Rich brown hair is always in style, but sometimes even timeless trends need a little refresh. For brunettes who want a touch of warmth without going too light, honey brown is the perfect choice. This medium-brown shade, with its golden, sun-kissed undertones, adds brightness to your hair without straying too far from your natural color or requiring heavy bleaching.
Keep reading for everything you need to know about honey brown hair, plus 35 inspiring ways to rock this trending shade.
What color is honey brown hair?
Honey brown hair is a warm, medium-to-light brown shade with golden to red undertones. Just like real honey, which can range from light yellow to deep amber, this color is versatile and can be customized to suit various styles. Classic versions of honey brown include warm bronde, gilded caramel, and illuminated bronze. A professional colorist can help you choose the perfect variation of honey brown that complements your skin tone and undertones.
How do you get honey highlights on brown hair?
To get honey highlights on brown hair, your colorist will use either traditional highlighting or balayage techniques to lighten certain strands, then tone them to achieve the perfect honey shade. While bleach can cause some damage, a skilled stylist will adjust the process to suit your hair type and minimize harm. It’s always best to consult a licensed professional for any color transformation, big or small, to ensure the best results.
How do you care for honey brown hair?
While honey brown hair generally requires less upkeep compared to shades like platinum blonde or vibrant reds, it’s still essential to use products specifically designed for color-treated hair to keep your hue vibrant. Here’s how to maintain your honey brown locks:
Choose a color care system.
Start by swapping your regular shampoo and conditioner for a color-safe system. A sulfate-free duo can help maintain the vibrancy of your honey brown shade while ensuring your hair remains shiny and healthy between salon visits.
Neutralize unwanted brass.
Honey brown hair has natural orange and red undertones, but if it starts to appear too brassy, a blue shampoo can help tone it down. The blue-violet pigments in such formulas target and neutralize unwanted brassiness in dark blonde and light brunette hair.
Use a moisturizing mask.
Bleaching and coloring can sometimes leave hair feeling dry or brittle. To restore moisture and shine, incorporate a nourishing hair mask into your routine. A moisturizing mask will help keep your strands soft and healthy while maintaining that beautiful honey brown shine.
Protect your hair from heat.
If you’re frequently styling with heat tools, make sure to protect your hair from potential damage. A good heat protectant not only shields your strands from high temperatures but also keeps your color vibrant. Look for a product that adds volume and long-lasting control while guarding your hair from heat damage.
Who does honey brown hair work best for?
Honey brown is a versatile shade that can be tailored to suit almost any skin tone or undertone. Whether you’re looking for a low-maintenance update or a more dramatic transformation, a professional can customize the color to fit your needs and base color.
From a full head of honey brown with highlights to a subtle honey brown balayage, this shade is the ideal way to achieve a natural, sun-kissed look year-round. Keep reading for 35 of our favorite ways to embrace this luxe, flattering hue!
35 Honey Brown Hair Color Ideas to Warm Up Your Brunette
Brown Hair with Honey Highlights
If you’re looking to dip your toes into a new hue without going all in, highlights are the way to go. Shimmering honey highlights add warmth and depth to brown hair, giving it a fresh, sun-kissed look without the commitment of full-color coverage. It’s the perfect way to enhance your natural shade while adding a touch of brightness.
Honey Brown to Honey Blonde Ombré
Why settle for one honeyed hue when you can have two? For a stunning blend of honey blonde and honey brown, ask your colorist for a classic ombré. This technique features darker honey brown roots that gradually fade into honey blonde at the ends, creating a dramatic contrast. While similar to a balayage, the ombré effect offers a bolder, more noticeable transition.
Golden Honey Brown
Capture the essence of “golden hour” by infusing a touch of gold into your honey brown hair. This warm, radiant hue is especially flattering for tan or darker skin tones, giving you a sun-kissed glow year-round. With golden honey brown, you’ll look like a beachy goddess, even in the middle of winter.
Honey Brown Midlights
The midlight technique, developed by Redken brand ambassador Matt Rez, is all about blending your highlight color with your base color for a smooth, natural look. This method creates a seamless, non-streaky transition, adding dimension without harsh lines. For a soft and sophisticated honey brown look, midlights are the perfect way to enhance your hair’s depth and shine.
