22 Honey-Brown Hair Ideas That Glow From Within

Chrissy Teigen with medium-length honey brown hair. — @chrissyteigen / Instagram

Hair trends come and go, but it's clear that one hue is here to stay. Honey brown hair—the sister of honey blonde hair and light brown hair—is a warm golden brunette, which can be created in varying brightness and depth, creating dimension and life to the hair. Celebrities like Hailey Bieber, Jennifer Lopez, and Beyoncé have all fallen for natural, sun-kissed shades, as the look is super customizable–think highlights, balayage, and brown ombré.

Honey gives the color warmth and richness, Ben Matat at Mure Salon says, and because of this, there will often be a red or orange undertone to the hair. "We have to make sure that the client understands that because when they go out in the sun, or when they see it in the light, they may see some red pigmentation or orange pigmentation or yellow pigmentation," he says. "So they have to make sure that they are okay with that."

Christine Silverman at Ramirez Tran Salon is quick to advise that those with naturally light or blonde hair never go for anything darker as the upkeep will be grueling, but Matat says as long as you're emotionally ready for the change, and it works with your lifestyle, anything is possible as long as you're willing to go in for regular touch-ups.

Personal preference also comes into play, as everyone sees color differently and has a target version of "honey" in mind. Silverman says to get the look in general, they, "paint highlights throughout the client's hair to add dimension and overlay a shine-infusing gloss to meld the lighter and darker canvas, which creates my final global look."

Maybe it's because it looks bright and glowing or brings natural-looking warmth to the hair. Either way, we're convinced that honey-colored hair is the most photogenic.

Keep scrolling to see the 22 best honey-brown hair shades.

Meet the Expert

Christine Silverman is a professional hairstylist and colorist based in Los Angeles.
Ben Matat is a professional hairstylist at Mure Salon in New York City.

Choosing a Shade: Silverman personally believes that warm hair tones look good on just about everyone, and "the level of warmth is what you would want to tweak in accordance with skin tone—some people can carry off more warmth than others depending on levels of red or pink undertones in the skin."

Maintenance Level: "If one practices proper at-home haircare and gets regular in-salon glosses, this is a low-maintenance color with highlights as minimal as one to two times yearly," Silverman says. However, it does depend on your starting point. If you have grey hair, go in for a touch-up every four to six weeks, Matat says. For naturally brown hair, go in every three months. If you have naturally light or blonde hair, go in every six to eight weeks.

Similar Shades: Honey Blonde, Brown with Highlights, Brown Ombré, and Medium Brown.

Price: If you're blonde going honey brown, expect to pay at least $210 for priming and color. If you're a brunette, it could be around $105, depending on individual salon mandates.

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Honey Brown

Jennifer Lopez with long honey blonde hair. — @chrisappleton / Instagram

Jennifer Lopez has been wearing varying shades of this golden-brown hue throughout most of her career. If it's not broken, don't fix it, right?

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Tawny Honey

Khloe Kardashian with long honey brown hair and blunt bangs. — @khloekardashian / Instagram

Khloé Kardashian is another celeb who immediately comes to mind when we think of honey-brown hair. Touches of cinnamon highlights bring light and dimension to her long locks.

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Honey Money Pieces

Meg Salter with honey money piece hair framing her face. — @claytonhawkins / Instagram

Ready to dip your toe into the honey-brown hair life? Ask your stylist for strategically placed, face-framing money pieces in a warm honey hue. They're super simple to maintain, and can easily be changed up should you choose to go full honey.

Byrdie Tip

Getting and maintaining a hair color requires work from the colorist and the client. Your colorist should tell you what type of maintenance you'll need, whether weekly moisturizing masks, a glossing treatment, or more frequent touch-up appointments.

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Cinnamon Cookie Butter

Hailey Bieber with short honey blonde cookie butter colored hair. — @haileybieber / Instagram

Hailey Bieber is the queen of coining new trends like 'Strawberry Makeup' and 'Jello Nails,' so it's not surprising that she's got a new hairstyle for fall. Meet 'Cinnamon Cookie Butter'—the warm honey, shortbread hue that gives off a gingery glow sans a ring light.

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Copper

Beyoncé's warm brown hair color is the sunnier sister of copper hair, with undertones of bronze and gold striking a perfect balance with red. It's such a luminous shade that brings out your inner glow.

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Cream Soda

Emilia Clarke's honey-brown hue of choice is a beautiful cream soda shade that always looks luminous, sleek, and shiny. We recommend using a product like the Morrocanoil Intense Smoothing Frizz Control Hair Serum for a similar result.

