Everyone loves blonding and balayage, but we know you make major money on rich, dimensional brunettes. That’s why we went to Redken Global Creative Color Director Josh Wood and got all of his top tips on creating brunette haircolor (like filling blonde hair to get back to a natural shade). Plus, he shared three brunette haircolor techniques that will work on short, medium and long hair.

Top 4 Tips To Know When Coloring Brunette Hair

1. There is no standard brunette, Josh says, so treat every color individually—take the skin tone, the proportion of the client’s style and where their desired emphasis is all into account before starting.
2. Brunettes can offer a lot more creativity, says Josh. “I find brunettes more creative [than blondes] because there is less lightener involved. Generally, I like to use two complementing tones and one opposing tone for the greatest dimension.”
3. Avoid a one-tone, flat brunette by skipping lightener and instead using different shades of Redken Color Fusion to add depth. “I like to use different tones on a darker pallet to give a more 3D effect, rather than starting with bleach highlights or balayage and then toning it down,” Josh says.
4. Taking a blonde client back to natural brunette requires filling the hair first with Redken Shades EQ. Then, layer different tones to create a filtered brunette—using only one shade will create an end result that is too solid.

3 Brunette Haircolor Techniques

“Color techniques are driven by hair length and by always using color to best suit the client’s features and proportion of the hair cut,” Josh says. He shared three techniques that create dimension and depth on short, medium and long hair. Here’s a closer look.

Color Blocking: Short Hair Brunette Technique

• Color blocking is the best way to give short styles a seamless color and make the hair look thicker. With long hair, colorists are able to play with length. With short hair, that’s not possible—this technique allows for that creativity.

• Color blocking is sort of a cheat on traditional backcomb balayage—it calls for elevating subsections and using a texture product to tease the hair before coloring. The end result allows multiple tones to be visible in a small area with shorter length.

• Get the formula and color blocking steps for the pic below.

• Formula A:

  1 oz. 4Gr Color Fusion + 1 oz. 4N Color Fusion + 2 oz. 10-volume Pro-oxide Cream Developer

• Formula B:

  1 part Blonde Idol Free Hand Clay-Based Lightener + 1.5 parts 20-volume Pro-oxide Cream Developer

• Formula C:

  1 part Blonde Idol Free Hand Clay-Based Lightener + 1.5 parts 30-volume Pro-oxide Cream Developer

• Formula D:

  ½ oz. 07C Curry Shades EQ Gloss + ½ oz. 09AA Papaya Shades EQ Gloss + ¼ oz. 06R Rocket Fire Shades EQ Gloss + 1¼ oz. Shades EQ Processing Solution

Foiling: Medium Hair Brunette Technique

• Creating beautiful dimension on medium-length hair is possible. The key to making it happen? According to Josh, it’s all about the foil placement.
• Keep the foils off the root and be strategic about placement—isolating colors will create optical illusions of dimension and high-impact end results. 

• Get the formula and foiling technique for the pic below (plus 5 more!).

• Formula A:

  1 oz. 6Ag Redken Color Fusion + 1 oz. 7Av Color Fusion + 2 oz. 10-volume Redken Pro-oxide Cream Developer

• Formula B:

  1 part Blonde Icing Conditioning Cream Lightener + 3 parts 30-volume Blonde Icing Conditioning Cream Developer

• Formula C:

  1 oz. 07P Mother of Pearl Shades EQ Gloss + 1 oz. 09P Opal Glow Shades EQ Gloss + 2 oz. Shades EQ Processing Solution

Tri-Colored Balayage: Long Hair Brunette Technique

• With long hair, you have much more hair to play with, allowing for more creative possibilities.
• For a tri-colored balayage, use three different toners that all complement each other—one light, one medium and one dark—to add a lot of beautiful dimension.

• Get the formula and balayage steps for the pic below.

• Formula A:

  ¼ oz. 2N Color Fusion + 1¾ oz. 4Ag Color Fusion + 20-volume Pro-oxide Cream Developer

• Formula B:

  1 part Blonde Idol Free Hand Clay-Based Lightener + 1.5 parts 40-volume Pro-oxide Cream Developer

• Formula C:

  2 oz. 08GG Gold Dip Shades EQ Gloss + 2 oz. Shades EQ Processing Solution

• Formula D:

  2 oz. 07GB Butterscotch Shades EQ Gloss + 2 oz. Shades EQ Processing Solution