Auburn hair
Auburn hair is a reddish-brown hair color: a variety of red that keeps a lot of brown in it. It ranges from medium to dark and sits deeper and less orange than copper. It is often the easiest way into red for brunettes, since on brown hair it can usually be colored without bleach.
What is auburn hair?
Natural auburn turns up alongside a wide range of skin tones and eye colors. The word itself has drifted over the centuries: it comes from an Old French word that meant blond.
Among the red-browns, auburn sits in the middle. Chestnut is browner, burgundy is more purple, and copper is brighter and more orange. Colorists describe auburn as roughly equal parts red and brown, though most auburns lean a little more brown, and the balance can be tuned redder, darker, cooler or warmer. The name stretches in several directions: apricot and copper auburns are lighter and warmer, a cherry-red auburn is a cooler way to wear it, and a deep chestnut auburn can carry brown-blonde highlights around the face.
As a dye job it can be worn all over, as in the example here, which is an even auburn from root to tip. To keep your brown root and soften regrowth, the color can instead go only through the mid-lengths and ends, as balayage ribbons or as an ombre that graduates evenly into the red.
Who it suits
A warm, deep shade. Usually sits well with autumn palettes. See the soft autumn, true autumn or deep autumn palette.
The auburn shown here is a warm, brown-leaning red. Because it sits between two color families, colorists can tune it for almost any complexion, and it shows well on fair, medium and deep skin alike.
Auburn hair vs copper red
Auburn hair
Copper red
| Auburn hair | Copper red | |
|---|---|---|
| Red and brown | About equal parts | Mostly red, little brown |
| Look | Deeper and more muted | Brighter, with orange-gold richness |
| Often suggested for | Most skin tones, tuned warmer or cooler | Warm undertones |
| Upkeep | Lower; fading shows less | Higher; color loss is easier to see |
If you want a red that still reads as brunette, auburn is the gentler step. If you want an unmistakably bright red, ask for copper.
Auburn hair variations
Chestnut brownBrowner than auburn: the red is there, but brown leads.
Cinnamon glossA lighter, spiced brown-red: rich, but not as deep.
Whiskey copperA soft, muted copper: more orange than auburn, still gentle.
Burnt sienna copperA deep, earthy copper close to terracotta, with more orange in the red.
Burgundy hairThe cool side of red-brown: purple in the red instead of copper.
Upkeep
Like all reds, auburn is prone to fading, and porous hair loses red pigment fastest. It is still one of the easier reds to live with: compared with brighter shades such as copper or strawberry blonde, color loss shows less in a softer, brown-led red. Worn as balayage ribbons through your natural base, it grows out with softer regrowth and needs touch-ups less often; worn all over, your natural root shows as it grows.
How to ask your colorist
- Say which way it should lean: browner, redder, darker or more copper. A daylight photo of the exact shade keeps you from ending up with burgundy or orange.
- Tell your colorist your starting color and color history, including any box dye; both decide whether you need lightening and how evenly the red takes.
- For softer regrowth, ask for auburn through the mid-lengths and ends, as balayage or an ombre, instead of root to tip.
- If you're testing red, ask for a few red-bronze highlights through your brunette base, toned with a gloss.
- If you want more light near your face, ask for the brighter chestnut or bronze tones to go through the face frame.
Keeping the color
Use a color-safe shampoo made not to strip pigment, and a conditioner that helps seal porous hair, since high porosity is one of the main reasons red fades. When the shade starts to dull, a color-depositing mask in a copper or red tone tops it up at home between salon visits. At the salon, a gloss adds shine and refreshes the tone without lightening.
Questions
How can I see what I'd look like with auburn hair?
Upload one clear photo to Styloom and pick Auburn hair. You get an AI preview of your own photo in that color in about 20–30 seconds. It's a preview, not a guarantee of how dye will take on your hair; your starting color and history decide that.
Is auburn hair red or brown?
Both. It's a variety of red hair with a lot of brown in it, and most auburns lean slightly more brown than red.
Can brunettes go auburn without bleach?
Usually, yes: a permanent color can add auburn to brown hair without lightening. It depends on how dark your base is and how bright you want to go; an auburn lighter than your natural color may need lightening first.
What's the difference between light and dark auburn?
Soft or light auburn is a sunlit shade with a caramel-red richness, part light brown and part bronze. Dark auburn is a deep brunette with a gleam of red when the light catches it, close to mahogany but without its hint of violet.
Does auburn hair suit cool skin tones?
It can. Auburn is warm by default, but a cooler, more muted auburn, or one with a hint of cherry, is the usual way to wear it with cool undertones; warm skin can take more copper.
Sources
Written in our own words from common salon and barber advice. The example photos are AI-generated and show the style from the front. Updated November 6, 2026.