Root Beer Hair Is Trending & Brunettes Everywhere Are Fizzing With Excitement

By Kaitlyn Yarborough

While it might seem as if hair color trends are a dime a dozen this season, we’re not complaining. From rose brown to pearl blonde, we love seeing ladies switch up their locks like they switch up their nail polish. Now, a radiant hair trend for brunettes is resurging just in time for summer, and we’re more than here for the low maintenance, multi-dimensional blend. Move aside, cream soda—root beer hair is giving all the soda-inspired tint we need. 

This is how you know you’ve spotted a root beer mane in the wild: you’ll see a medium-to-dark brunette with rich swirls of warm color, thanks to auburn and amber highlights. The trend is all about that bold, syrupy finish achieved from adding major warmth to brown hair. Incredibly versatile, this hair color works for all skin tones. Simply pick your starting base, anywhere from dark chocolates to medium chestnuts; and accentuate with strokes of the warm red-brown shades of your choice, from gold-flecked amber to syrupy cinnamon. Go subtle or striking—just definitely go root beer. Here are a few gorgeous renditions of the root beer hair trend we’re ready to drink in all season long.

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Auburn Balayage

Instagram/@kaiagerber

Give your dark chocolate base a syrupy finish with ends coated in warm shades of auburn and cinnamon. The ombré ends achieve the perfect cascading look.

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Face-Framing Ribbons

Instagram/@ambermullenhair

Dark chocolate brown gets a delicious refresh with warm hazelnut ribbons placed around the face. Leaving the ends dark makes the highlights look naturally acquired.

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Piecey Amber Highlights

Instagram/@ginastyless

A warm chestnut base makes a perfect canvas for golden-flecked amber highlights. Focused from midway down the mane to the ends, these piecey highlights create an edgy look.

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Subtle Amber Highlights

Instagram/@oliviamunn

Complement tan and olive skin tones with amber highlights over deep black-brown locks to look enviously sun-kissed.

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Auburn Curls

Instagram/@blythehoward

Accentuate every corkscrew with touches of amber and auburn to add even more dimension to your already personality-packed curls.

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Cinnamon Balayage

Instagram/@makeupbyfrances

This vivid cinnamon brown gives an enviously rich and almost metallic finished look, heavy on the bottom and piecier towards the roots. The blend of warm browns, from chestnut to amber, is giving us major brunette hair goals.

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Chocolate-Auburn Bob

Instagram/@hkendallhair

This dynamic color is capped off with a luscious gloss in a vibrant amber red-brown hue that absolutely pops on the deep chestnut base color. Big, loose curls help the rich color catch the light.

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Cinnamon Face-Framing

Instagram/@salsalhair

Cool-toned base colors and cool skin tones really look great with deeply warm cinnamon, especially coating face-framing layers and ends. This sultry look is calling our name for both summer and fall.

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Copper-Amber Curls

Instagram/@devacurl

With voluminous curls like these, sun-kissed touches make all the difference by giving dimension and vibrance to brunette ringlets. Tan skin loves rich copper, caramels, and ambers.

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Metallic Ombré

Instagram/@whitney_pierce_hair

This amber-hazelnut color treads closely on the scale to the trendy metallic hue: rose brown. The cascading color creates a breathtaking, smooth-as-syrup finish.

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Root Smudging

Paul Archuleta/Getty Images

This style gives balayage a break by going with bold all-over color. Root smudging is a technnique used to blend roots into hair color for a seamless transition into full-coverage highlighting, and this look blends dark mocha roots into a rich auburn-cinnamon shade. 

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Hazelnut Highlights

Instagram/@hairbybrielle_s

We’re swooning over this super robust brown hair color, full of dimension and warmth thanks to beautiful hazelnut highlights that blend seamlessly into the dark brown base.

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Chestnut Balayage

Instagram/@mannie_mak

Even ashy base colors, like this deep mocha, can embrace summertime with some warm-toned balayage. Sticking with darker hues, like chestnut and deep auburn, makes sure the look turns out very stylish, yet not too disparate.

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Muted Root Beer

Instagram/@byprado_

Tread on the safe side, while still giving your dark brown a fresh twist, by adding cooler chestnut ribbons throughout. This unique shade works well with ashy or ultra-dark bases.

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Chestnut Bob

Instagram/@salsalhair

Dark roots give way to muted warm color, but with a glossy finish. The blunt bob is chic and stylish, letting the ombré take the spotlight.

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Amber Balayage

Instagram/@colorgeekchic

A medium chestnut brown gets thick strokes of vivid amber, resulting in a robust color just perfect for summertime. This fiery shade of root beer looks like it’s got just a drizzle of grenadine!

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