6 Autumn Hair Colours for Brunettes That Are Eternally Chic

As a brunette, I’ve experimented with several shades of brown hair during my ten years as a beauty journalist. And when it comes to trying hair colour trends, autumn might just be my favourite time of the year to shake things up. As we begin to update our wardrobes, our makeup bags and swap out our summer fragrances to autumn perfumes, it only makes sense that many of us crave a hair refresh at this time of the year, too. Back-to-school energy is firmly in the air, and as hair trends go, 2025 is fully in favour of brunettes. With Pantone’s Colour of the Year being mocha mousse, brown has dominated across beauty trends this year, from nails to hair and even makeup. And I might be biased, but I love being brunette too.

So, if you’re considering an update soon, what should you keep in mind when considering autumn hair colours for brunettes? I recently sat down with Luke Hersheson, celebrity hairstylist and founder of Hershesons, to consider not just what the hair colour trends for brunettes are right now, but how to find a brunette hair colour that feels authentic to you. Rather than following trends, he tells me that there are a few things to consider to get your best brunette hair colour.

“I view colour more as a way in which to subtly make you look better, without you necessarily looking coloured,” says Hersheson. The sign of good hair colour is that it remains undetectable while complementing your style and personality. Similarly, it also depends on your haircut and how you like to style your hair.

“To me, having a more solid brunette colour lends itself more to glass-like hair,” says Hersheson. Think structured haircuts like bobs, or straight and sleek styling to enhance the glossiness of deep brunette. On the flipside, if you wear your hair in curls or loose waves, they tend to bring out the lighter tones and depth that you can achieve with techniques like balayage. “Your hair colour has to be in conjunction with a total look,” he says.

With this in mind, I’ve been scrolling through some of the chicest autumn hair colours for brunettes that I’ve seen on my feeds. Inspiration awaits below, so get ready to screengrab and book in that salon appointment.

Caramel tones are a brilliant option for brunettes who want to add lightness without necessarily going blonde. Balayage and highlights or lowlights techniques will enable your hair colourist to weave ribbons of colour through your lengths to add dimension and depth to your base colour. Depending on how light or dark your current brunette colour is, your colourist will be able to tailor the best tones for your hair. Plus, adding lighter tones is a great way to make your hair look thicker. And placing lighter colours in curly hair, or hair that’s styled with soft curls, only makes the colour look even richer and dimensional.

I’ve been seeing more and more cool-toned, smokey brunette hues doing the rounds on my feeds this year, so much so that it actually influenced me to change from my go-to caramel balayage and try an iced chocolate hair gloss to embrace a darker, glossier hue. The benefit of embracing an all-over deeper hair colour is that you often benefit from enhanced shine, which makes your hair look lustrous and glossy. If you’re not ready to commit to permanent salon colour, try a colour-depositing mask. You can deepen the tones in your hair with semi-permanent hair colour that gradually washes out over a few shampoos.

The sister shade to smoked brunette, this brunette tone is just as deep and glossy, but has warmer hues of red—or even plum—that give it a rich look like Jenna Ortega’s hair colour here. It’s a great colour to try if you want to keep the darkness to your brunette hair colour, but experiment with warmer tones. In terms of upkeep, plum and red tones can be harder to maintain and can be prone to fading prematurely, so invest in good colour-protecting shampoos and conditioners, and consider installing a shower filter like Hello Klean’s to filter out impurities that can leech your hair colour when washing your hair.