32 Hair Colors That Will Make You Want to Go Red (2023)

FAQs

What hair color brings out red? ›

Olive green, kelly green, and emerald jeweled-tones all make red hair dazzling. Just be sure to stay away from yellowy-greens and always go for more of the saturated greens. Instead of a typical LBD, try a little green dress (LGD) for your go-to evening wear.

Red may be the biggest hair-color trend for fall, but it's no one-shade pony. Here, five ways to go crimson this season.

That means going red is possible without bleach — but only if your strands are virgin. "You can do a single process using permanent dye on virgin brunette hair and it would pick up the color," Jaxcee says. On strands that are super dark, she recommends using a 30-volume developer with a customized red color mixture.

Natural red hair

Natural red hair is the rarest hair color in the world. Only about 1-2% of the population has natural red hair. Red hair colours come in so many different shades – from a light auburn, to dark copper, to deep red and ginger.

Too brassy

Too much of a reddish orange undertone in your hair can make it look dull and damaged—the typical signs of aging hair, says celebrity hairstylist Gabriel Samra. The red tones can also make your skin look redder and rob skin of a youthful glow, adds Kyle White, senior stylist at Oscar Blandi.

Just as with blonde hair, red hair requires a little extra tender love and care. Hack admits that red hair is his favorite to color, but that she's noticed many women don't realize the extent of after-care that's needed. “Red is the hardest color to keep lustrous and the hardest color to remove,” she adds.

Copper tones, subtle highlights, light browns, caramel ribbons, honey golden blondes, silver champagne, and brondes everything's on the 2022 hair color trend radar.

"In 2022, everyone will be adding warmth back into the hair," predicts New York City-based colorist, Jan-Marie Lozada. She says that this take gives a twist to brunette hair and that adding warm shades like copper, auburn, and caramel will give brown hair more dimension and a richer feel.

According to Korab, "A rich red, such as auburn or copper, will enhance brunettes and redheads. This gives the appearance of younger and more radiant skin by reflecting light around the face with its warm tint. The deep red has a kick of fiery vibrancy no matter if you go subtle or ultra-bright."

“If you have dark brunette hair, you can't just put a red color over it, expecting it to be red,” Dietrich tells TZR. The darker your starting color, the more lifting your hair will require. If the red you choose is more vibrant than your brunette hair, the hair will need to be lifted first.

How do I get my hair from dark brown to red without bleach? ›

Permanent Dye. Permanent dye is your best bet for achieving a noticeable red result without bleach. It requires you to use hair dye and developer to lift out your natural hair pigments and deposit your new color.

You will need to dye your hair brown first. Choose a medium-brown dye for best results. Avoid dark-brown dye, or the red won't show up. You will need to do the entire dyeing process twice: once for the brown dye and once for the red dye.

Strawberry blonde is lighter than red hair. 'It's extremely rare for people to have hair that is naturally a strawberry blonde color. Basically, strawberry blonde is mostly based on red tones, with blonde highlights dotted here and there. It takes its name from the Italian renaissance.

Strawberry Blonde Hair

Having natural strawberry blonde hair is very uncommon, considering the fact that somewhere between 0.5% and 5% of the world's total population has such a hair color. What is this? This color is a mixture of red hair with a few strands of blonde hair here and there.

People with red hair can be temperamental, but they are also very romantic, which is obvious as it is said that red is the color of love. It is not necessary that you would find these same traits in all redheads; some can also be opinionated, seductive, rebellious, and sassy.

Caramel, honey, gold, copper, and strawberry give a healthy brightness that makes us look and feel younger. (Framing your face with lighter shades draws the eye away from any complexion concerns, as well.)

Loose waves are more younger-looking, while straight hair can be aging. Play around with face-framing layers to give your hair some softness and movement. Layers can also make your hair appear to be more luscious and healthy. Parra recommends asking your stylist for perimeter layers that are cut in a straight line.

"Dark colors recede and make your face seem slimmer," he says. The ombre trick works best with deeper brunette shades, so consider dyeing your hair darker if it's naturally light, he adds. 3. Keep hair higher at the crown of your head.

