Have you been contemplating going blonde? You have probably come across the ultimate match-up, beige blonde vs ash blonde, and wondered which color would look best on you.
Picking the right blonde shade for you can be tricky. However, once you know what each blonde looks like, you can pick a shade of blonde that matches your skin tones and personality well.
We’ll look at the two popular blonde shades: beige blonde and ash blonde. Let’s discuss the difference between beige blonde and ash blonde to understand which shade works best for you. In short, beige blonde usually reads soft and neutral, often with both warm and cool tones, while ash blonde reads distinctly cool and gray-toned.
Senior stylist Emma Baxendale judges these two by how they fall apart, not how they start:
Both beige and ash blonde can fade brassy; the difference is the contrast with your starting point. Beige carries both warm and cool tones, so as it fades the shift is less jarring and simpler to fix, because you do not have to neutralize every bit of warmth to get back there.
Ash clients see their fade far more obviously, and a true ash usually needs a proper cleanse and a full re-tone to come back. Beige clients just tend to mind the warmth less and stretch their visits longer.
What Shade Is Beige Blonde?
Beige blonde is a neutral shade of blonde. It takes on a sandy-golden color that is neither too cool nor too warm.
It works well with most skin tones and blends beautifully with both cool and warm undertones. Beige is a tricky shade to achieve with dye and is known as the expensive blonde.
What Shade Is Ash Blonde?
Ash blonde is a cool shade of blonde. It has many gray, silver and white hues. Ashy blonde can incorporate root shadows or highlights to darken or brighten it. It is a beautiful wintery blonde; platinum, by comparison, is really a brighter, whiter blonde rather than a cooler one.
What Does Beige Blonde and Ash Blonde Hair Look Like?
Beige blonde hair has light brown, pale yellow, and a touch of warm gold shades. It also contains pale silvery undertones and the lightest hint of root shadows.
To put it simply, beige blonde hair looks like money. It has a glossy, sophisticated look that often speaks to having enough money to maintain it.
The complexity of the various undertones and overlays is hard to mimic and takes a great colorist. You also need to maintain that color with various products and touch-ups.
Ash blonde hair looks edgy but still sophisticated. It is a cool blonde shade that has shades of icy white, deep gray, and silver. You will also notice hints of green, violet, or blue in certain ashy blonde hair if you have an eye for color.
This blonde tone can vary as a stylist plays with the root shadows, silvers, grays, and white blonde highlights. It always has pearly tones but can be tweaked to fit different skin tones by combining different undertones.
Major Differences Between Ash Blonde and Beige Blonde
While they are both blonde shades, ash and beige blonde have some distinct differences.
Undertones
Beige blonde is a neutral blonde shade, which means it carries equal warm and cool undertones. The bright golds and warm browns balance with the cool whites and dark grays.
You can play around with the different undertones, but to achieve a beige blonde color, the undertones must balance to neutral.
On the other hand, ash blonde is a cool blonde shade, which means that the cool undertones overpower the warmer ones. It has more grays, blues, and whites than browns and bronze shades.
Process
To achieve beige blonde, you can lift to a level between 8 and 10. A level 8 or 9 will give you a perfect beige blonde shade, but it varies from person to person. Because it is a warm neutral blonde, you have more room to play with undertones to fit a specific aesthetic.
For ash blonde, the desired lift is level 9 to 10; ash toner over a darker base turns muddy rather than cool. That is where the similarity ends with a beige blonde. For ash blonde, the focus is on achieving a cool look with frostier undertones.
Skin Tone
Because beige blonde is a neutral blonde, it works for every skin tone. The key is to get the right blend of warm to cool undertones.
This hair color feels warmer and may look better on paler skin tones.
However, the right colorist can help make the beige shade of blonde hair work for cooler or olive skin tones.
Ash blonde is perfect for people with cool undertones.
If navy blue looks good on you, chances are that ash blonde will too. This ashy blonde is icy but not harsh. It often looks delicate and can wash out warmer skin undertones.
For warmer skin tones, ash blonde should be accompanied by warm highlights for balance.
Maintenance and Cost
Generally speaking, going blonde is expensive. The darker your natural hair is, the more expensive it will be.
That being said, beige blonde is expensive to achieve and maintain. You need regular touch-ups with no more than eight weeks between them. Because of the balance of warm and cool undertones, beige blonde can get coppery if not well maintained.
Ash blonde costs just as much to achieve, and the upkeep runs higher: the ash fades fast and needs regular toning to keep it from going yellow or muddy.
However, you can get away with spacing your touch-ups and simply following at-home maintenance guidelines. If you want a more polished look, you will have to touch it up more often.
|
Beige Blonde |
Ash Blonde |
|
|
Undertones |
Neutral |
Cool |
|
Description |
Glossy and bronze-ish |
Shimmery and silvery |
|
Process |
Level 7 to 10, ideally 8 or 9 |
Level 9 to 10; needs a very light base |
|
Skin tone |
All but mostly warm, neutral, and olive tones |
Cool and neutral tones |
|
Cost and Maintenance |
Expensive to achieve, requires regular maintenance. |
Just as expensive to achieve; needs more toning upkeep to stay ash. |
So, Ash Blonde or Beige Blonde: Which Shade Is Right for You?
To pick the right shade of blonde for you, you first have to look at your skin tone. Take notice of whether you have a warm, cool, olive, or neutral undertone.
If you are unsure, beige blonde will work for all. You simply have to find a good stylist who will take their time to match your skin tone to your perfect beige blonde shade.
For cool and neutral tones, you can play with ash blonde easily. Whether you are a cool summer or a cool winter on the skin color season chart, ash blonde will work for you. Your eye color will also play a role but the color season chart usually takes that into account.
When picking the right shade of blonde for you, you also have to consider your budget and discipline. Beige blonde is an expensive blonde. It takes a lot of money to achieve and even more to maintain. You cannot get lazy with your hair regimen or you risk a coppery, dull look.
Ash blonde is not the forgiving one: skip your toning steps and it slides yellow or dull quickly. Any blonde is a time and money commitment, and ash most of all.
Who suits which? Emma splits it cleanly: “Beige blondes suit clients who want a more natural shade of blonde and work well with slightly warmer skin tones. They also work for hair that will not lift light enough for an ash blonde, because you can complement the natural warmth with some ash and land on that beautiful neutral. Remember that ash tones can make you feel darker and slightly duller overall, as they do not reflect light the way a warmer blonde does. Beige sits naturally in the middle, which makes it perfect for the indecisive.”
