Believe it or not, choosing the right hair color for yourself is pretty simple: you'll want to stick to colors that will compliment your skin tone, and then you'll have to decide if you're better off with single-process color or highlights (which is what we're here to help you for!). Here are nine important things to consider before you color.

1) Can You Go Blonde?

A VERY SMALL number of women look good in any color, but let's be honest - most women don't. If you were born with blond hair, you'll likely look good as a blonde for the rest of your life. If you have pink, pale skin that tends to burn easily, or if you have blue or green eyes, blond can work for you, too.

Remember: if you are going the bottle route, never color your hair more than 2 shades lighter than your natural shade. We highly recommend to all potential clients that it's a much better idea to have a professional color your hair than take matters into their own hands, ESPECIALLY when lightening up to a much blonder tone.

2) The Right Way to Go (or Stay) Brown

If your skin is extremely pale and you have brown hair, you may want to consider going lighter. We don't recommend going dramatically darker, as a very brown/black tone can make you appear washed out and even make you look older - and no one wants that!

3) Can I Go Red?

Surprisingly, many women can go a shade of red, so what's important here is finding the correct shade - which we can happily help you with! If you want to go red, just like if you're looking  to go blond, we strongly advise you not to do it on your own. Get a professional consultation from us. You wouldn't believe how many color corrections are done on women who've tried to go red with store-bought hair dye!

Also, you may want to check out How to Pick the Right Shade of Red from About.com's Beauty Section.

4) To Color or to Highlight, That's the Question

If you have a base hair tone that you like and want to maintain, you're much better off with highlights than you would be with a single-process color. You don't want to ruin what nature gave you; what you want to do is enhance and accentuate it. If, on the other hand, your base color washes out your skin tone from being too light or too dark, consider single-process color, as single-process color is much cheaper than highlights.

Highlights will always look best when stylists use at least two different shades. Ask us for more around your face as they can brighten and accentuate your complexion.

Keep the following in mind when deciding to go the single-process or the highlight route: due to the speed of your roots growing in, all-over coloring will need to be touched up every four to eight weeks, while highlights can last up to two or three months, depending on what kind you get. Ask us about a gloss treatment following your color. Gloss boosts color and makes hair shinier.

5) You're Going for Highlights, But Which Kind?

There are four types of highlights: basic foil highlights, bailage or "hair painting," chunking or "piecing," and lowlighting - ask us about what we can do for you! Foil highlights work by adding strands of color to hair. With foiling, you can get up to five different shades in hair to make it look more natural.

Baliage, or "hair painting," allows the stylist to add natural-looking stripes of color to hair in large or small swaths. This works best for women with a great base color who want to go just a couple shades lighter in a few areas to accentuate and enhance their complexion. You won't need to get roots touched up as much with baliage as you do foils.

Lowlighting allows the stylist to add darker shades to hair, which gives color more contrast.

6) Gray, Gray, Go Away, Don't Come Again Another Day

Gray hair can be resilient to hair dye because of its coarse texture. If your hair is less than 15 percent gray, we suggest you opt for a semi-permanent color that's a shade lighter than your natural pre-gray color (or that exactly matches your color).

Many women who are more than half gray opt to dye their hair blonde. For more information on coloring gray hair, give us a call - just like with going blond or going red, you're going to want to come to us if you want to dye away your gray.

7) So You Hate Your Color? Don't Strangle the Stylist!

PLEASE don't be afraid to come back to our salon and talk to your stylist if you are not pleased with the results! There are all sorts of ways for us to fix color that's just "not right." We offer a range of corrective color services - just give us a call and we'll set up a consultation.

8) Your Color is Gorgeous, Now What?

You invested money for hair color, now protect your investment with color-enhancing shampoo and conditioner once a week. We can supply these to you - just ask your stylist about what'll be right for you! These products deposit miniscule amounts of color into hair, refreshing your new shade and adding dimension, vibrance, and texture all at the same time.

9) Uh-Oh. Your Roots Are Growing In!

You can reasonably expect your color to last for about six to eight weeks before your roots will begin to show. If your hair is colored, you should get your roots touched up here in our salon, or if you prefer, you can do them yourself with a store-bought kit. Ask your stylist if this is the correct solution for you, though.

If you have highlights or lowlights, avoid having your whole head colored by asking your stylist to do your hairline, crown and part once the roots start to show. A word of warning: Foil highlights require precise application and fixing dark roots is nearly impossible with them. We recommend that you consider baliage, which looks more natural.

Have any other hair coloring concerns or questions? Please feel free to call us or drop us a line with the Contact Us form on the right side of the page!