The study found that blond women were more frequently approached by men, whereas blond males did not receive more acceptances to their requests. However, in both conditions, red hair was associated with significantly less attractiveness.

As natural brunettes, brown hair dyes can last the longest compared to other hair dyes. There's no need to bleach your hair colour as the eumelanin content will allow the hair colour to stay on longer.

What does it mean when a girl dyes her hair red? ›

The red is the sign of courage, but also of sensuality. Dazzling color par excellence, the red is the color of passion and blood. This shade is energetic and when a person likes red she must have a strong personality. She is afraid of nothing, does not go unnoticed, rather sexy and attractive.

“The shag— or super layered hair cut— is the trend,” says Saviano. “It works on almost every hair texture and length, and you can even style this look with or without bangs. It gives off a cool, low maintenance vibe, and truly brings out the best of natural hair texture, as the layered cut gives the hair movement.”

Redheads May Look Older

Interestingly, this wasn't because redheads had more wrinkles, which you might guess since they're more prone to sun damage. The research showed the MC1R gene variant correlated to thinning lips, sagging skin along the jawline, and other visible signs of aging.

Brightened-up colors, such as golden blonde, can work wonders when applied to the money pieces around your face. Likewise, rich colors—like chestnut or caramel brown—can create a shadow effect throughout that feigns depth and thickness.

It's usually best to choose highlights which are no more than three shades lighter than your base hair color. If you're wondering which hair colors make you look younger, you might want to consider shades like caramel, honey-blonde, gold, coppery tones and strawberry blonde.

If you dyed your hair black and want to go red, you have to remove the color first. This is because dye only adds color; it does not lift color. The easiest way to do this is with bleach, but if you don't want to use that, then you have to use a color removing product first.

Even with the most talented colorists in the best salons, red hair dye will noticeably fade in around four weeks. It can even take a few attempts to get the red pigment to stick to your hair. And even then, red hair is prone to fading and looking orange or brassy.

Red hair color is notoriously hard to maintain, as red molecules are the biggest in size, and therefore, leech out the quickest from the hair strand. Not many people can afford to maintain an even, flawless shade of red because of this upkeep, making it a rather prestigious and high-maintenance color choice.

You can't lift dye/colour with dye/colour. It'll only lighten on natural hair. If you want the ends red to match the roots you'll need to have them bleached up to lift out the black or try a colour remover. Once you've dyed your hair black any colour your put on your hair will just make the ends blacker and blacker.

When going a bright red, the red pigment is a strong colour. If put over hair with any yellow in it (from bleaching) it will just cover it up completely.

Does red dye ruin your hair? ›

“To keep it simple, if the red you are trying to achieve is lighter than your hair there is a possibility you will or may experience chemical damage or breakage. If you are going darker than your natural or current color, then the chances of damage are low to minimal.

The tones lost through the lightening process are WARM tones such as gold, copper and red, so it's important to fill the hair with warm hues.

Red is the rarest hair color, according to Dr. Kaplan, and that's because so few MC1R variants are associated with the shade. “Only three variants are associated with red hair,” she says. “If a person has two of these three variants, they almost certainly have red hair.

Dirty blonde is unlike your typical squeaky clean blonde shades like platinum and champagne. The hue is a medium to dark blonde shade with wheaty, brown undertones (hence, the word dirt in the name). These hints of brunette make dirty blonde dimensional and low-maintenance—what more could you want?

In the array of possible natural hair colors, dark hues are the most common — more than 90 percent of people worldwide have brown or black hair. That's followed by blonde hair. Red hair, occurring in just 1 to 2 percent of the population, is the least common.

Blonde and red hair, the rarest hair colors in the world, are so rare because they are recessive traits that are easily “covered up” by a single dominant black or brown hair gene. It takes two parents that both carry a recessive blonde hair gene or mutated red hair gene to result in a child with blonde or red hair.

The title of rarest hair colour/eye colour combination belongs to red haired folks with blue eyes. According to Medical Daily, both the blue eye trait and the red hair trait are recessive, so their likelihood of simultaneous appearance is pretty slim. Just ask anyone who's pieced together a Punnett Square.

