From light ash to dark chocolate, Morgan Servinis never met a brunette she didn’t like. Bob + Paige’s Senior Stylist shares her eight favourite shades of brown hair colour (because who says blondes have more fun?)

Light Ash

We call this ‘bronde’ because it’s a combination of both brown and blonde. You can be either-or! It’s perfect for brunettes who don’t want to be fully blonde or blondes who are unsure about going darker. It starts as a dusty ash brown at the root and melts into a lighter blonde from mid shaft to ends. It’s done using a balayage highlighting technique, or if you’re just touching up the roots, a simple shadow root process. Bronde suits both light and dark skin tones but to see the full balayage effect your hair needs to be shoulder length or longer.

Matte Blonde

If you’re a darker brunette looking to lighten up, this is the hue for you! More uniform than bronde it touches on the border of brown and blonde but there are no gold or platinum tones. It’s very natural look and allows you to go lighter or darker later if you want to. I like it because it’s got a very subdued vintage-look, and it works on both short and long hair!

Mushroom

This one is definitely leans more on the brunette side than a blonde. The shade is a mixture of both dark blondes and light ash browns. It’s multidimensional and also very tone-on-tone. We call these ‘babylights’ because there’s not much contrast between the shades and the highlights aren’t super obvious giving hair a beautiful melting appearance.

Sandy Toffee

This colour is great for darker skin tones and because it touches more on the warm side of a lighter brown, it won’t wash them out. It’s made up of highlights, root colour and maybe a third lowlight. It’s a combination of warm and cool colours, so doesn’t fight with warm skin tones and it’s really flattering!

Warm Honey

Some might say this colour dips into a coppery brown. It’s very warm and looks really beautiful on people with light eyes and fair skin, like Alexa Chung. It’s applied using a similar technique to balayage with darker roots melting into lighter ends, but the highlights start a lot lower. It looks really fantastic with red lipstick!

Milk Chocolate

This is your classic medium brown tone. It uses minimal balayage with sweeping highlights but it looks a lot more solid than warm honey brown. It’s a very autumnal shade! It’s not at all auburn but it’s definitely in the red family. It’s sort of a chestnut shade and there’s a richness to it, without it looking harsh. It’s a very classic colour, just like Kate Middleton!

Dark Mocha

Believe it or not there are 4 or 5 shades in this colour! It’s definitely not solid. This colour is really suited to someone with dark eyebrows and dark eyes, like supermodel Lily Aldridge. It would be way too drastic coming from blonde to go this dark because it would feel black on them!

Natural Jet Black

This is the most solid of all the browns. Visually it looks black but technically it’s not. It’s the darkest shade of brown before black, but it looks like it belongs to someone who was born with black hair like Kendall. But it’s quite a high maintenance colour because it fades easily. Don’t wash it with very hot water and you’ll need to use a sulfate-free shampoo and conditioner once or twice a week. Also, I wouldn’t suggest this for someone with a lot of greys or who’s naturally very light because you’ll need to get touch ups every 2 weeks!

How Do I Care For My Brunette Hair?

Believe it or not, brunette tones look best if you use a blonde shampoo! I love Kevin.Murphy’s Angel.Wash and Angel.Rinse because they have the strongest amount of purple pigment. This helps maintain the coolness of the brown and prevents it from looking dull. Brunettes also need shine, so I like to use a leave-in cream or serum like Featherbomb Weightless Styler by Oribe. It has plenty of hold and protects against heat. Apply it on damp hair from mid-shaft to ends before you blowdry and you’ll have gorgeous glossy hair.

To get your own beautiful brunette colour, make an appointment with a Bob + Paige stylist.