Thinking about a new hair color? This guide covers the most popular hair colors and coloring techniques, from honey blonde and cowboy copper to balayage and money pieces, with a one-line description of each and a link to the full guide.
How to choose a hair color
- Start with your undertone. Warm undertones suit golden, honey, caramel and copper shades. Cool undertones suit ash, platinum, burgundy and cherry. Neutral undertones can wear both. See how to find your undertone, or get your palette with the free color analysis.
- Count the levels. Staying within two levels of your natural color is easy to maintain. Going much lighter means bleach, toner and regular upkeep. See the hair color chart.
- Be honest about upkeep. Reds and vivid colors fade in weeks. Balayage and shadow roots can go months.
- Try it first. Preview any shade on your own photo with the AI hair color changer.
Blonde
- Platinum blonde hair: Platinum blonde is the palest blonde, close to white, with a cool tone.
- Ash blonde hair: Ash blonde is a cool blonde with gray or silver undertones and no gold or yellow.
- Golden blonde hair: Golden blonde is a warm, bright blonde with yellow-gold tones.
- Honey blonde hair: Honey blonde is a warm, golden blonde with amber and light brown tones, like honey held up to the light.
- Strawberry blonde hair: Strawberry blonde is a warm, light reddish-blonde: golden blonde with a tint of red or copper.
- Dirty blonde hair: Dirty blonde is a dark blonde shade with light brown and beige tones mixed in.
- Old money blonde: Old money blonde is a soft, natural-looking blonde made with very fine, blended highlights in warm-neutral tones and a gently shadowed root.
- Bronde hair: Bronde is a hair color halfway between brown and blonde: a light brown or dark blonde base with finely blended brown and blonde strands.
Brown
- Light brown hair: Light brown is a soft brown one step darker than dark blonde, around level 5 to 6.
- Golden brown hair: Golden brown is a light-to-medium brown with warm gold tones.
- Chestnut brown hair: Chestnut brown is a medium brown with warm red and gold undertones, like the shell of a chestnut.
- Chocolate brown hair: Chocolate brown is a rich, medium-to-dark brown with a neutral or slightly warm tone.
- Ash brown hair: Ash brown is a cool-toned brown with gray or silver undertones and no red or gold.
- Mushroom brown hair: Mushroom brown is a cool, ashy light-to-medium brown with gray and beige tones, like the underside of a mushroom.
- Dark brown hair: Dark brown is a deep brown, around level 2 to 3, one step lighter than black.
Red and copper
- Copper hair: Copper is a bright orange-red hair color with a metallic warmth, like a new penny.
- Cowboy copper hair: Cowboy copper is a hair color that blends copper with brown, giving a muted, leathery red-brown instead of a bright orange.
- Ginger hair: Ginger is a natural-looking orange-red hair color, the shade most people mean by a natural redhead.
- Auburn hair: Auburn is a reddish-brown hair color.
- Dark red hair: Dark red hair covers the deep end of the red family: burgundy, wine, cherry, mahogany and deep crimson.
- Burgundy hair: Burgundy is a dark red hair color with a purple undertone, named after the wine.
- Cherry red hair: Cherry red is a bright, saturated red with a slightly cool, blue undertone, like a ripe cherry.
- Cherry cola hair: Cherry cola is a deep red-brown hair color with violet and burgundy tones, like cola with a splash of cherry.
- Mahogany hair: Mahogany is a deep reddish-brown hair color with a slight violet tint, named after the wood.
Black, gray and silver
- Jet black hair: Jet black is the darkest hair color, level 1: a deep, solid black with a neutral or cool tone.
- Silver hair: Silver hair is a cool, metallic gray.
- Salt and pepper hair: Salt and pepper hair is a natural mix of gray or white strands with your original dark color.
- Gray blending: Gray blending is a coloring approach that uses fine highlights and lowlights to blend gray hair in with your natural color, instead of covering it with a solid dye.
Pink, purple and blue
- Pink hair: Pink hair is a fashion color that ranges from pale pastel pink to bright hot pink and deep magenta.
- Rose gold hair: Rose gold is a hair color that blends soft pink with golden or peach tones, like the metal.
- Purple hair: Purple hair is a fashion color that runs from pale lavender and lilac through violet to deep plum.
- Blue hair: Blue hair is a fashion color that ranges from pastel and sky blue to electric blue, teal and deep navy.
Highlights and techniques
- Balayage: Balayage is a hair coloring technique where lightener is painted onto the hair by hand, in sweeping strokes, to create soft, graduated highlights.
- Balayage vs highlights: Balayage and highlights both lighten strands of hair, but they're applied differently.
- Highlights: Highlights are strands of hair colored lighter than the rest, usually by weaving out thin sections and lightening them in foils from root to tip.
- Partial highlights: Partial highlights are highlights placed only on the top layer and the sides of the head, usually around the face and the parting.
- Lowlights: Lowlights are strands of hair colored darker than your base shade.
- Caramel highlights: Caramel highlights are warm, golden-brown highlights, the color of melted caramel, usually added to brown or black hair.
- Brown hair with blonde highlights: Brown hair with blonde highlights is a brown base with lighter blonde strands woven or painted through it for brightness and dimension.
- Chunky highlights: Chunky highlights are thick, clearly visible sections of lighter color, placed with strong contrast against the base shade.
- Money piece: A money piece is a pair of bright, face-framing highlights placed at the front hairline, on either side of the parting.
- Peekaboo hair: Peekaboo hair is a coloring style where a contrasting color is applied to the underneath layer of the hair, so it's hidden when the hair is down and shows when it moves or is tied up.
- Ombre hair: Ombre hair is a color that changes gradually from darker at the roots to lighter at the ends.
- Shadow root: A shadow root is a coloring technique where the roots are kept or colored slightly darker than the rest of the hair and blended softly into the lighter lengths.
- Calico hair: Calico hair is a coloring style that combines three colors in distinct patches or chunks, usually copper or ginger, blonde, and dark brown or black.
- Skunk stripe hair: Skunk stripe hair is a high-contrast color with a bold stripe or panel of one color against another, most often bleached blonde against black or dark brown.
Guides
- Hair color chart: A hair color chart organizes hair colors by level and tone.
- Hair gloss: A hair gloss is a semi-permanent or demi-permanent treatment that adds shine and adjusts the tone of your hair without lightening it.
- Fall hair colors: Fall hair colors are the richer, warmer shades people move to as summer brightness fades: coppers, auburns, chestnut and golden browns, deep reds and softer, darker blondes.
FAQ
What hair color suits me?
Match the tone to your skin's undertone: warm shades for warm skin, cool shades for cool skin. Then pick a depth within a couple of levels of your natural color for the most natural result.
What is the lowest-maintenance hair color?
A shade close to your natural color, or balayage with a shadow root. Both grow out without a harsh line.
Which hair colors fade fastest?
Reds, coppers and vivid colors such as pink, purple and blue. Wash with cool water and use a color-depositing conditioner.
Do I need bleach to change my hair color?
Only to go lighter by more than about two levels, or for bright and pastel fashion colors. Going darker or shifting tone does not need bleach.
How can I see a hair color on myself before dyeing?
Upload a photo to a hair color try-on tool and compare several shades side by side.
