8 Chocolate Brown Hair Color Ideas & Formulas
Some of our favorite hair color trends are inspired by the sweetest treats. Case in point? You've got pumpkin spice copper, toasted coconut blonde and, of course, vibrant cherry red hair. But one of the most popular looks around has got to be chocolate brown hair, a rich brunette that's so decadent, it gives all hair types and textures a radiant glow.
Versatile enough to work with any painting technique or trending hairstyle, chocolate brown hair can be light and milky, dark and delicious, or laced with caramel highlights against brown locks for a high contrast balayage technique. This also means you can tailor your client's chocolate brown shade to their complexion, whether they have a cool skin tone, neutral skin tone, olive skin tone, or a warm skin tone.
So, let's get into the chocolate brown hair tips you need to know for your clients…
Image Credit: @romeufelipe
3 Tips For Chocolate Brown Hair
1. Use Hair-Kind Lighteners and Toners
Because high-gloss shine is a key factor in chocolate brown hair, the kindest color products should be at the top of your agenda. For lifting, try adding the WellaPlex No1 Bond Maker to your lightener, which will strengthen hair bonds throughout the process. You can also use BlondorPlex, which is a cutting-edge lightener that provides up to nine levels of lift and has WellaPlex already built in. This way, you cut down on mixing time and give locks some extra support. Make sure you complete the service with the No2 Bond Stabilizer, which further strengthens the hair structure and rebalances pH levels.
Then, for toning, try a nourishing color like Koleston Perfect, which features a Metal Purifier to block hair damage within strands as that dream shade develops. It also gives complete coverage of grays and stunning intensity, with Ultra Precision Technology ensuring reliable results from root to tip. No wonder one tube is sold every second.
Shinefinity Color Glaze is also a great option – especially for sensitized hair strands – as it offers a zero-damage, zero-lift veil of color that subtly enhances locks. Try the shade 04/07 Bitter Chocolate or, for a warmer tone, 06/73 Caramel Chocolate, delivering shine you can feel from root to tip.
Image Credit: @alicia.wella
2. Darken Natural Blondes With a Range of Shades
If you're taking your client from a blonde hair color to a chocolaty deep brown hue, make sure you weave in a range of warm brown shades to add a vibrant dimension to the look. One solid toner on a blonde base can look flat, but a mix of light and medium chocolate tones on a dark brown base will help hair texture pop, whether you're giving straight hair extra movement or enhancing the shape of waves, curls and coils.
Image Credit: @jessica.wella
3. Give Natural Brunette Tones a Milk Chocolate Balayage
When you're working with already-dark locks, try creating a chocolaty dimension with a milky balayage on the mid-lengths and ends. Craft painterly sweeps using BlondorPlex, putting the focus on the perimeter of hair and the face-framing layers for an amplified glow. Then, for the toner, use a light hue like Shinefinity Color Glaze in 09/73 Caramel Milk. This is a simple yet effective way of boosting an existing brown base while keeping color low-commitment with soft regrowth.
5 Chocolate Brown Hair Ideas
Get inspiration from our round-up of delicious chocolate brown shades and styles. These ideas for brunettes have us already reaching for the tint brush to create the most gorgeous colors.
Light Chocolate Hair Color
Image Credit: @hairbykimtran
The perfect color for blondes looking to segue into brunette hues, this lighter shade of brown delivers an abundance of sun-dappled, warm undertones that feel super summery. It's essentially a bronde (or brown blonde), which you can craft by giving a lighter color base a scattering of brown lowlights, as well as fresh highlights for multi-dimensional tones. Try it with Koleston Perfect, combining sweeps of brown with ribbons of a Special Blonde hue, which lifts and tones locks in one step for single-process highlights. Then, finish with an all-over gloss to blend the highs and lows. Shades like 8/03 or 8/7 are packed with golden undertones for added shimmer from root to tip. We’re obsessed with this gorgeous chocolate shade!
Dark Hair with Chocolate Brown Highlights
Image Credit: @alicia.wella and @josuesanchezofficial
When you're giving a curly or coily haired client a chocolate brown mane, try combining a root shadow with milky highlights so their flawless texture pops. This two-toned approach allows the lengths and ends to stand out more and can be created in one of two ways on brunette hair. Here are your go-to techniques:
1. If their natural color is a light brown: Add the root shadow using Color Touch or Koleston Perfect, choosing a dark color at least two shades deeper than the base. Once this has been rinsed and neutralized, follow with a toner on the ends or, for a glossy topcoat, a clear Shinefinity Glaze.
2. If your client's shade is already dark: Leave the dark roots natural and sweep subtle highlights through the mid-lengths and ends with BlondorPlex. You can allow the 'lights to develop in the open air, or you can intensify the lift by wrapping sections up in foils. Then, once locks have been lifted, tone with Shinefinity Color Glaze in 09/13 Toffee Milk for a translucent touch of brightness with shine you can feel.
Gray Coverage with Dark Chocolate Brown Color
Image Credit: @hairbyangelaalberici
When your client wants to camouflage gray hair with a natural-looking color, chocolate brown is the perfect shade. Its multi-tonal finish gives locks unbelievable movement, while the depth of the darker base hue keeps every stray silver strand under wraps. For up to 100% gray coverage, use permanent Koleston Perfect, as seen here in 33/0 on the roots, 5/1 on the mid-lengths, and 7/71 on the ends. For a lower percentage of silver strands or a sheerer result, Color Touch Plus will also disguise regrowth, giving you up to 70% gray coverage.
