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Surveys that assess skin color support evidence building about colorism and related systemic inequalities that affect health and wellbeing. Methodologists have increasing choices for such assessments, including a growing array of digital images for rating scales and increasingly cost-effective handheld mechanical devices based on color science. Guidance is needed for choosing among these growing options. We used data from a diverse sample of 102 college students to produce new empirical evidence and practical guidance about various options. We compared three handheld devices that ranged in price, considering variations in their reliabilities and how their results differed by where on the body and with what device settings readings were taken. We also offered evidence regarding how reliably interviewers and participants could choose from a large array of color swatches offering variation in skin undertone (redness, yellowness) in addition to skin shade (lightness-to-darkness). Overall, the results were promising, demonstrating that modern handheld devices and rating scales could be feasibly and reliably used. For instance, results demonstrated that just one or two device readings were needed at any given location, and, the device readings and rating scale scores similarly captured the relative darkness of skin. In other cases, recommendations were less certain. For instance, skin undertones of redness and yellowness were more sensitive to device choices and body locations. We encourage future studies that pursue why such variability exists and for which substantive questions it matters most. 

It is well established that skin lightness-darkness is associated with social outcomes, but little is known regarding the social salience of skin undertones (redness and yellowness). Our study addresses two related research questions on this topic: first, we ask whether red and yellow undertones are consistently perceived by observers; second, we ask whether red and yellow undertones are associated with expectations of discrimination across a range of social settings. We address these questions using novel survey data in which skin lightness-darkness and undertones are captured using CIELAB measurements and a two-dimensional categorical skin color scale. Although we find skin lightness-darkness to be the strongest and most consistent predictor of discrimination expectations, respondents also perceived skin undertones consistently, and skin yellowness was associated with a higher predicted likelihood of discrimination net of lightness-darkness in certain social settings. Our findings suggest that colorism can extend beyond a light-dark binary and emphasize the value of capturing undertones, particularly yellowness, in social surveys assessing skin color.