10 Deliciously Decadent Chocolate Brown Hair Color Ideas

Some of our favorite hair color trends are inspired by the sweetest treats. Case in point? You've got pumpkin spice copper, toasted coconut blonde and, of course, vibrant cherry red hair. But one of the most popular looks around has got to be chocolate brown hair, a rich brunette that's so decadent, it gives all hair types and textures a radiant glow.

Versatile enough to work with all skin tones, chocolate brown hair can be light and milky, dark and delicious, or laced with caramel highlights for a high-contrast balayage technique. Anything goes. So let's get into the most decadent chocolate brown hair color ideas around. Take these looks to your next salon visit for a temptingly sweet transformation that works season to season...

But, Wait – What is Chocolate Brown Hair Color?

Just like chocolate itself, chocolate brown hair color is sometimes milky, sometimes dark, sometimes fruity, and sometimes caramel. It's any deep, delicious brown shade you see, usually brimming with rich, warm undertones. Because it's so adaptable, it's one of those brunette hues that can be tailored to suit any skin undertone, so whether you want a stunning contrast or a tone-on-tone match, your Wella colorist can whip up a chocolate brown hair color to make you glow.

10 Chocolate Brown Hair Color Ideas

1. Light Chocolate Brown Hair Color

Image Credit: @moniqueliacastro

The perfect chocolate shade for blondes looking to segue into a light brown hair color, this soft hue delivers an abundance of sun-dappled, warm tones that feel super summery. It's essentially a bronde, also known as a brown-blonde, also known as the hair look of the season, which your hair stylist can recreate with BlondorPlex for bond-strengthening lightening. Not only will the iconic formula give you up to 9 levels of lift, but it's also enriched with an anti-brass complex that keeps unwanted yellow tones at bay. Best of all, it leaves you with 97% less breakage¹, so you can enjoy those chocolate caramel highlights with zero compromise.

2. Dark Hair Color with Chocolate Brown Highlights

Image Credit: @foxyroxhair

If you're blessed with curls or coils and you're ready to embrace chocolate brown hair, try combining a root shadow with sheer, subtle highlights to help your flawless texture pop. This two-toned approach allows the ringlets or zags through your lengths to take center stage, adding a touch of depth and dimension to your overall look. BlondorPlex has your lightening phase covered, but when it comes to toning, ask your colorist to apply a chocolatey SHINEFINITY Color Glaze for healthy-looking, glossy hair. The zero-lift, zero-damage formula creates a translucent veil of color, with shine so lustrous you can almost feel it. Plus, the palette features a range of warm, cool and neutral tones, so your colorist can create every kind of chocolatey hue with ultra-bespoke highlights.

3. Grey Coverage with Dark Chocolate Brown Hair Color

Image Credit: @hairbyangelaalberici

When you're looking to disguise grey hair, chocolate brown is the perfect brunette shade. Its depth keeps silver strays under wraps, while its multi-tonal finish helps your regrowth blend in seamlessly. But you can also take its camouflaging powers next level with Illumina Color for up to 100% grey coverage. Not only is it ideal for those really stubborn greys, but it also veils your hair in a youthful, radiant, 100% natural-looking color. Plus, the permanent formula is infused with Microtones to mimic your hair’s natural highs and lows, working alongside MicroLight Technology to bathe strands in inside-out luminosity.

4. Chocolate Brown Balayage with a Color-Depositing Mask

Image Credit: @lailapettersenhair

Can you believe this lustrous shade of chocolate brown was created with a hair mask? A grown-out balayage has been transformed with the pigment-depositing Color Fresh Mask in Chocolate Touch for salon-style hair. 10 minutes is all it takes to nix overly warm tones with this tinted deep conditioner, so if you have lightened lengths you'd like to freshen up, give it a go on your next wash day. Simply apply it to just-shampooed hair, smooth it through with a wide-tooth comb, let it develop for 10 minutes, and then rinse to reveal luscious locks with unbelievable shine. Because it's packed with nourishing ingredients, you don't even have to follow it up with conditioner. Simply dry and style your hair as usual for the lowest-maintenance chocolate brown hair.

5. Dark Brown Chocolate Hair Color

Image Credit: @biancaraquelhair

If you're going for a darker-than-dark chocolate hair color, you want it to be bold, luxurious and intense – which means you don't want the shade to appear flat, matte or one-dimensional. So, to boost the light reflections in your deep chocolatey mane, ask your colorist to reach for the darkest shades of Illumina Color. You're guaranteed a statement-making brunette that reflects luminosity in every light. Combining richness and depth in one glow-getting formula, it makes even a one-tone coat of dark brown look dimensional, with shine you can enhance by adding ULTIMATE SMOOTH Miracle Oil Serum to your styling regimen.

6. Chocolate Brown Glass Hair

Image Credit: @chiriac.ionela

If you're all about giving hair gloss, you'll love this season's glass hair trend. Inspired by Korea's serum-blending glass skin aesthetic, it involves layering hair color and care to achieve mirror-like shine. So, lock in this dark chocolate delight by asking your colorist to book you in for a Golden Glass Service. They'll craft your color with your base layer, refine it with your SHINEFINITY top glaze layer, and then add a finishing layer of ULTIMATE SMOOTH Miracle Oil Serum to irresistible luminosity.