Chocolate Brown Balayage with a Color-Depositing Mask
Image Credit: @laila.wella
Can you believe this luminous shade of chocolate brown was created with a hair mask? The client started with a grown-out balayage, which had faded to an overly warm tone on the mid-lengths and ends. So, Wella Educator Laila Pettersen freshened it up with the pigment-depositing Color Fresh Mask in Chocolate Touch; a sheer brown tone that took the blonde highlights darker in just 10 minutes. If you're working with a similar base, shampoo and towel-dry hair first, then apply the mask from root to tip or just over the lighter tones. Evenly distribute it with a wide tooth comb, leave it on for 10 minutes, and rinse to reveal luscious locks with unbelievable shine. Add some waves to enhance the level of shine and create the perfect style.
Dark Chocolate Hair Color
Image Credit: @biancahdrs
When creating a dark chocolate color, you want to amp up the intensity, but you don't want the shade to look flat, matte or one-dimensional. So, to create the perfect balance and boost the light reflections in your client's chocolatey mane, try toning with Illumina Color 4/. This permanent hue appears luminous in every kind of light, combining richness and depth in one glow-getting formula. Or, to take color deeper still, go for demi-permanent Color Touch 3/0, a cocoa-inspired neutral that suits all skin tones, whether warm-toned or cool-toned. This dark brown chocolate hair color is one of the most versatile brunettes around.
Chocolate Brown Hair Formulas
Scroll to discover chocolate brown hair formulas. From deeper shades of dark chocolate to warm shades with hazelnut hues and milk chocolate brown hair, you're bound to find your perfect hair color…
Chocolate Twirls
By Kai Sohn
Color Formulas:
Magma by Blondor, Illumina Color, Welloxon Perfect, Invigo Post Color Treatment
Highlight:
A: 30g Magma /73 + 45g 9%
Color Gloss:
B: 10g 5/43 + 10g 1.9% + 10g Invigo Post Color Treatment
Sleek Chocolate
By Courtney Allen
Chocolate Highlights
By Salon Hype Hallarna
Color Formulas:
Illumina Color, Welloxon Perfect
A [roots]: 5/7 + 5/ + 5/81 + 6%
B [lengths]: 6/16 + 7/81 + 6/ + 6%
C [ends]: 10/ + 12%
How to Maintain Chocolate Brown Hair
The most delicious chocolate brown hair colors are intense and radiant, so a good post-color routine is a must for your clients. Don't let them leave the salon without these easy aftercare tricks.
1. Use a Color-Safe Shampoo and Conditioner
First, recommend color-safe shampoos and conditioners that bolster shine in brunette locks, like the INVIGO Color Brilliance Color Protection Shampoo and the INVIGO Color Brilliance Vibrant Color Conditioner. While the shampoo has a low pH level that helps to retain luster by closing the hair cuticle, the conditioner is infused with Antioxidant Shield Technology to protect against shade-fading free radicals. Together, they ensure color-treated hair is brimming with shine until your client's back in the salon chair.
But if your client's tresses are damaged, Ultimate Repair Shampoo is another color-safe option, infused with skincare-inspired ingredients to gently cleanse strands of daily aggressors and keep hair hydrated. It rinses away pollutants, product build-up, impurities and metals in the hair, while kick-starting the bond rebuilding process for a healthier mane. Follow up with Ultimate Repair Conditioner for nourishment that works inside and outside the hair cuticle, leaving locks beautifully hydrated without adding any weight.
Then, finish the ritual with Ultimate Repair Miracle Hair Rescue; a spray-in treatment that reverses damage in a single session. Towel-dry locks first, mist it on, let it absorb for 90 seconds, and style as usual. Your client's chocolate, color-treated hair will be 12x smoother* after one use, with 99% less breakage** and legendary shine that lasts for up to four washes.
2. Refresh Salon Color With an At-Home Hair Mask
To keep brassy undertones at bay and refresh salon color in between appointments, suggest a once-weekly treatment with the Color Fresh Mask in Chocolate Touch. With a subtle tint and a thwack of nourishing oils, this pigmented mask tops up the tone while keeping hair shiny and hydrated from one wash to the next. All your client has to do is shampoo, apply the mask from root to tip, smooth it through strands with a wide tooth comb, then leave it on for 10 minutes. Once time is up, they can rinse and style their hair as normal. Chocolate highlights and dark tones will appear more radiant, instantly.
3. Protect Tresses From Heat Damage
When your client is coiffing beautiful styles that set off their chocolate mane, remind them how important it is to use a heat protectant spray. Our go-to is EIMI Thermal Image, which protects hair from heat up 220 degrees Celsius, and reduces the color-fading effects a hairdryer, straighteners and curling irons can have on strands. For sleek locks, bouncy waves or defined ringlets, this weightless mist also dials up shine, lending a light-reflective sheen through dry hair lengths and ends. Finish with a little EIMI Glam Mist for added gloss until the next wash.
It's these essentials that will keep chocolate brown hair looking sweet in the weeks between color appointments. Ready to start creating the trend? Then get blending those chocolate hues… Bon appetit!
* Vs. non-conditioning shampoo
** When using ULTIMATE REPAIR Step 3. Instrumental test versus non-conditioning shampoo
