Haircolor

9 Elegant Hair Colors for Black Hair

Redken Updated On Jun 16

Have you ever stepped into a salon and found your beautiful, dark lengths limiting? You’ve got it all wrong. There’s an abundance of brunette hair color ideas that can help you add shine, depth, and dimension to your lengths - whether they’re long, short, or somewhere in the middle.

Redken's Global Color Creative Director Josh Wood has carefully designed a Beyond Brunette hair color and technique that is right for your hair length. So if you're looking to reinvent yourself with some highlights, here are 9 inspiring shades that you just can’t say no to.

Hair Color inspo for black hair -

For short, black hair, choose bold color-blocking techniques. Tones like chestnut and milk chocolate to add definition and warmth to your natural dark base.
Medium-length hair offers versatility, making it ideal for subtle, low-maintenance highlights. Try shades like ash brown, chrome, or caramel-toned gilded brown to bring dimension.
Long hair is the perfect canvas for multidimensional balayage and ombre effects. Colors like tortoise shell blends, rose berry reds, and toffee brown fit right into dark hair.
Looking for something playful? Add peekaboo pastel shades like blue, pink, or purple for a bold twist without compromising your dark base.

Brunette Hair Color Ideas for Short Hair

If you have short, dark hair, ask your colorist about color blocking! They'll layer different, contrasting tones on top of each other to create depth and dimension. Try out these hair color ideas for black hair that use the blocking technique.

Chestnut Brown Highlights For Dark Hair

Chestnut Brown Hair has a warm finish with red accents and is a perfect way to add dimension and a little color. If you’re a fair-skinned brunette who wants to be a redhead, then this one’s for you. This is a subtle transitioning hair color for black hair, that lets you test out red lengths before fully committing. The look is all about color-blocking with thick chestnut highlights to frame your face.

Milk Chocolate Highlights For Dark Hair

Going black to blonde can feel a bit extreme, this where our hair color ideas for black hair come in. If you see yourself with blonde highlights but aren’t sure how to make them work, try the Milk Chocolate Brown shade. As one of the lightest brown colors, it gives you plenty of dimension and shine while contrasting your brunette base perfectly. Care for your highlights with a color protect shampoo to maintain shine and lengthen your color life.

Brunette Hair Color Ideas for Medium, Shoulder Length Hair

If you have medium lengths, a lower maintenance hair color for black hair look might be right for you. Understand everything about coloring techniques with our highlights guide and show your stylist one of the looks below to get a jumping off point.

Chrome Brown Hair

This popular nail shade is a great brunette hair color idea too. It adds silver underlights and can be subtle, natural, and edgy, all at once. If you’re looking to achieve a transformation while using subtle shades, this one’s for you.

Ash Brown Highlights For Dark Hair

Perfect for anyone with cool undertones, ash brown babylights stand out against dark hair. It looks especially stunning with olive complexions because the ash helps balance out the skin tone. Learn more about the best hair colours for Indian skin tone - from fair to dark skin - before finalising your shade. If you’re trying ashy shades on dry hair, try a color extend magnetics deep attraction mask to keep your lengths nourished and glossy.

Gilded Brown Highlights For Dark Hair

Caramel highlights on dark brown hair create this Gilded Brown Hair Color, giving you hair movement, dimensions, and a glow. Using this shade for highlights will help you draw attention to your eyes and bring out your cheekbones. On dark, curly hair, this look will make your ringlets pop and reflect shine. Try blondage shampoos with purple pigments to maintain your blonde highlights,

Brunette Hair Color Ideas For Long Hair

Long hair offers you a much larger canvas, which is why you only want the best hair color ideas for black hair. This is where unique options like a tri-colored balayage come in. This technique pulls in three different tones for a multidimensional look and here are some shades you can begin with.

Tortoise Shell Ombre For Dark Hair

This hair color for black hair makes your dark lengths turn light brown, with a toffee brown ombre. It’s easy to maintain and it’s perfect if you’ve been coveting the look of golden blonde hair but aren’t ready to take the leap. If your hair is naturally on the dry or coarse side, you can help keep your caramel color looking shiny and feeling soft by using leave-in hair products.

Rose Berry Balayage For Dark Hair

Rose Berry Brown brings some red into your brunette hair. With this look, your black hair transitions beautifully into red with a well-blended balayage. You can go subtly red at your ends or you can ask for a more intense red at the bottom of your hair.

Brown Hair With A Pop Of Color

If off-beat shades are your jam, then you can blend in some pastel shades without straying too far from your black or brown hair color. The best way to do it is with a peekaboo look. The pastel-colored strands are strategically placed throughout your hair so they peek through as your hair moves. You can try any color you like, including the blues, pinks, and purples. If you’re a bit unsure about pastels, ask your stylists to use demi-permanent hair colors that stay on longer than semi-permanent shades but fade quicker than permanent ones.

Now that you know which hair colors can blend seamlessly into jet black, Indian hair, it’s time to experiment. Talk to your stylists about the shades that feel right to you and check out the vast Redken catalogue for hair care, hair styling, and hair color products.