Sandy Brown with Honey Highlights
While warmer hair colors can sometimes wash out cooler complexions, your colorist can adjust them to complement your skin tone perfectly. For example, blending ashy, sandy brown with honey blonde creates a beautiful cool-toned combination that adds vibrancy and warmth to fair skin, giving it a fresh and healthy glow.
Chocolate Honey Brown
Chocolate brown is a go-to color for fall and winter, offering warmth and richness. To give this classic hue a modern twist, add honey brown highlights throughout. These golden touches lighten the dark base, creating a beautiful contrast that adds depth and dimension, while keeping the overall look sophisticated and fresh.
Amber Honey Brown
For extra depth and warmth, try incorporating amber highlights into your honey brown hair. This rich, reddish variation adds a vibrant touch that beautifully complements medium to dark skin tones. The amber undertones create a striking contrast, giving your hair a multi-dimensional, sun-kissed look that’s both bold and flattering.
Honey Brown Curly Hair
Honey brown is a beautifully dimensional shade, and when paired with curls, it really brings out those rich, multi-tonal hues. For the best results, it’s essential to visit a licensed colorist who can enhance your natural curl pattern while achieving that gorgeous honey glow. With the right care, even after lightening, your curls will stay defined and healthy.
Chocolate Honey Brown
Chocolate brown is a timeless color, especially for fall and winter. To give it a fresh, modern twist, add rich honey brown highlights throughout. These warm, golden tones bring a touch of brightness and dimension to the deep chocolate base, creating a beautifully balanced and updated look.
Honey Brown Bob
Short haircuts are here to stay, and a bob is one of the trendiest ways to showcase your honey brown locks. This chic, edgy style not only highlights the warm, rich tones of honey brown but also helps remove damaged ends, leaving your hair looking and feeling healthier. A honey brown bob is the perfect balance of fresh and stylish.
Honey Brown with Face-Framing Highlights
Not ready to go all in with a full head of honey brown hair? Consider face-framing highlights! Your colorist will carefully lighten the strands around your face, brightening your complexion and adding warmth without touching your base color. It’s a subtle yet impactful way to enhance your look with minimal commitment.
Ultra Subtle Honey Brown Highlights
For a soft, sun-kissed look, go for honey babylights. These ultra-subtle highlights are designed to mimic the natural way brown hair lightens after a day in the sun, giving you a warm, beachy glow. It’s the perfect way to add dimension without overwhelming your base color, creating a fresh and effortless style.
Light Honey Brown Hair
Transitioning between shades can take time and multiple salon visits, but light honey brown is the perfect color to make the process smoother. This medium honey brown shade has a hint of red undertones, giving it an almost-copper vibe that adds warmth and dimension. Be sure to let your stylist know you’re comfortable with the subtle red tones for the best results.
Light Honey Brown Money Piece
If you’re hesitant about coloring virgin hair, a light honey brown money piece is the perfect way to ease into it. This chunky, face-framing highlight adds a pop of warmth around your face without changing too much of your natural color. It’s a subtle yet impactful way to experiment with color while keeping the rest of your hair low-maintenance.
Bronze Honey Brown
Bronze honey brown is the epitome of warmth, offering a sunkissed glow that’s rich and vibrant. This deep, golden shade looks especially stunning against medium and dark skin tones, enhancing your natural complexion with its radiant, luxurious finish. It’s the perfect choice for anyone looking to add depth and warmth to their hair.
Medium Honey Brown
Medium honey brown is the perfect balance—not too light, not too dark, but just right. If you’re adding bangs to your look, consider keeping them a shade or two darker than the rest of your hair. This subtle contrast will create an eye-catching effect, adding depth and dimension to your style.
Dark Honey Brown Hair
For a deeper, richer look, try dark honey brown hair, which combines the depth of brunette with a touch of warm honey tones. To really make those subtle hues pop, use a shine-enhancing spray to add a sleek, glass-like finish to your hair. This will help highlight the richness of your color while keeping your locks smooth and frizz-free.
Honey Brown with Extra Contrast
For a bold look, pair a white money piece with a honey brown to blonde balayage. This striking contrast adds drama and depth, especially to shorter hairstyles. However, since white hair can be prone to dryness, it’s important to use moisturizing products that contain hyaluronic acid, which helps replenish moisture and keeps your hair soft and hydrated.
Rich Auburn Honey Brown
If you’re not ready to dive into a bold shade like cowgirl copper, start by adding honeyed auburn streaks to your brunette hair. This subtle blend brings a beautiful, wearable warmth to your look, giving you a rich, multi-dimensional effect without being too dramatic. It’s a perfect way to ease into a warmer hair color.
