Soft Autumn: Hair Dye

Hair dye goes beyond simply altering your appearance - it’s a powerful expression of personality, confidence, and creativity. Whether you’re covering greys, enhancing your natural colour, or trying daring, unconventional shades, your chosen hue reflects your mood and identity. For many, it also offers a meaningful confidence boost, providing a sense of authenticity or symbolising the start of a new chapter.

In Soft Autumn, we see a variety of blondes as well as light to medium browns and light auburns. Colours are typically golden or reddish in tone as this emphasises the warm hue of the overall season. However, this subtype borders Summer and we occasionally see a mix of characteristics between the two.

In this article, we’ve used a variety of blonde, brunette and fashion colours to demonstrate which hair dyes we’d advise for Soft Autumn as well as those that should be avoided.

Affiliate links have been used to provide additional visual examples. These products have been physically tested on our clients in order to provide the most accurate recommendations but results may vary. We always advise a patch test prior to dyeing your hair. To achieve some of these colourings, you may need to lift your natural colour or strip back any residual dye. This is something a professional stylist could help with.

Please note, this advice is generic for all Soft Autumn individuals and recommendations will vary based on your unique colouring. Some trial and error may be required in order to find the best hair dye for yourself. For personalised advice, we suggest purchasing a Colour Analysis package with the hair option.

Soft Autumn individuals typically have naturally blonde, brunette or red hair. As a neutral-warm subtype, these colours tend to be golden in tone.

They belong to a season influenced by dark value, which makes them deeper than we see in Soft Summer.

Those who lean closer to Soft Summer may be able to select some ash variations. However, individuals who lean closer to Warm Autumn will need to select the warmer hair colours.

BLONDE HAIR

Belonging to a season influenced by depth, blonde can be tricky for Soft Autumn. However, they do have a low to moderate contrast level so deeper variations can be effective.

The strongest option for Amber is the golden blonde in example one, which is similar to Garnier Permanent Hair Colour in UL1 Chestnut Blonde. The depth of this colour creates a slight contrast with her skin tone, which provides the correct level of shade variance for her appearance. The warmth also draws out her golden undertones and looks effortlessly natural. 

Example two shows a darker variation like Garnier Nutrisse Permanent Hair Dye in 7.3 Dark Golden Blonde. Her eyes sparkle paired with this colour and she retains some of her golden glow but the depth is starting to become a little overpowering. She would need to balance this with lighter makeup, jewellery and clothing. 

Ash colours are not typically recommended to Autumn individuals but, as this subtype borders Summer, some people can tolerate cooler variations. 

The ash in example three and dark ash in example four aren’t as effective as the previous examples. Note that her golden glow is diminished here. However, the depth works for her contrast level. Again, she would simply need to balance this with warm makeup, jewellery and clothing. For ash blonde, we suggest trying Revlon Colorstay Longwear Permanent Cream Colour in 8.13 Beige Blonde whereas a good choice for dark ash would be Clairol Nice'n Easy Crème Hair Dye in 7A/7C Dark Ash Blonde.

Due to needing such subtle depth, light blondes are not recommended for Soft Autumn. In example five, we see the golden colour before we see Amber whereas the light ash in example six is lost on her rich appearance. 

brunette hair

Considering many Soft Autumn individuals naturally have brunette hair, this colour is an ideal choice for a subtle update or a full image transformation.

Example one shows a light golden brunette similar to Garnier Olia Permanent Hair Dye in 6.3 Golden Light Brown. Like the medium and dark blondes discussed above, this colour is in low contrast with Amber’s skin and eyes. This means it works with her contrast level. The warm tones also draw out her golden glow and make it look natural. 

The golden brunette in example two is slightly deeper but has a similar effect. It may be likened to Clairol Natural Instincts Hair Dye in 5G Medium Golden Brown. Here, we can see the earthy green of her eye colour. Compare this to her eyes in the ash brunette examples where they look greyish blue. This is because the gold emphasises the colour whereas the ash variations draw out the grey undertones. 

Dark golden brunette can be tricky to balance as too much depth can look harsh on Soft Autumn’s delicate image. 

Example three isn’t as effective as the light golden or golden variations. It throws some white on Amber’s face. This suggests an imbalance. However, it is still markedly better than the ash examples due to its warmth. Amber would need to balance a hair dye like Schwarzkopf Natural & Nourishing Hair Dye in 565 Dark Gold Brown with lighter makeup, jewellery and clothing. 

We have already briefly discussed that the ash examples turn Amber’s eyes grey. This is not the only issue with these cool colours though as they reflect white on her skin. 

Soft Autumn individuals leaning towards Soft Summer may be able to handle ash colours but need to be cautious to balance these colours with some warmth. 

other hair

The Soft Autumn hair dye chart includes a range of reds as well as other fashion colours. Whilst the auburns and coppers work for most, the pinks, greens and lilacs are reserved for those leaning towards Soft Summer. This is due to their cooler tones, which cannot be tolerated by individuals with more warmth. 

We see light auburn in example one and medium auburn in example two. These colours may be likened to Clairol Nice'n Easy Crème Hair Dye in 6R Light Auburn and Clairol Nice'n Easy Crème Hair Dye in 5WR Medium Warm Auburn respectively. Like the golden brunette examples in the section above, these warm colours draw out Amber’s golden tones and allow the green in her eyes to shine through. 

The dark auburn in example four retains this golden glow but is too dark for her contrast level and is overpowering. We see the hair colour before we see Amber, which suggests an imbalance. 

Copper, as seen in example three, is also a good option for Soft Autumn individuals leaning towards Warm Autumn. This particular shade is softer than the brighter variations we see recommended to Spring individuals. It lights up Amber’s image without reflecting any colour onto her skin. We would recommend products such as Color Time Permanent Gel Hair Dye in Passionate Copper 69.

Soft Autumn individuals should avoid both the platinum blonde in example five and the intense black in example six. This is a tussle between extremely light and extremely dark and we know Soft Autumn needs to fall somewhere in the middle.

The black is not only too dark but is also too bright. It is very overpowering on Amber and throws white on her skin. This colour only appears in the Winter hair dye charts as that season has the intensity to handle it. Even in Dark Autumn, we see brown blacks to soften the colour.

At the other end of the scale, platinum is far too light and cool for Amber. It looks unnatural as we see the colour before we see her. This colour is suitable for Light Summer individuals as it echoes their ethereal nature whereas Soft Autumn is where we begin to see rich depth. 

Styling

Soft Autumn has a low to moderate contrast level. This means their best colour combinations blend with those in the individual’s natural palette rather than opposing them.

The above visual demonstrates how to effectively combine colours to repeat this contrast level if you choose to style your hair with a mix of highlights and low lights. This also applies to styles such as balayage, which maintain Soft Autumn's delicate appearance. It is recommended to seek advice from a professional hair stylist. 

Example one shows neighbouring hues using a medium honey blonde and a golden reddish blonde. These could be combined to your natural colour as highlights or using the honey blonde as a base colour and the golden red evenly dispersed. This could also be done with monochromatic mixing as shown in example three where we have used a light golden brown and a medium golden brown.

Another way to achieve this effect is with the use of a dark neutral and a light accent. In example two, we have used a golden brown and copper. Again, this can be achieved with highlights and lowlights or perhaps a gentle ombre effect with the pink delicately drawn through the ends.

Soft Summer has a dominantly muted chroma. Due to this, we often see glistening hair shines. This can be maintained with the use of conditioning hair masks, argon oil and shine spray to help boost the hair's reflectivity.

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Soft Autumn - Hair Chart [Digital Download]

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