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Summer is for bold blondes and brunettes, pastel palettes, and matte amber hair. If we see highlights they’re several shades lighter, illuminating our faces for a fresh, sun-kissed look. Now that autumn is here, it’s time to take things back a notch. Fall is for earthy, caramel tones that complement the jewel tones we often see in fall fashion and makeup. Depending on your natural hair color, transitioning your hair to fall may look different from your peers, but we have just the expertise you need to get ready for fall’s warm and cozy color palette.

Brunette & Black Hair

Fall is more laid-back and cozy, which means we want to see less solid hair colors and more subtle highlights for a softer look. No matter your shade of dark hair, balayage is the best option for lightening up your hair this season. Instead of covering your roots in highlights and drastically changing your hair color, balayage basically highlights the ends all around and the front pieces by your face. This illuminates your face, while breaking up the back of your hair for a more messy look. Ombre hair has come and passed and the stark contrast it creates is too sharp for the season.

Blonde Hair

For blonde hair it’s best to continue with highlights. Instead of lightening up your shade of blonde with a lot of lighter, white blonde tones, we’re focusing instead on caramel and dirty blonde this fall. The key for creating natural blonde hair in the fall season is to incorporate your natural hair color in the mix. Let your natural hair color show more by adding less highlights on top, and then finish up with some balayage on the bottom. Overall, this process will break up your highlights so they look more natural.

Red Hair

When it comes to red hair colors, we aren’t recommending highlights or balayage. Instead, this season is all about going a shade darker for red heads. Fall red hair should have tones of brown peeking through, and this darker shade will look stunning against a backdrop of fall leaves of yellow and bright orange. The point of this hair color is to not match fall, but instead allow it to complement your hair.

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