Dark brown hair is one of the most passionate colors to try, and it’s fairly easy to DIY at home. We’ve found the best dark brown hair dyes in case you’d like to make the switch at home. We also explain how to pick the right shade of dark brown for your own skin tone and undertone below.
In this article:
- Our Picks for the Best Dark Brown Hair Dyes
- How to Choose the Best Dark Brown Hair Color for Your Skin Tone?
Best Dark Brown Hair Dyes Overview
- Best for Dark Hair: L’Oreal Paris Superior Preference Fade-Defying + Shine Permanent Hair Color in 3C Cool Darkest Brown
- Best for Cooling down Dark and Medium Hair: Garnier Nutrisse Nourishing Hair Color Crème in 30 Darkest Brown (Sweet Cola)
- Best for Total Gray Coverage: Revlon Colorsilk Beautiful Color, Permanent Hair Dye with Keratin
- Best for No-Mess Application: John Frieda Precision Foam Colour in Dark Natural Brown 4N
- Best for Light Brown Hair or Gray Coverage: L’Oreal Paris Excellence Creme Permanent Hair Color in 4 Dark Brown
- Best for Ultra-Long-Lasting Color: Schwarzkopf Color Ultime Permanent Hair Color Cream in 5.5 Medium Parisian Brown
- Best for Commitment-Phobes: Adore Semi-Permanent Haircolor in #107 Mocha
Our Picks for the Best Dark Brown Hair Dyes
It’s extremely important that you select a dark brown hair dye that will have an undertone you will love and that will also fit with the condition of your hair.
How to Choose the Best Dark Brown Hair Color for Your Skin Tone?
Brown is a neutral color composed of all of the main shades in the color spectrum, but different shades of dark brown hair can have different predominant undertones. It’s important to take your own skin tone and undertones into account when selecting the specific dark brown hair color for you.
Determining undertones is not always easy. The major ones are warm undertones (slightly yellow), cool undertones (slightly pink or red), neutral (skin is about equal-parts warm and cool, so it seems clear), and olive (skin that has a slight green-gray cast). It’s important to note that undertones exist on a spectrum and that they usually show up the most clearly on the neck and forearms, while the face is often a little redder.
There are all kinds of tricks to determining your undertones, like looking at your veins to see if they lean more towards green (which means you’re warm) or purple (which means you’re cool) or by comparing your skin to see if it looks better with cool colors or warm colors.
The best way is to train your eyes to see undertones, which is what makeup artists and hairdressers learn to do. Look at your friends or different celebrities and try to see if you can make out what makes the skin tone. Before you know it, determining your own skin tone will be easy!
Dark Brown Hair Colors for Warm Undertones
If you discover your skin leans towards warm, it’s important to choose shades of dark brown that have a bit of warmth to them as well. Brown touched by gold or caramel shades is perfect, for example.
A hint of red can work as well, but avoid browns that lean towards eggplant, which will make your skin look sallow. True neutral browns and even blue-based cool browns will work with your skin, as well, but they won’t bring it to life like richer brown shades – the same applies to neutral, ashy highlights.
Dark Brown Hair Colors for Cool Undertones
If your skin is cool, then those true neutral dark brown shades, as well as ones that lean a little towards blue, red, or even purple are going to look fantastic. If you want some highlights in your hair, ash tones are better, while golds, caramels, or anything overly orange or yellow is going to clash against your skin.
Dark Brown Hair Colors for Olive Undertones
For those with olive undertones, those reddish and purplish dark brown hair colors are very dangerous since they can bring out too much greenness in the skin. On the other hand, neutral chocolate brown or blue-based dark brown can work well, and if you’d like some highlights, opt for yellow-gold or ash tones.
Dark Brown Hair Colors for Neutral Undertones
Finally, we have those with neutral skin, who are lucky enough to look amazing in all shades of dark brown hair! If your skin is neutral, you pretty much owe it to yourself to really have fun and play with all of the possible shades of dark brown.
Photos via @ryabchik.moscow, Amazon