Tutorial: Change Hair Color in Photoshop

In this Photoshop tutorial, I will show you how to change hair color in Photoshop. You can change any color you like from blonde to red or even dark hair. In this tutorial, I used a model with dark hair to show you that you can do anything with Photoshop. This tutorial is for beginners and I don’t use complicated techniques for even better results.

Learn how to change hair color in Photoshop

Tutorial Details and Resources

Difficulty: Beginner
Apps Used: Adobe Photoshop
Estimated Completion Time: 5-15′ Minutes
Resources: Girl from Kris Krug

Step 1 > Open the Image

First, open the image you want to edit. For this tutorial, i used a girl with dark hair but you can change any color with the same technique. The settings, however, have to be different unless your model has the same hair color as my example.

Step 2 > Duplicate the Layer

Simply duplicate the layer so if anything goes wrong you don’t have to import the image again in Photoshop.

Step 3 > Edit in Quick Mask Mode

To select the hair you can use the Quick Mask Mode (Q) and draw over the hair. In your tools palette press the Quick Mask Mode (Q). Next, pick the Brush Tool (B) with size 40px and 30% hardness.

Step 4 > Draw Over the Hair

As you draw over the hair you will notice the transparent red color. Use smaller brush size for hair details. If you paint the wrong spot simply turn the foreground color to white and draw again over it. When you are done press the Quick Mask Mode (Q) again to return to normal mode. You will notice the hair is now selected.

Step 5 > Inverse the Selection

Go to Select > Inverse or press (Shift + Ctrl + I) to inverse the selection. Now we are ready to change the color.

Step 6 > Change the Color

To change the color we need to use an adjustment layer. In your layers palette press the adjustment layer small button in the bottom and press Selective Color.

Step 7 > Color Settings

You can play with settings to achieve your desired result. I used the following settings to change the dark hair:

Reds: cyan: -66, magenta: 26, yellow: 3, black: 21.

Neutrals: cyan: -24, magenta: -14, yellow: 0, black: -3.

Blacks: cyan: -10, magenta: 3, yellow: -5, black: 3.

Conclusion

With this technique, you can change colors on hair, eyes, nails, and anything else you like. This is also non-destructive technique because you are not painting over the actual pixels. You can revert the settings simply by disabling the adjustment layer.