7. Chocolate Hair Color with Bronzy Caramel Highlights

Image Credit: @byjohnsanchez

Another Color Touch creation, this chocolate hair look gives caramel highlights an almost metallic finish. Think of it like a copper brunette but with extra cocoa richness. We love the contrast of the cooler base and warmer highlights; a blend that's not just eye-catching but also flattering for all skin undertones, making it one of the most failsafe ways to try the chocolate trend. And with uncompromised vibrancy and shine, Color Touch ensures every last ribbon looks glossy. Team with a root-to-tip highlighting technique for sun-catching color that radiates health.

8. Ashy Chocolate Brown Hair Color

Image Credit: @viviscissors

Who says you can't wear cool tones through a chocolate brown mane? While this masterpiece has a subtle ashy glow, SHINEFINITY Color Glaze ensures it still boasts all the richness you expect from a cocoa mane. So, for skin tones that tend to work well with cooler hair colors, make this look your inspiration. Brownie batter hues with a balayage highlighting technique will keep your chocolate hair on the right side of shimmery.

9. Chocolate Cherry Hair Color

Image Credit: @capleybeauty

Love brunette hair but still crave sultry red tones? Try a chocolate cherry or cinnamon brown mane, as seen in this Color Touch transformation. Color Touch is your colorist's go-to for ammonia-free, vegan, demi-permanent color, with more than 100 shades to help them custom-blend the glossiest red-brown hue. Plus, it's packed with Metal Purifier to give you true-to-tone vibrancy, no matter your hair's condition, so the shade you want is the shade you get with ultra-reliable results.

10. Chocolate Brown Hair Look with Honey-Colored Highlights

Image Credit: @danielmbeauty

Chocolate and honey are the sweetest combo – especially in the warmer months. So, add these sun-kissed highlights to your summer wardrobe by asking for BlondorPlex, and you'll be working the season's chicest accessory. Then, to ensure your newly lifted chocolate mane shimmers, request Koleston Perfect for your toner. The permanent formula teams intensity with healthy-looking shine for honey blonde hues that ooze elegance.

How to Maintain Chocolate Brown Hair Color

The most delicious chocolate brown hair colors are intense and radiant, so a good post-color is essential for making your look last. All you have to do is follow these steps...

1. Use a Color-Safe Shampoo and Conditioner

First, use color-safe shampoos and conditioners that bolster shine in brunette locks, like the INVIGO Brilliance Color Protection Shampoo and INVIGO Brilliance Vibrant Color Conditioner. While the shampoo has a low pH level that helps to retain luster by closing the hair cuticle, the conditioner is infused with Antioxidant Shield Technology to protect against shade-fading free radicals. Together, they ensure your chocolate brown hair color is brimming with shine until you find yourself back in the salon chair.

But if your hair is damaged, ULTIMATE REPAIR Shampoo is another color-safe option, infused with skincare-inspired ingredients to gently cleanse strands of daily aggressors. It rinses away pollutants, product build-up, impurities and metals in the hair, while kick-starting the bond-rebuilding process for a healthier mane. Follow up with ULTIMATE REPAIR Conditioner for nourishment that works inside and outside the hair cuticle, leaving all hair types beautifully hydrated without adding any weight.

Then, finish the ritual with ULTIMATE REPAIR Miracle Hair Rescue, a leave-in treatment that repairs hair damage in 90 seconds² while leaving you with 99% less breakage³. Simply mist the potent blend of AHA and Omega-9 through lengths, let it absorb, and enjoy healthier, stronger hair.

2. Refresh Salon Hair Color With an At-Home Mask

To keep brassy undertones at bay and refresh your salon color in between appointments, try a once-weekly treatment with the Color Fresh Mask in Chocolate Touch . With a subtle tint and a thwack of nourishing oils, this pigmented mask tops up your chocolate tone while keeping hair shiny and hydrated from one wash to the next. All you have to do is shampoo, apply the mask from root to tip, smooth it through strands with a wide-tooth comb, then leave it on for 10 minutes. Once time is up, you can rinse and style their hair as normal. Those chocolate highlights and caramel tones will appear more radiant, instantly.

3. Protect Your Hair Color Against Heat Damage

A heat protectant spray is your most powerful weapon in the fight against shade fade. Whether you're all about bouncy blow-dries, flat iron styling or using hot rollers, shielding your color is essential. But why stop at protection? ULTIMATE SMOOTH Miracle Oil Serum is a multi-tasking haircare product like no other, combining the shine of an oil and the frizz control of a serum with built-in heat and UV filters. Apply it before you blow-dry, use a flat iron or curling iron for shine and care in one, then top it up in between washes. This gloss booster gives you nourishment in 30 seconds for smoothness that lasts up to 3 days⁴.

It's these essentials that will keep chocolate brown hair looking sweet in the weeks between color appointments. Ready to try the trend? Find your nearest Wella salon with our Salon Finder. Bon appetit!

¹ When using Wellaplex N°2 with Blondorplex, versus Blondorplex alone.

² When using ULTIMATE REPAIR Miracle Hair Rescue.

³ When using ULTIMATE REPAIR Miracle Hair Rescue instrumental test vs. non-conditioning shampoo.

⁴ When using ULTIMATE SMOOTH Miracle Oil Serum, if unwashed for 3 days, vs. untreated.