If you’re looking for hair color ideas, this is a list of the most popular hair coloring trends of 2025. The biggest overarching trends are taking low-maintenance colors and doing high-end techniques and exploring the concepts of shades within the colors to add more depth and dimension.

Some of the colors that are hot are modern takes on brunette, blonde, copper, auburn, and techniques like balayage. Vibrant colors are also trending in hairstyles in the 2020s. These are the hair colors that you’ll be seeing a lot of this year. After getting inspiration from these hairstyles, be sure to book an appointment at the salon.

Cherry Cola

Cherry Cola is a vibrant, deep red with violet and brown undertones. It creates a unique, striking look with a lot of depth. This color is bolder and more dramatic, but it’s a brand-new look that really stands out. This works well will natural brunettes, as it adds more dimension. Lowlights help make Cherry Cola look impressive.

Mocha Mousse

PANTONE selected Mocha Mousse as its Color of the Year for 2025, and it is a stunning, sublime hair color. This is a rich, sophisticated, earthy brown, with endless possibilities. Adding soft highlights can make it look warm; using the full mocha color creates a luxurious look. Mocha Mousse is a timeless color that is a great choice for hairstyles.

Mocha Mousse hair — Credit: @laura.sanders_wella @wellahair

Golden Blonde

If you’re looking for a timeless look that never goes out of style, Golden Blonde is a surefire shade. This versatile color combines warmth, radiance, and elegance. Adding soft highlights will create more dimension. The modern blonde look in the mid-2020s is moving away from the platinum blonde that movie icons made famous and is moving towards more sun-kissed highlights that create a full, buttery look that seems more natural. Richer blonde hues is a hallmark of the classic Golden Blonde that is popular right now.

Bold Copper

Vibrant reds are more popular than ever in 2025. Some of the hottest colors right now are Copper Spice and Vibrant Copper. This is a bold color that you can see celebrities like Chappell Roan wearing proudly. Copper is a warm, saturated, eye-catching color that draws attention to your facial features and catches people’s eye.

Soft Shadow Roots

Credit: @greatfulsabrina @sabrinacarpenter

One of the most popular looks in 2025 is low-contrast soft shadow roots. This is a fairly low maintenance look which emphasizes a natural appearance. Use a deeper color at the roots, and create a gradual, blurred grow-out line which makes the highlights look natural without compromising on sophistication. Check out Sabrina Carpenter’s golden hair for an example of how soft shadow roots look in practice.

Sapphire Black

This shade combines the traditional deep black with some softer sapphire-blue undertones. For people who already have dark hair, this is a coloring choice that works superbly. By adding highlights first, it adds a multi-dimensional aspect to your hair.

Blended Honey / Soft Honey Blonde

Honey blonde hair — Credit: @world_new_hair

Spring and summer are great seasons to use a Honey Blonde look. A bronze honey balayage brings out the warm, rich tones of your hair, creating a natural sun-kissed effect. This works best with light brown to blonde hair. Use caramel undertones to create a sense of depth. The contrasts aren’t too extreme, but it creates a sense of volume. Check out Sydney Sweeny for an example of how Honey Blonde balayage looks in the real world.

Dark Espresso

If pure black is too intense a color for your taste, try Dark Espresso. This is a color somewhere between off-black and dark brown espresso. This color exudes the depth and richness of a true black while retaining some softness and dimension. The result is a luxurious color that is a perfect complement to the “dark academia” aesthetic.

Amber / Amber Rose

Reds are having a resurgence in the 2020s, and Amber is a warm color full of luminosity and richness. This color is made by combining copper, gold, and mahogany tones to create a captivating, refined look. This works very well on naturally brunette hair.

Amber Rose hair color — Credit: @guy_tang

Sunkissed Blonde

If you want to enjoy the look of summertime anytime of the year, Sunkissed Blonde is a sophisticated hairstyle with a touch of whimsy. This coloring recreates the blending of post-summer sun-bleaching and natural hair regrowth.

Bronde Blends

Bronde hair blends — Credit: @wellahair @cnstyled

One of the more popular trends of the mid-2020s is Bronde Blends, which combines blonde and brunette. This seamless blending is designed to look more natural, and not be a sharp contrast with the heavily bleached blonde. The idea is to combine the shades more naturally and subtly.

Warm Marigold

Marigold hair color — Credit: @thewarrensalon

Warm Marigold is a softer copper with less brassy tones, and softer, warmer tones. This is a blend of gold, copper, and brown shades. This is reminiscent of a natural redhead with more saturation and undertones. Rich, vibrant, and radiant without being overwhelming is a characteristic of Warm Marigold.

Pastel Blonde

Sabrina Carpenter is part of the reason Pastel Blonde, Pastel blonde can have either warm or cool tones, depending on how it complements your skin tones. Melanated skin tones should keep some undertones at the roots to provide natural depth. You can also blend subtle peach or coral tones to add dimension to the soft warm pastel blonde overtones.

Lacquer Black

This is a high-gloss color with lots of shine. This deep black works well with brunettes who want to make their hair even darker and glamourous. Using a semi-permanent color with mirror gloss will help you achieve this look. Katy Perry is using this look on her recent tour.

Apricot

One of the most exciting colors of the year is Apricot, which is created by combining copper with peach hues. This creates a warm, fresh, playful color which is versatile and natural-looking. Apricot is a fun, modern color which is complementary to many skin tones.

Jewel Tones

Emerald hair color. Credit: @thecaitdevin

This is an interesting trend where people choose deeper tones based on gemstones. Hues like sapphire blue, emerald green, amethyst purple, cobalt blue, or ruby red are inspirations for luxurious bold shades.

Sapphire hair color — Credit: @viangehair

Brunette Balayage

Brunette Bayalage — Credit: @colorbymarina

The autumn and winter of 2025 is a perfect time for brunette balayage hairstyles. This hairstyle lends itself to warm, rich tones, with subtle highlights that look natural. Balayage works well with natural brunettes who want a low maintenance hairstyle that looks natural yet elegant.

Smoky Bronze

If you’re looking for a rich, sophisticated, multi-dimensional color, Smoky Bronze allows you to have a refined look. This mix of browns, gold, and red is created by using balayage technique to add cool brown shades on top of wet painted ends. This creates a luxurious high-gloss color with lots of depth, texture, and elegance.

Espresso Martini Brunette

Espresso Martini hair — Credit: @theblendybrunette

Brunette hairstyles are having a good year in 2025, and the Espresso Martini Brunette is a luxurious color. This is a rich, glossy look with lots of shine, dimension, and tone.

Milk Chocolate Brown

One of the top hair color trends of 2025 is Milk Chocolate Brown. This is a rich, warm color that adds depth and sophistication to your look. The goal is to create a good balance between the deep brown tones and the soft, creamy highlights.

Bright Bold Colors

Brighter hair colors have been popular for some time with younger people but they are also finding popularity with older clients too. Some of the vibrant shades which are popular include: hot pink, neon green (think Billie Eilish), orchid purple and lavender, seafoam green, and electric blue.

Neon Green hair — Credit: @morito_toshiki

Become a Licensed Cosmetologist in About 30 Weeks at Campus Sacramento

If you’ve dreamed about working in the beauty industry and being a professional hairstylist, Paul Mitchell the School at Campus Sacramento has a cosmetology training program to help you achieve your goals! Students receive training in hair styling, hair coloring, skin care, nail care, client relations, and more. For detailed information on start dates, financial aid, and curriculum, contact our Admissions Team or call 888-675-2460.

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