Switching your hair color to a pretty golden or honey shade will brighten your face instantly and can even make you look slimmer. And with so many easy-to-use products available in any drugstore, you’ll save time and money by doing it yourself at home. All you need to do is follow our three easy steps. First, determine your natural hair color to help you get your perfect shade of blond. Second, figure out which kind of formula you want — from permanent, all-over coverage to subtle or chunky highlights. Finally, once you’ve decided what’s best for you, use our expert tips for beyond-the-box advice that will give you salon-like results.

The hottest shades right now range from rich caramel hues to soft golden highlights to ultra-light buttery tones. Chunky streaks are also popular.

Find your natural hair color below, then see what shade you’ll need to buy to get the perfect look.

Dark Auburn
Choose a shade with an ash undertone so it won’t end up looking brassy or orange. (Dark hair is more prone to this than lighter colors)

Strawberry Blond 
Light hair is easier to change to blond than darker shades. Go for an extra-light color dye. You may even want to add highlights just around the face.

Dark Blond
If you want to go to a bright golden blond, you need a shade that will lighten up darker tones.

Light Brown
Transform your hair into a golden, sunny color, not a cool blond, which will make you look washed out. Add lowlights.

Medium Brown
When used on medium to dark brown hair, blond dyes can add a hint of red to the overall color, and the sun will intensify these highlights.

Dark and Relaxed
This is the trickiest hair color and type to dye at home. Try a highlighting kit instead of all-over color, and stick to chunky, bold streaks.

There are many types of hair color. Use this guide to choose the at-home kit that’s right for you.

Bleaching Kits
These kits can make your hair lighter than any other at-home option. Bleach is used to strip away your natural color.
 
Permanent Hair Colors
Because they have peroxide or some other lightener in them, permanent colors won’t just cover your natural hair with a new color, they’ll actually strip away your old color. The color will never fade or wash out, but you will need to touch up roots.

Demi-Permanent Hair Colors
These only deposit color and will fade over time — you’ll have to start touching up around the sixth week.

Semi-Permanent Hair Colors
Use semi-permanents to lighten your natural hair up to three shades. They’re similar to demi-permanents but will start to fade earlier — after about four weeks.
 
Highlights
Highlights are streaks that are a lighter color than your base color. At-home highlighting kits always include a lightening agent, like peroxide. In the salon, a colorist may create highlights with a dye instead.
 
Lowlights
Similar to highlights, lowlights are steaks that are darker than your base color.

The instructions on the box won’t tell you everything. Here, colorists to the stars share some of their best secrets and no-fail techniques.

Beware of the Box
Don’t assume that your hair color will end up like the model’s hair on the front of the box. Use the pictures on the side or back for a more accurate idea of what you can expect.

Be Realistic
The biggest mistake people make with at-home coloring is thinking they can get dramatic changes, says Giselle, a colorist at Pierre Michel in New York City and a Clairol hair-color trainer. “At-home permanent and semi-permanent color kits can only lighten so much,” she says. Highlighting and bleaching kits will strip color, so they’re best if you want to lighten dark hair.

Check Your Root Color
Even if you’ve been coloring your hair for years, always choose a dye based on your natural color (the shade of your roots) advises Marcello Paglionico, a colorist at Warren-Tricomi salon in New York City and Connecticut whose celebrity client roster includes Sarah Jessica Parker.

Watch the Time
The ends of your hair will absorb more dye than the roots, so keep the dye on for less time there than you keep it on the roots.

Skip the Shampoo
Don’t wash your hair the day you color it. The natural oils will help keep the dye from drying out your hair or irritating your scalp.

Deep-Condition
The lighter you take your hair, the more stress you put on it, according to Nick Arrojo, color expert and owner of the Arrojo Studio in New York City. Use a gentle shampoo and ultra-hydrating conditioner. Keep hair healthy by cutting your blow dryer or flatiron use to just once or twice a week.

EXTRA TIP: Cover Up Your Gray
Don’t let your hair color give your age away. Hide the grays and look younger.

Blond is a great choice if you want to camouflage grays. For one thing, it’s easier to change from gray to blond than to red or brown. Another benefit is that gray roots blend in better when the rest of your hair is light. Also, as you start to lose pigment in your hair and notice more grays, you’re probably beginning to lose pigment in your skin, too. This makes light hair more flattering than dark, which can look too severe with pale skin.