Deep Autumn hair color

Natural hair for this season

Your natural shade likely sits somewhere between medium and dark golden brown: perhaps a deep chestnut with glints of red or copper, a chocolate or espresso brown, or warm black. Keeping that same depth tends to look best on you, since it sits comfortably with your warm skin.

When a salon mixes your dye, they describe it with a few tone words. Golden means yellow or copper warmth goes in. Neutral sits between warm and cool. Ash is built on smoky gray, and that base is exactly what makes it fall flat against warm skin.

Golden and warm neutral shades are your friends. Dark chocolate brown holds onto your natural depth while warming your skin. Rich espresso goes very dark without the bite that blue black has. Deep auburn brings green or hazel flecks forward in warm eyes. Warm chestnut gives you a gentler look if you'd like a brown that's a touch lighter.

Dark autumn hair color

Dark Autumn is just another name for this season, so nothing changes here. The core picks are still chocolate, espresso, auburn and chestnut: all deep, all warm. Pure black can come across a little hard on you, while dark chocolate brown brings softness to your skin.

Highlights and balayage

With balayage, your colorist paints highlights on by hand so the result blends softly. Babylights are super fine highlights that copy the way the sun lightens a few strands.

Copper bronze highlights give dark hair some depth without draining you. Caramel babylights lighten the area around your face and leave your roots dark. If you go a lot lighter all over, your face can lose color, so a dark frame is the better route.

What to ask your colorist for

The right words at your appointment mean you walk out with the color you imagined. Here's what to share:

• Request a warm or neutral base (think dark chocolate or a rich espresso) instead of jet black.
• If your brown could use extra warmth, ask for a red or copper gloss.
• Ask for caramel or bronze tones near your face.
• Tell them no ash toner, because it cools the color down.

Shades to skip

Platinum and icy ash blonde pull all the color out of your face. Pastel pink or lavender tones clash with the warmth in your coloring too, and icy pastels tend to leave your skin looking sallow and worn out.

Very dark dyes can also go wrong on you. Cool ash brown turns warm skin grey. Blue black works against golden undertones.

Going gray

Gray hair mixes white strands with dark ones, and that cool mix can look stark beside warm skin. Warm lowlights, darker strands threaded through your hair, help silver melt into your natural brown. A golden gloss softens gray's hard edges as well.

Letting your gray grow out is an option if you dress in warm, earthy colors like deep rust. Antique gold or bronze jewelry keeps the whole look warm as well.