Experts Reveal the Most Flattering Hair Colours For Brown Eyes

• A hairstylist breaks down the best hair colours for brown eyes.
• Brown eyes are universal and complement most hair colours.
• Those with a hazel eye colour will look best in warm-toned hair colours.

Picking your new hair colour clocks in at the number-one most daunting beauty task of them all. As if selecting the shade of nail polish for your next manicure or landing on a lipstick colour for the day weren’t hard enough, hair colour lasts months. Because it’s a decision you don’t want to take lightly, there are a lot of factors to take into consideration: your base colour, the upkeep, and how it’ll look with your skin tone. And, if you’re feeling particularly stumped, looking at your eye colour can help guide your decision, too.

Truth be told, the eyes aren’t the first thing hairstylists look at when recommending hair colour to clients but basic colour theory suggests that it also can’t hurt to take your eye colour into consideration. Just as certain hair colours complement different skin tones, the same goes for eyes. If you have blue eyes, various shades of blonde, reds, espresso browns, and raven blacks will look the most flattering on you but for brown eyes, the suggestions are completely different.

Even within the brown-eye category, there are many different shades and depths to think about. Ahead, we asked a hairstylist to break down the best hair colour ideas for brown eyes to make picking your next shade easy.

Best Hair Colours For Hazel Eyes

Hazel-brown eyes can go two different ways: warm-toned or cool-toned. “Hazel eyes have many colour tones so choose the right color for your eyes,” Robert Bennett, colorist at Maxine Salon in Chicago, told POPSUGAR. If you have hazel-brown eyes with hints of gold, sticking to soft, warm hair colours will be the most flattering. This includes caramel-brown, honey blonde, cinnamon brown, red brown, and golden blonde shades.

However, if your hazel eyes read more cool-toned with tinges of blue and gray, Bennett recommended looking for equally cool-toned hair colours. “For example, highlights need to be ash or pearl-tone, and for all-over colour, you need to use neutral colours,” he said. Sandy blonde, dark chocolate, ash brown, ashy blonde, and more are all great options.

Best Hair Colours For Brown Eyes

With classic brown eyes, Bennett said “there’s no limit” as the colour is pretty universal. You can experiment with red brown, golden brown, and warm caramel brown to “bring out the contrast with your eyes.”

However, if your brown eyes have a tint of red to them you can benefit from picking a hair colour with more warmth to it to “make the eyes pop.” Warm caramel browns, honey and golden blondes, cinnamon browns, and red-brown hues are all great options. “If you feel a little riskier, you can do a bolder highlight with some soft golden blonde balayage as a nice alternative to foils,” said Bennett.

Best Hair Colours For Dark Black-Brown Eyes

Very deep black-brown eyes are strikingly beautiful and you want a hair color that emphasises them. “I personally think that dark brown works well, but not black,” said Bennett. “You can also put some undertones of red to give a magical pop of colour.”

Get inspiration for your next salon appointment by looking at celebrity examples of the best hair colours for brown eyes ahead.