide your hair into four to six sections taking into account your hair thickness.
- Apply the purple hair dye with a tinting brush and leave it on for the recommended time but never longer. You can apply a shower cap for cleaner results.
- After the recommended time, rinse off the purple hair dye following with a color-protecting conditioner. You’d better not shampoo your hair for at least three days post-dye to seal in the purple hair color.
- Try a leave-in vinegar treatment to seal in your purple hair color. For this you just need to apply vinegar through your hair for 3 minutes and wash it out with cool water. A scented hair mist will be ideal for masking the strong scent of the vinegar.
- You can also use a hair gloss after conditioning your hair to get a glossy and bouncy appearance.
How to Maintain Purple Hair
After dyeing your hair purple or violet, you want to take care of your new hair color well to keep it bright for a longer period of time. Here is what you should keep in mind when wearing a purple hair color:
Invest in Color Treatment Products
Spoil yourself and your new purple hair with specially formulated color-treated products. They may be expensive or intimidating to women who are dyeing their hair for the first time but they are necessary.
Avoid clarifying shampoos because they are designed to strip oils, chemicals, and build-up on the hair. When you have dyed hair violet, you want to keep the chemicals on your hair so clarifying shampoos are a no-no!
Color-treated products are designed without sulfates, which is perfect because sulfates are notorious for stripping color from the hair. These types of products seal in pigment and ensure that you won’t have to touch up as often!
Mix Dye Into Your Conditioner for a Weekly Treatment
Mix your purple hair dye into your conditioner of choice and work it into your hair on a weekly basis. Store it in a sealed container somewhere cool or at room temperature where it won’t be exposed to sunlight. Let it sit in your hair for five to ten minutes to let the violet hair color truly absorb.
Limit Shampoo Sessions
Limit shampooing sessions. Every time you wash your hair you are stripping away trace amounts of purple hair dye. It may seem drastic but if you can get down to two hair wash sessions a week your color will thank you.
It may feel like an uncomfortable change but luckily the modern beauty world is here to help. Dry shampoo is a wonderful antidote to greasy, lifeless hair, especially when your hair is adjusting to your reduced washing schedule. A texturizing or volume-intensifying dry shampoo can help your locks look full and healthy, even if you’re on day three of dry shampoo!
When you do wash your purple hair ensure you are using lukewarm water. Hot water singes the hair cuticles and more aggressively strips oils and color.
Avoid Heat Products
Heat products should be kept to a minimum. They intensify dryness and lead to brittle hair. Let your violet hair dry naturally and use braids or hair rollers to add organic texture.
Heat products should be used sparingly, and you must always ensure that you have heat protectant products on hand. If you must blow-dry your hair, do so at lower volumes!
Treat Those Locks
A little moisture goes a long way with dyed hair. Invest in a deep moisturizing treatment, either at home or at the salon. Oil treatments enrich your hair and infuse the follicle with nourishing hydration. Use a hair mask for a weekly pampering experience. Your purple strands (and scalp) will thank you!
Frequent Touch-Ups
Unnatural hair colors are inevitably high-maintenance. There we said it. As much as we would love to sugarcoat it, the truth is that radiant and vibrant purple hair color requires monthly touch-ups. That could be as simple as a babylight application or root refresher, but it has to be done.
Some women love the faded, muted periwinkle hair color that develops over time. If you like the charcoal root look, then you are welcome to limit re-dyeing sessions. Just know that your purple hair color will fade, and that nothing you can do at home will stop it, new dye job aside!
Makeup Tips for Purple Hair
As you get your royal purple hair color, you should also adjust your makeup routine according to the deep pigments of your hair to make sure you always look like a queen as you step out the door.
Heed That Color Wheel
Shades that are diametrically opposite purple like yellow serve as a wonderful baseline. Gold, tan, metallic burnt brown – all of these makeup colors create a moody and seductive appearance with purple hair.
A deep forest or mint green looks ethereal and mythical when paired with dreamy purple locks. Green is a total crowd-pleaser. It pairs perfectly with brown, green, and blue eyes.
Lavender Lips, Lavender Eyes
Lavender and lilac eyeshadow and lipstick is a fearless and playful way of taking your purple hair to the next level. It helps create a cohesive, balanced look that will turn heads. For an original and dramatic evening look, invest in a purple mascara!
As for your eyebrows, keep them in a neutral grey-taupe shade that can be a shade darker than your violet hair.
Match Your Undertones
If you have chosen a cool purple hair dye, go for cool makeup. The same holds true for warm shades. This rule encompasses foundation, concealer, contour, and bronzer. If you clash your undertones, your makeup look will appear brash and dirty. For a seamless and flawless look you need to match your undertones!
Lipstick Wardrobe
When you embrace purple hair, the world of lipsticks opens up to you! Women with cool-toned purple hair look stunning with black, mauve, taupe, and berry shades. Women with warm-toned purple hair look gorgeous with crimson, baby pink, and nude. That being said, you can certainly experiment with all tones now that you’re a lavender-locked babe.
Let Purple Hair Take the Stage
You’ve gone to all the trouble to dye your hair a stunning unicorn shade of purple, so why not skip the OTT makeup and go nude? What we mean to say is: embrace a more natural makeup aesthetic and let your violet hair steal the show. Go for a dewy foundation, nude eyeshadow, and a light layer of matte bronzer.
Pick One
If you’re going to go for bright red lips, tone down the eyes! If you’re doing a dark, inky smoked eye, go for a nude lip. This balance is especially important to strike when you have purple hair lest you look clown-like.
Contour and Highlighter = Yes
Contour and highlighter are wonderful, low-pigment options to create a sculpted and flawless face. It brings your best features to the fore while minimizing the addition of color to your makeup look.
Fashion Tips for Purple Hair
So what are the best colors that purple-haired queens should give preference to?
Bring on the Sunshine
Go yellow! Yellow is opposite purple on the color wheel, and when combined they create an original, unexpectedly delightful pair.
Monochrome
Invest in shades of lilac, royal purple, and indigo. While the full-dose purple requires a certain level of confidence, it can be an outrageously brazen way of wearing your boldness on your sleeves.
Minimalist Futurism
This is a particularly wonderful aesthetic strategy for women who choose an icy or cool-toned purple hair shade. Sleek, clean lines and details of chrome and grey look out of this world futuristic with ethereal purple locks.
Black, White, Lavender
Of course, you can’t go wrong with black and white but it bears repeating. A monochromatic black or white outfit will look compellingly mysterious and romantic with luscious purple hair. This trick is universal in that it has an equally beautiful effect on both warm and cool undertones of purple.
Bow Down to the Color Wheel
One quick tip: we suggest avoiding a monochromatic outfit of orange or red. Frankly speaking, the colors will clash in an unappealing way. If you live by the clash, then pay heed to our next tip!
Power Clash Effectively
If you want to power clash, however, do it right: combine quirky prints, curated accessories, and diverse colors to make the outfit a hit.
Dark Purple + Deep Blue / Light Purple + Light Blue
If you have a deeper shade of eggplant, plum, or wine, your hair will look absolutely compelling with a shade of royal blue, indigo, or denim. Go for a deep blue blazer for an elegant, yet innovative, look.
On the other hand, a lilac, lavender or heather shade will look ethereal and dreamy with a shade of sky, ice, and cerulean blue.
Photos via @rootssalonconcept, Instagram
