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This Chic Ashy Brown Is Supermodels' Favorite Hair Color

two women with mushroom brown hair from behind

Over the last year, vivid hair colors like pink lemonade have been stealing the spotlight from more traditional shades—but that’s all about to change. The latest hair color making waves in the beauty world is deeper and darker than the technicolor hues you’ve come to know and love, but equally stunning: mushroom brown hair, the neutral shade you didn’t know you were missing that's close in tone to mushroom blonde hair color.Trade in dirty blonde hair and ash blonde hair to give mushroom brown a shot instead.

If you’re ready to embrace neutral shades and leave bright hair colors behind, mushroom brown may just be the perfect shade for you.

The Best Products For Mushroom Brown Hair

What is mushroom brown hair?

Mushroom brown hair is a neutral brown shade that can sometimes lean ashy. It may be inspired by a fungus, but the color is anything but icky. The shade takes most of its inspiration from the ever popular portobello. Just like the tasty mushroom, this color only appears brown at first glance—the closer you look, light gray and brown hues begin to peek through.

How do you get mushroom brown hair?

To get mushroom brown hair color, we always recommend making an appointment with a professional if you want to ensure you end up with an Insta-worthy hue. Before you head to the salon, be sure to have a few inspiration photos saved in your phone so you can show your colorist exactly what you want. While your colorist will know how to create a standard mushroom brown hair color without much assistance, there are many different ways to craft a mushroom brown.

If you prefer a lighter hue of mushroom brown, ask your stylist to create a light brown base and blend in tons of blonde highlights. If a deep mushroom shade is what you're after, ask your stylist to blend chocolate brown lowlights into your ash base. 

Once you’ve settled on a style, your stylist will begin by creating an ash brown base color. Then, he or she will layer on highlights and lowlights to create a multidimensional look depending on your inspirations pictures.

What kind of maintenance does mushroom brown hair require?

Like most brunette shades, mushroom brown hair is a fairly low maintenance hair color. Just because it’s low maintenance doesn’t mean you won’t have to make a few tweaks to your hair care routine, however.

To ensure your hue remains as flawless as possible, the most important change you should make to your hair care routine is swapping your regular shampoo and conditioner for a duo formulated to protect your color. From the L’Oréal portfolio of products, we recommend Pureology’s Hydrate Shampoo and Conditioner.

If your natural hair color is very close to mushroom brown, you should be able to stretch the time between touch up appointments to several weeks or even months. Mushroom brown is also an great color to help cover salt and pepper strands because the ash undertone can help gray strands blend right in.

Plan to head to the salon for touch ups every six to eight weeks if your natural hair color is nowhere near mushroom brown or if you just want to make sure your color looks its best at all times. If you’re not sure which timeline is appropriate for you and your hair, your stylist will be able to suggest the best schedule for a follow up appointment.

While bleach is not usually necessary when coloring hair brunette, color services can often make your hair look and feel drier than normal. Combat strands that feel dry by incorporating a hydrating deep conditioning mask into your weekly routine. We suggest Pureology’s Hydrate Superfood Treatment.

The Best Mushroom Brown Looks To Try Now

Mushroom brown hair will look striking however you style it. However, we think it looks best on long layered hairstyles because it’s comprised of several different shades and has so much depth. Having longer hair will really allow your mushroom brown hair to shine.

If you’re not sure how to slay your own mushroom look, we’ve rounded up some of our favorite mushroom-inspired shades and styles

Sleek And Shiny Mushroom Brown

Let your stunning mushroom-inspired hair color take center stage by styling your strands in a sleek and shiny straight style. As much as we love straight hair, heat styling your strands can sometimes make your hair look and feel fried instead of flawless.

Use a heat protectant product like Matrix Biolage R.A.W. Heat Styling Primer to ensure your straight strands look and feel nourished. After you’ve dried and flat ironed your mane, spritz a few sprays of Matrix Biolage R.A.W. Replenish Oil-Mist for a shiny final touch. The custom blend of olive, sunflower, and borage oils is formulated to help all hair types and textures achieve softer, smoother, shinier hair.

Frosted Mushroom

Here at Hair.com, we come across new hair colors almost every day. To say we experience color envy would be an understatement. As much as we can’t stop drooling over the latest and greatest color trends, a few of us just can’t imagine parting with our absolute favorite hair colors.