Honey Brown Hair Ribbons
For a fresh take on the Y2K chunky highlight trend, try the hair ribboning technique. Your colorist will apply honey brown highlights in larger sections of hair, mimicking the way ribbon weaves through fabric. This creates a bold, bright contrast that adds depth and movement, giving your hair a dynamic, multi-dimensional look.
Honey Golden Brown
Honey golden brown is a warmer, more golden version of traditional honey brown. It brings a sunny, radiant glow to your hair, but it’s best to gradually transition into this lighter hue to avoid excessive bleaching. Slowly working your way up will help preserve the health of your darker locks while achieving that beautiful, golden shine.
Auburn Honey Bronde Balayage
Give your medium auburn hair a fresh twist with hand-painted streaks of shimmering honey bronde. This balayage technique adds depth and brightness, creating a beautiful blend of warm auburn and golden tones that enhance your natural color with a sun-kissed, multi-dimensional effect.
Honey Bronde Hair
For a perfect balance of blonde and brown, honey bronde is the way to go. This stunning shade blends warm honey tones with soft blonde highlights, creating a gorgeous, sun-kissed effect that’s both natural and vibrant. It’s a versatile choice that works beautifully for anyone wanting to add warmth and dimension to their hair.
Dark Brown with Coppery Honey Brown
Coppery brown highlights are the perfect way to add warmth to deep brunette hair without making a dramatic change. These rich, golden-red tones beautifully complement dark brown shades, creating a subtle yet stunning contrast that enhances depth and dimension while maintaining the integrity of your natural color.
Onyx Black with Honey Brown
Even the deepest, onyx black hair can rock honey brown highlights, though there’s one thing to keep in mind: the darker your base, the more likely you are to experience brassiness when lightening. To combat those unwanted warm tones, incorporate a neutralizing mask into your hair care routine once a week. This helps keep your honey brown highlights looking fresh and vibrant while minimizing any brassy undertones.
All-Over Honeyed Hair
For a bold change, go for all-over honey highlights that beautifully blend with your natural brown, giving your hair a sun-kissed, vibrant finish. This style adds a fresh, summery glow and works well with a variety of skin tones and undertones, creating a stunning, radiant look that’s perfect for any season.
Honey Brown Babylights
Achieve an ultra-blended, natural finish with honey brown babylights. These fine, subtle highlights add depth and dimension to your hair without drastically lightening it. Whether you’re working with a dark or light base, babylights give you a sun-kissed look that enhances your color in the most effortless way.
Copper Honey Brown
Copper honey brown is a beautiful blend of warm honey tones and vibrant copper, creating a rich, radiant color that’s both bright and cheerful. This lively shade adds a touch of warmth and energy to your look, and it has a way of making you feel just as radiant as it looks.
Chestnut with Honey Brown
Chestnut hair is a classic cold-weather favorite, but with a little creativity, it can be just as stunning year-round. Adding honey brown highlights is a perfect way to bring some lightness to the deeper chestnut base. These honey-flecked streaks beautifully break up the reddish-brown tones, creating a soft, iridescent finish that adds warmth and dimension to your hair.
Rich Brownie with Honey Brown Sheen
Brunettes can keep it natural yet fresh by adding low-maintenance honey brown highlights that bring a warm, amber sheen—no heavy lifting required. Pairing this rich, deep base with a blunt, inverted lob adds a touch of edge to the look, creating a chic, modern style that’s both polished and effortlessly cool.
FAQs
1. How do I maintain honey brown hair?
To keep honey brown hair vibrant, use color-safe shampoos and conditioners, avoid excessive heat styling, and incorporate deep conditioning treatments into your routine. Regular salon touch-ups and using products with UV protection will help preserve the warmth and depth of your color.
2. Can honey brown hair work for all skin tones?
Yes! Honey brown is a versatile color that can be customized to flatter any skin tone. A professional colorist can adjust the warmth and depth of the shade to complement your natural complexion, making it a beautiful choice for everyone.
3. How can I avoid brassiness in honey brown hair?
To prevent unwanted brassiness, use purple or blue shampoos that neutralize warm tones. Incorporating a color-depositing treatment into your routine can help maintain your hair’s vibrancy while keeping the color cool and balanced.