Redheads probably won't go grey. That's because the pigment just fades over time. So they will probably go blonde and even white, but not grey.

The red hair itself is caused by a mutation in what researchers call the MC1R gene. Having two mutated genes gives someone all red hair, but having just one can give a person red hair in unexpected places.

They don't need as much vitamin D

So when a redhead goes outside, he or she produces more vitamin D in a shorter amount of time than people with other hair colors. This gives an evolutionary advantage, since low levels of vitamin D can lead to ailments like rickets, diabetes and arthritis.

Why you should dye your hair red? ›

It brightens up your features, adds extra shine to your hair and will also bring some warmth to your life. On some skin complexion, red colors will also show an extra glow. Autumn is the perfect season for reds.

Ash hair colour is on the cool side of the colour spectrum, meaning that it does not contain many red or orange tones. Ash hair colours can vary from a light ash blonde to a dark brown ash, and is a popular hair colour because it adds a silvery tone to the hair, and avoids any brassiess.

Green cancels out red.

As you can see in the chart above, to neutralize red and reddish orange tones, you need to use green and blue-green. Ash Grey Additive Contains a mixture of green and blue pigments. The best way to use these colors is to add a little (about an inch) to your regular base color.

As with any hair color and complexion, there are some “no-no's.” Avoid pastels since these colors tend to wash out those with red hair. Also avoid most oranges, yellows, and burgundy-reds. Yellow is really a wild card color— on some it looks unbelievably good, and others it washes them out!

What color cancels out brassy orange hair? To cancel out unwanted brassy orange hair after bleaching, you would use blue color. Blue and orange are across from one another on the color wheel, meaning they cancel each other out.

Does ash brown have red tones? Since ash brown hair is cool with gray and ash undertones, there typically aren't any red tones.

The power of Ash can transform your Hair Colour with its superior Toning capabilities that will counteract Warmth — Brassy, Yellow or Orange Tones — and infuse with Cool Tones to smooth out your Hair Colour and bring back the shine.

What is brassy brown hair? You may be wondering, why have these orange and red hues appeared in my hair? These brassy tones appear whenever you lighten brown locks – whether it be from balayage or blonde highlights. The bleaching agent removes the melanin in your hair, exposing the orange undertones underneath.

If you find yourself asking, will purple shampoo fade red hair? Don't worry, it's perfectly safe. This hair care product will only help to tone your hair color, not fade it. In fact, it can actually help to neutralize unwanted yellow and orange tones as your red hair color starts to fade.

What color cancels out under eye circles? ›

Since dark circles have a bluish hue, shades of peach and orange will be perfect for canceling them out. Use peach if you have a fair to light skin tone, bisque if you have a light to medium skin tone, or orange if you have a deep medium to dark skin tone.

What Is Brassy Hair? Brassiness in hair is the unwanted warm tones that appear in colored hair. This is typical for people who have dyed their hair from brown to blonde or platinum. The reason the term is “brassy” is because of the color the hair turns when orange and red tones show up in strands.

Auburn hair is a human hair color, a variety of red hair, most commonly described as reddish-brown in color or dark ginger. Auburn hair ranges in shades from medium to dark. It can be found with a wide array of skin tones and eye colors.

If you're trying to neutralize or tone out a shade, use the one directly opposite on the color wheel! In this case, pink and red tones will tone green. Pink Toning Conditioner is a red-leaning pink designed to take care of green and even teal tints!

“To keep it simple, if the red you are trying to achieve is lighter than your hair there is a possibility you will or may experience chemical damage or breakage. If you are going darker than your natural or current color, then the chances of damage are low to minimal.

While orange and red is great for warm blondes, pale blondes should avoid clothing colors with orange, red and gold undertones — the boldness can overwhelm your look. In fact, pale blondes should avoid warm colors all together.

Strawberry blonde therefore belongs to the red hair group. 'Strawberry blonde is the lightest shade of red hair. Other tones in this color group include mahogany, copper and Irish red. When somebody says they have strawberry blonde hair, they're stating their shade of red.