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In today's lesson I want to talk to you about how to create:


Exotic, Romantic and Seductive are words used to describe brunettes. In the United States blonde hair and blue eyes are usually used to describe the all-American look. However, brunettes throughout the ages have always had a special place in our hearts.

Elizabeth Taylor, Liz Hurley and Angelina Jolie are great examples of brunettes that come to mind as exotic, romantic and seductive. Also some of the most famous "blondes" in the past century were in fact brunettes: Jean Harlow, Marilyn Monroe, and Bridget Bardot. As a matter of fact, I personally like brunettes so much that I married one.

At first, one may think that making someone a brunette is a simple task for a colorist to do. But the truth is that making a good, rich brunette can be very challenging. Again, as in every haircolor situation, porosity plays a major role in the making of a great brunette.

If the hair is overly porous, a dark brown brunette will easily become black. Trying to make a brunette slightly lighter may result in an unwanted red shade. Uneven porosity could result in dark temples, dark ends and a reddish root area. I am not saying this to scare you, but if you’ve ever had one of these situations and didn’t know what happened or how to correct this mistake, you know what I am talking about.

Let’s start our discussion about brunettes by establishing what a brunette is. To me, a brunette can be anyone with a level 1 to 5 (black to light brown) that has a rich brown tone. Brunettes can be warm (gold or red-brown base) or cool (ash or neutral / natural base).

NOTE: Reddish brown is discussed here as a brunette color because when natural brown is lightened, it will always produce a warm color in the reddish brown family. This does not mean that all darker reds such as auburn or burgundy should be considered brunettes. In my opinion, these are redheads and are discussed in the “Amazing Redheads” book.




Levels 1-5

Any natural level (1-10) can become a tinted brunette shade, but, keep in mind, darker natural levels (levels 1-5) will have a strong red-orange exposed contributing pigment when a tint is applied.

It is for this reason that I really prefer to use a demi type color, if possible. It will create less warmth (because they produce less lift) than a permanent color in the same level.

This red-orange contributing pigment makes it almost impossible to create a cool natural looking brunette unless you go very dark (which may not look very natural).


Levels 6-10

Making a cool brunette out of someone in levels 6-10 will be quite easy to do because you won’t be fighting the unwanted warm pigment.

Making a warm brown out of levels 6-10 is not a difficult task because color manufacturers have given us many wonderful warm gold and red shades that will produce very adequate results even on 100% Gray (non-pigmented) hair.

The chart below shows the exposed contributing pigment you can expect to see in the hair as the tint begins to fade.






For more info on making Great Brunettes read "EXOTIC BRUNETTES" Click Here

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