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Bronzed Honey

Chloe Bailey with copper warm blonde hair worn in twists. — @chloebailey / Instagram

Bronze hair is a stunning combo of warm golden, rich browns, and copper tones. It's a trendy look that stands out but is still neutral.

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Brown-to-Blonde Ombré

We like the fact that Ciara's honey-brown hair starts out dark brown at the root before slowly and seamlessly turning golden blonde at the ends.

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Caramel Gold

Honey-Brown Hair Sarah Jessica Parker — Getty Images

Sarah Jessica Parker's hair has been a similar caramel golden shade since the early days of Sex and the City. If it's good enough for Carrie Bradshaw, it's good enough for us.

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Golden Hour Honey

Chrissy Teigen's warm-toned locks bring out the golden tones in her skin, which makes her look bright and radiant. Silverman says, "She occasionally moves more to the blonde end of the spectrum, but consistently has beautiful warm golden tones in her brunette."

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Deep Honey Balayage

Honey-Brown Hair Olivia Palermo — Getty Images

This iteration of Olivia Palermo's hair is darker than it's been in a while, but it still fits the honey-brown category thanks to super-subtle balayage highlights.

Byrdie Tip

Try to avoid sulfates and frequent heat styling, Silverman says. Also, wear hats in the sunshine, and use proper professional products to maintain your color, hair health, and tone.

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Warm Carrot

Model with medium length, carrot red tinged honey hair.

Orange isn't always the first color we think of when heading to the salon, but this warm carrot color drizzled with hints of honey has us obsessed.

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Platinum Honey

Honey-Brown Hair Jourdan Dunn — @jourdandunn

We have one word and one word only for Jourdan Dunn's monochromatic long bob: illuminated. Her strands are so sleek and shiny that they look lit from within.

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Honey Balayage

Tia Mowry regularly experiments by painting golden highlights in her naturally dark hair. We're in love with this warm brown balayage.

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Faded Honey

Maddie Ziegler with wavy chestnut hair and honey highlights. — @claytonhawkins / Instagram

Maddie Ziegler's hair could easily be described as chestnut, but she also falls on the honey-brown spectrum. These gorgeous, lived-in highlights are woven throughout her effortless waves.

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Honey Brown and Dark Roots

We highly recommend Good Girls not only for its comedic timing and highly insane feminist plot line, but for another glimpse at Retta's amazing honey brown curls. She's moved between a blonde and brunette look over the seasons, but this honey-hued tone is a winner all around.

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Strawberry Honey

Honey-Brown Hair Rachel McAdams — Getty Images

Rachel McAdams has gone from sunkissed blonde to deep brunette and back again, but we're definitely fans of this warm, strawberry honey hue.

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Honey Blonde Fade

Leona Lewis with curly honey brown hair. — @leonalewis / Instagram

Beyond her impressive singing skills, Leona Lewis has some seriously enviable honey curls. If you look at her roots, you can see a bit of grow-out, which gives a beachy, lived-in look for blondes fading back to their natural color.

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Honey Copper Mix

Honey-Brown Hair Eva Mendes — Getty Images

Eva Mendes has such a beautiful copper and honey hue, we want to emulate the warm, rich tones ASAP.

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Face Framing Honey

Honey-Brown Hair Iva Nikolina — @ivanikolina

Feast your eyes on these incredible honey brown waves. Additional face-framing highlights look great with Iva Nikolina's coloring.

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Red Honey

Honey-Brown Hair Savannah Smith — Getty Images

Savannah Smith is constantly experimenting with the most stunning hair colors and styles. We love this honey-brown color with reddish tones that she style in a bouncy blowout.

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Honey-Kissed Highlights

Honey-Brown Hair Jessica Biel — Getty Images

We'll end the list with Jessica Biel and her perfectly polished honey-brown waves. Look closely, and you'll see that her highlights are evenly dispersed across the top layer of her hair for a naturally sun-kissed effect.

FAQ

What color is honey-brown hair?

Honey-brown hair typically consists of a warm, rich brown base with honey or caramel highlights. It skews golden, especially in the sun, and has a very lived-in, low-maintenance vibe.
How do you get honey-brown hair?

That will depend on your starting base shade. If you're already a brunette, you can visit your colorist for balayage to add golden dimension throughout. A glaze afterward boosts shine and helps the highlights visually blend with the rest of your hair. If your hair is significantly lighter or darker than the examples, you may need a single process to achieve a honey-brown base color.

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