diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ad731e9..65e5ae9 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ All of the color scales in colorlover
 
 ### cl.to_numeric( scale ) 
 
-Converts scale of RGB or HSL strings to list of tuples with RGB integer values
+Converts scale of HEX, RGB or HSL strings to list of tuples with RGB integer values
 
 ```
 >>> cl.to_numeric( cl.scales['3']['div']['RdYlBu'] )
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ Converts scale of RGB or HSL strings to list of tuples with RGB integer values
 
 ### cl.to_hsl( scale ) 
 
-Converts a string RGB or numeric RGB colorscale to HSL
+Converts a string RGB, HEX or numeric RGB colorscale to HSL
 
 ```
 >>> cl.to_hsl( cl.scales['3']['div']['RdYlBu'] )
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ Converts a string RGB or numeric RGB colorscale to HSL
 
 ### cl.to_rgb( scale )
 
-Convert an HSL or numeric RGB color scale to string RGB color scale
+Convert an HSL, HEX or numeric RGB color scale to string RGB color scale
 
 ```
 >>> cl.to_rgb( cl.scales['3']['div']['RdYlBu'] )
@@ -66,6 +66,16 @@ Convert an HSL or numeric RGB color scale to string RGB color scale
 ['rgb(252,141,89)', 'rgb(255,255,191)', 'rgb(145,191,219)']
 ```
 
+### cl.to_hex( scale )
+
+Converts an HSL, string RGB, numeric RGB colorscale to HEX
+
+```
+>>> cl.to_rgb( cl.scales['3']['div']['RdYlBu'] )
+
+[''#fc8d59', '#ffffbf', '#91bfdb']
+```
+
 ### cl.to_html( scale )
 
 Traverse color scale dictionary and return available color scales as HTML string
diff --git a/colorlover/__init__.py b/colorlover/__init__.py
index 4753d8b..f1794c4 100755
--- a/colorlover/__init__.py
+++ b/colorlover/__init__.py
@@ -1639,6 +1639,8 @@ def scale_type( scale ):
         return s_t
     elif isinstance(swatch,tuple) and len(swatch) == 3:
         return 'numeric'
+    elif swatch[0] == '#' and len(swatch) == 7:
+        return 'hex'
     raise Exception('Could not determine type of input colorscale.\n\
 Colorscales must be in one of these 3 forms:\n\
 [ (255, 255, 255), (255, 255, 255), (255, 255, 255) ]\n\
@@ -1651,10 +1653,20 @@ def to_numeric( scale ):
         [ (255, 255, 255), (255, 255, 255), (255, 255, 255) ] '''
     numeric_scale = []
     s_t = scale_type( scale )
-    if s_t in ['rgb','hsl']:
+    if s_t == 'rgb':
         for s in scale:
             s = s[s.find("(")+1:s.find(")")].replace(' ','').split(',')
             numeric_scale.append( ( float(s[0]), float(s[1]), float(s[2]) ) )
+    elif s_t == 'hsl':
+        scale = to_rgb( scale )
+        for s in scale:
+            s = s[s.find("(")+1:s.find(")")].replace(' ','').split(',')
+            numeric_scale.append( s )
+    elif s_t == 'hex':
+        for s in scale:
+            s = s.lstrip('#')
+            lv = len(s)
+            numeric_scale.append(tuple(int(s[i:i + lv // 3], 16) for i in range(0, lv, lv // 3)))
     elif s_t == 'numeric':
         numeric_scale = scale
     return numeric_scale
@@ -1690,6 +1702,9 @@ def to_hsl( scale ):
     elif s_t == 'rgb':
         scale = to_numeric( scale )
 
+    elif s_t == 'hex':
+        scale = to_numeric( scale )
+
     for ea in scale:
         r,g,b = [ x/255.0 for x in ea ]
         h,l,s = colorsys.rgb_to_hls( r,g,b )
@@ -1699,6 +1714,22 @@ def to_hsl( scale ):
 
     return hsl
 
+def to_hex( scale ):
+    ''' convert an hsl, numeric or rgb color to string hex color. ie,
+        [ "hsl(360,100,100)", "hsl(360,100,100)", "hsl(360,100,100)" ] -->
+        [ "#FFFFFF", "#FFFFFF", "#FFFFFF" ]
+        '''
+    s_t = scale_type(scale)
+
+    if s_t == 'hex':
+        return scale
+    elif s_t == 'numeric':
+        return ['#%02x%02x%02x' % tuple(map(int, s)) for s in to_numeric( scale )]
+    elif s_t == 'rgb':
+        return ['#%02x%02x%02x' % tuple(map(int, s)) for s in to_numeric( scale )]
+    elif s_t == 'hsl':
+        return ['#%02x%02x%02x' % tuple(map(int, s)) for s in to_numeric( scale )]
+
 def to_rgb( scale ):
     ''' convert an hsl or numeric rgb color scale to string rgb color scale. ie,
         [ "hsl(360,100,100)", "hsl(360,100,100)", "hsl(360,100,100)" ] -->
@@ -1714,6 +1745,11 @@ def to_rgb( scale ):
         for ea in scale:
             rgb.append( 'rgb'+str(ea) )
         return rgb
+    elif s_t == 'hex':
+        scale = to_numeric( scale )
+        for ea in scale:
+            rgb.append( 'rgb'+str(ea) )
+        return rgb
     elif s_t == 'hsl':
         numeric_hsl_scale = []
         for s in scale:
diff --git a/tests.py b/tests.py
index 4a49d55..4ef6fe2 100644
--- a/tests.py
+++ b/tests.py
@@ -25,6 +25,19 @@
 
 
 class UsageTests(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_scale_type(self):
+        test_colors = {'rgb': ['rgb(252, 141, 89)', 'rgb(255, 255, 191)', 'rgb(145, 191, 219)'],
+                       'hsl': ['hsl(19,96,67)', 'hsl(60,100,87)', 'hsl(203,51,71)'],
+                       'hex': ['#fc8d59', '#ffffbf', '#91bfdb'],
+                       'numeric': [(252, 141, 89), (255, 255, 191), (145, 191, 219)],
+                       }
+
+        for type_scale, scale in test_colors.items():
+            self.assertEqual(
+                cl.scale_type(test_colors.get(type_scale)),
+                type_scale
+            )
+
     def test_scales(self):
         scales = cl.scales['3']['div']['RdYlBu']
         self.assertEqual(
@@ -39,6 +52,13 @@ def test_to_numeric(self):
              (255, 255, 191), (145, 191, 219)]
         )
 
+    def test_to_hex(self):
+        scales = cl.to_hex(cl.scales['3']['div']['RdYlBu'])
+        self.assertEqual(
+            scales,
+            ['#fc8d59', '#ffffbf', '#91bfdb']
+        )
+
     def test_to_hsl(self):
         scales = cl.to_hsl(cl.scales['3']['div']['RdYlBu'])
         self.assertEqual(