How to choose your lace tint shade

Choosing the right lace tint spray shade doesn't have to be confusing. Think about it how you do with your makeup!

It comes as no surprise that one of the most common questions we get asked is “how do I choose my lace tint shade?” Or how "How do I match my skin tone with lace” It's not a simple one-word answer so use this guide to help you get the right lace tint shade for you. 

The Wig Gurus lace tint range is based on skin undertones and general skin tones. The lace tint spray is an all-natural premium formula. In this blog post, we will be exploring how to determine your skin undertones to help make your purchase that much easier, or if you're a stylist it will help you apply these tips and techniques when customizing your client's lace pieces. Apply these simple techniques and you will be good to go. 

Lace frontals, lace closures, full lace wigs, HD laces wigs HD frontals (I'm sure You get the point) These ALL need a degree of customizing when you buy them. This is unless you purchase our HD lace caviar closures and frontal which all come ready to wear for you. But we will get to those in another blog post. 

So let's dive right in 

Part 1- The science behind skin tones

Skin Tone and characteristics 

Throughout history, there have been multiple attempts to type skin colour and tones. The Fitzpatrick scale is probably one of the most used typing systems in the dermatological industry. This scale is used widely by skin specialists such as dermatologists and aestheticians when delivering skin treatments. However, we have found it particularly useful when tinting lace. The scale came up with 6 types based on how they reacted to sunlight.

Type 1 – typically has light, ivory skin but when exposed to the sun always burns and peels but won't ever tan. 

 2 – has a light, fair complexion and burns quickly when exposed to the sun and rarely tans.

 3 – usually has a beige tint to the skin and may burn when exposed to the sun, but is capable of tanning. 

 4 – this is a person with olive skin or light brown tone and will not freckle when exposed to the sun. This person rarely gets a sunburn and tans regularly.

 5 – is a dark brown or black skin tone, rarely gets a sunburn and always tans under sun exposure. 

 6 – contains the most melanin in the skin and has the richest and darkest pigment. This person never burns or tans quickly when exposed to the sun. You won't fit all of the characteristics of the skin type as it is still subjective. However, Within these six main skin types, individual skin tones can then be assessed with shade matching and figuring out undertones

With The Wig Gurus lace tint spray range, we are more focused on Skin Types 3-6. We should also note that with more recent advances in technology and science, we now know that in particular, skin types 5 and 6 can be adversely affected by the sun so a good sunscreen such as Black Girl sunscreen. But let us not digress because we are talking about lace tint after all.  

Everyone has a natural skin tone. Regardless of whether you are brown skin or Caucasian, within each race, we all have our unique skin tones. So what makes up skin tone? Skin tone is down to two core components:

1. Pigmentation: This is the colour of our skin. It is based on genetics and environmental factors. 
2. Melanin: is essentially the amount of pigmentation in the skin and affects both the skin and hair follicles. based on genetics

No melanin = no pigment. Melanin produces the light and dark tones we see. To break it down even further there are two main components of Melanin:

1. Eumelanin - this constitutes the brown and black pigments 
2. Pheomelanin- this constitutes the red and yellow pigmentation

That's a lot to take in, but trust us we are getting to the good part. And don't worry if you're not that into science. This is great knowledge to have at your disposal whenever you're considering anything to do with your skin.

Undertones 

1. WARM Associated with golden yellow and peach tones. Think of the colours of a sunset.
2. NEUTRAL No obvious undertones, more associated with the skin's natural tone. Olive skin tones can also usually fall into this category. Think green and beige when thinking neutral.
3. COOL Associated with blueish, grey and pink tones.

Part 2- How to Check Your Skin Undertones and Tone 

Skin Tone

This is usually the easiest thing for us to do and we can see if we are white, tan, light/medium brown, or dark brown. Once you know this jump straight into identifying your undertones 

Undertones

Two ways to check your Undertones

1. A great way to do this is to firstly check the inside of your arm. The reason for this is because this is where the main skin undertones are, as it is one of the least exposed parts of the body to sunlight. 
2. Holding a white piece of paper up to your face will also help reveal your undertones. The white helps to bring out the colour of your skin. If the face suddenly appears to be yellow or red the skin is warm, if pink or blue, then think cool, and if grey think neutral tones.

Use these two features as a starting point to help you select your lace tint shade! 

For Example:

1. You Have a Warm Golden undertone and Type 4 Skin tone. The shade for you would be CARAMEL FRAPPE lace tint
2. You have a Neutral undertone and Type 6 skin tone. The shade for you would be CHOCOLATE DARLING lace tint

You may need to mix two shades of lace tint spray, but we will cover that in our next blog posts. This is just an introduction to put you on the right track. 

If you are still struggling, Check out our other blog posts, or check your makeup foundation shade as it's easier to see the undertones of the product in that form. Assess your skin type to ensure that your skin is compatible with your techniques. Knowing their skin type can also affect undertones So why is this all-important? Well once you are aware of one's skin colour and undertones, picking a shade or creating a custom lace tint spray shade becomes that much easier.

Check out this video of us tinting some lace too.

Now that you know your skin tone and undertones, this should make your purchases for our lace tint spray and other products that much easier. If you want us to give you a personalised skin shade match simply send us an email or dm us on Instagram where one of our staff will be more than happy to help you. 

It's not about simply offering a product, but we are here for the GURUS to educate and help to further develop techniques which will make life easier, and also open new doors for us to further innovate and expand. When it comes to wigs Many of you may have attended masterclasses for wig making and installations and that is great! However, when it comes to lace tinting we surely got you covered because we simply produce the best lace tint. 

Until next time!

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