25 Shades of Chocolate Brown Hair to Wear All Year Long

Milk Chocolate Curls

Actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw has amazingly warm chocolate curls, and we're truly in love. She illustrates just how deeply stunning the color is; plus, her shiny curls are captivating in general.

Golden Undertones

Worn with a slight wave and middle part, Ashley Graham's luscious color looks rich, shiny, and natural against her complexion.

Cool-Toned Chocolate

Both experts cite Emily Ratajkowski as a great chocolate brown hair inspiration. Her signature cool-toned hair is the antithesis of the notion that blondes have more fun. From Paris runways to red carpets, she's a showstopper, for sure.

Warm Highlights

While Zendaya is the queen of switching up her hairstyle, each one more iconic than the last, we're especially feeling this braided look with warm, light-reflecting highlights.

Natural Brown

Taylor Hill is another model known for her natural chocolate brown hair, usually twisted, wind-blown, and paired with a red lip. To achieve a milk chocolate brown like Hill’s here, Jaxcee says she’d use golden and copper tones. For a dark chocolate color, which is more cool-toned, she would use red-violet and copper-violet tones to emulate the rich velvety goodness of dark chocolate, she says.

Raven Colors

Bella Hadid's color vacillates from raven to chocolate and right back again. She's a true brunette dream girl, and we'll be copying her hair until the end of time. It's worth mentioning that she's actually a natural blonde like sister Gigi, which can make chocolate brown hair tricky to maintain if you’re one to skip a salon appointment.

Deep Brown Waves

Being the pop superstar that she is, Normani is often changing up her style. We're partial to her deep brown waves or the amazing curly ponytail she's sported on stage.

Golden Highlights

Like Jasmine Tookes's warm brown hair, additional golden highlights perfectly complement her equally glowing complexion. We can see how pretty her highlights look here, and they probably look even brighter in the sun.

One thing you want to avoid with chocolate brown hair is too much sun exposure, Casanova says, as this can cause the color to oxidize, creating red or brassy undertones. Protecting hair from sun exposure is easier than you'd think. Use an all-over heat protectant, which is also great when styling with hot tools.

Deeper Tones

A warmer brunette on a lighter complexion like Kaitlyn Dever's helps to create contrast without looking too extreme. Plus, the darker color makes her eyes look super bright.

Healthy, Rich Curls

Stylists should always consider the specific needs of the hair texture they're coloring. Jaxcee makes sure to do so, especially when working with clients like Hamilton alum, actress, and singer Jasmine Cephas Jones.

Deep and Dimensional

We're absolutely captivated by Issa Rae—her wit, beauty, and, of course, her glorious natural hair. Here, the CoverGirl ambassador shows off the chocolate brown color with curls and an award-winning smile. This type of dynamic brunette is not the kind that you want to do as a kitchen beautician, Jaxcee says. "To truly get the nuanced tones and dimension chocolate shades call for, let a professional do it."

Universal Brunette

It's important to ask your colorist to formulate a shade best for your complexion, like Emilia Clarke's true chocolate brown look. Many of us know her best as the legendary platinum-haired Mother of Dragons, but it's common knowledge these days that she's a true brunette—and we love it.

Enhanced Color

One thing we love about Victoria Beckham: She has the sharpest sense of what she likes and what works for her. Her timeless brown hair is one of those things. Like many celebs, she had her stint as a blonde, but Posh is clearly a brunette at heart.

Try to get your roots redone every six to 10 weeks to keep hair luscious and vibrant like Beckham. Plus use a color-enhancing conditioner like Moroccanoil Color Depositing Mask in Cocoa ($30) to help keep color looking new between appointments.

Bountiful Brunettes

Sam McKnight styled a bevy of beautiful brunette looks. Scroll through to see them all. Whether your hair is naturally brunette, like some shades here, or you're choosing the color, it's always a good idea to invest in a weekly hair mask.

Hair masks help restore moisture and are important to use after coloring your hair—especially if your hair is on the coarse side. Jaxcee says a hair mask is essential after a color service, noting it’s always a good idea to moisturize, but it's even more important once hair dye comes into the mix. She recommends and loves Mizani's True Textures Moroccan Clay Steam Hair Mask ($26) for this purpose.

Rich Espresso

Mandy Moore has mastered practically every hair hue on the spectrum, but she's stuck with a rich espresso and a few well-placed bronzy highlights for the long haul. It's a classic look, yet Moore's natural color skews towards blonde, requiring her to go in for a touch-up every once in a while. This depends on how dark you go compared to your natural level of lightness, Casanova says, noting the upkeep usually requires just a root touch-up or an overall gloss.

Glossy Waves

With Kaia Gerber's shiny long look, she's definitely investing in a great hair gloss. Casanova recommends using IGK Hair’s Mixed Feelings Toning Drops ($29) for brunettes for an easy at-home gloss. "Use about five drops, mixed into your conditioner or leave-in product. This will help keep any brassiness at bay," she says.

Is Gerber not the spitting image of her supermodel mother Cindy Crawford? Just like her mom's thick, luscious brown hair, her hair gives off major glamazon vibes.

Timeless Brunette

Hailee Steinfeld's wavy, middle-parted hair is one of the first things we think of when strong, long brunette locks enter the conversation.

Brown Tipped Bob

Our forever crush Lucy Hale is another star who's experimented with everything from the blackest hair to blonde highlights. We're fans of all her trendy looks, but this brown-tipped hue is one of her sweet spots.

Confident Curls

Zazie Beetz seems to always get it right and yeah, her natural curls are incredible. Plus, we love how she embraces this effortless, confident vibe, and it has us thinking—maybe we should all try to be more like that, too.

Espresso Tones

Shay Mitchell's espresso hair has been a mainstay since the beginning of her career. While she occasionally works with various hairstylists and has been known to switch it up with some honey-hued highlights, stylist Glen created a sleek half up-half down look that we can totally incorporate into our style arsenal.

Finger Waves

Hairstylist Vernon François crafted these beyond stunning cornrow finger waves for Amandla Stenberg at the 2019 Oscars.

Sleek, Glossy Brunette

Bobby Eliot mastered this sleek and straight 'do on model Kenya Kinski-Jones. The headband is an accessory we can so get behind.

Dark Retro Waves

Eliot also crafted Beanie Feldstein's retro waves. The Booksmart actress's chocolate-colored hair looked so glam here.

Highlighted Brunette

Kryssi at IGK Salons in NY used Redken shades to get this perfectly highlighted brunette style. But highlights don’t always have to be bright or blonde, Jaxcee says, noting milk chocolate highlights on a darker base would be equally as stunning.

Springy Curls

David Lopez, who often works with Ashley Graham, styled these gorgeous brunette curls into a luscious, everyday look using Devacurl’s Light Defining Gel ($26) and T3micro's Cura Lux Dryer ($230), currently out of stock.

Also, invest in a ready good color-safe shampoo. Jaxcee likes Mizani True Texture True Cream Cleansing Conditioner ($28) for coarse textures. Using a sulfate-free cleanser will ensure that your color stays vibrant for as long as possible, she says.