If you’ve been slaying mushroom brown hair since before it was popular and are looking for a way to update your color without getting rid of all of your mushroom brown strands, consider this frosted look. These platinum blonde highlights instantly brighten up any brunette hue. This look is also perfect for anyone who’s been brunette their whole life and always wondered if blondes have more fun—go blonde without really going blonde.

Mushroom Brown Chignon

This elegant chignon is perfect for any special occasion. Simply gather your hair at the nape of your neck and secure your strands into a low ponytail. Allow a few strands to hang free to frame your face. Loosely wrap your ponytail around itself to form the chignon and secure your bun with several bobby pins. Once your chignon is secured, place your favorite hair accessory in your bun for the final touch.

Golden Mushroom

When you hear the word mushroom, an image of a squat little fungus comes to mind. However, any pizza topping connoisseur will tell you not all mushrooms look the same—which means there’s actually a huge selection to choose from if you’re looking to have mushroom-inspired hair.

If you’re looking for a mushroom brown shade that’s a bit more golden with less ash, look no further than golden mushroom. This shade perfectly combines the ash brown we’ve come to associate with mushroom with beautiful golden highlights for a final shade that is all fall inspiration.

Roasted Mushroom

If you love golden mushroom hair but want your hue to be a bit more brunette, consider roasted mushroom. This slightly warmer version of mushroom brown hair is just as delicious as roasted mushrooms straight out of the oven—no cooking required.

Mushroom Brown Curls

Start at the back of your head, working with 2-inch sections of clean, dry hair. Spray each one with heat protectant before wrapping it around a 1-inch curling iron. Hold or clamp each section of hair until just heated through, approximately 30-60 seconds depending on your hair’s thickness. Continue curling 2-inch sections of your hair until you’ve completed your entire head.

Mushroom Brown Roots

If you’re a natural brunette but know in your heart of hearts you were meant to be a blonde, this shade is for you. Leaving your roots mushroom brown will help to make this a low maintenance style. Instead of heading back to the salon every few weeks as you would with an allover blonde look, you can space your touchup appointments up to 12 weeks apart. Meanwhile, your ash blonde balayage will pair perfectly with your fungus inspired roots.

Mushroom Brown A-Line Lob

If you recently colored your hair mushroom brown and are looking for the perfect haircut to complement your color, look no further than an A-line lob. Over the last few years, the lob has earned a reputation for being a universally flattering haircut. While that is true (a lob looks amazing on everyone), chances are good just about everyone you know has a lob.

If you don’t want to give up your lob but don’t want to have the same haircut as your BFF, mother-in-law, and boss, consider an A-line lob. The slight angled variation in the cut is all you need to take your cut from drab to fab.

Black To Mushroom Brown Ombre

If you have black strands, you can still have fun with a trendy color mushroom brown. Instead of spending countless appointments lifting your onyx hue light enough to create a mushroom brown shade, ask for mushroom brown ombre. Your newly lightened ends will instantly bring warmth to your style and you won’t have to worry about touching up your roots.

mushroom brown french roll

Mushroom Brown French Roll

Think of the French roll as a close cousin of the French twist. The French roll maintains the fundamental rounded shape of the traditional twist while embracing an elegant casualness that makes this style perfect for a black tie affair or brunch with your besties.

mushroom brown dutch braid pigtails

Mushroom Brown Pigtail Dutch Braids

Braids are one of our favorite ways to show off a new hair color and we can’t get enough of these pigtail Dutch braids. Allowing a few inches of hair to hang loosely from your pigtails is a great way to update this elementary school style staple.

Mushroom brown half up

Half-Up Mushroom Brown Ombre

If you only have a few minutes to craft a hairstyle but still want to look put together, look no further than a half-up hairstyle. Simply sweep the top half of your hair up into a simple top knot and you’re ready to head out the door in less than two minutes!

Mushroom brown hollywood waves

Mushroom Brown Hollywood Waves

When you think about glamorous hair colors, blonde immediately comes to mind. However, this style proves mushroom brown can be just as glamorous platinum strands.

Dark brown mushroom hair

Dark Mushroom Brown Hair

Traditional mushroom brown may be on the lighter side of the brunette spectrum, but that doesn't mean you can't mix it with some darker hues. If you can't imagine parking with your dark chocolate locks, we're absolutely obsessed this dark mushroom brown shade. 

Whatever you decide, we want to see your warm color. Use the hashtag #hairdotcom to tag us in your posts.

Interested in having a professional give you flawless mushroom brown hair? Use our salon locator to book an appointment with a stylist near you.

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