The Comeback of Mousy Brown Hair

In the not-so-distant past, not too dark, not too light, “mousy” brown hair was...well, anything but aspirational. Like its blonde hair color counterpart, “dishwater blonde,” naturally light brunette hair was just a canvas waiting to be brightly highlighted or balayaged. But it’s 2021 now and that’s all changed. Natural-looking, in-between hair color couldn’t be more of the moment...and you know we love multi-dimensional, not-brunette-not-blonde hair color around here. “Mousy” isn’t a synonym for dull and plain anymore, and natural-looking, neutral hair colors that don’t come across as too “try hard” are so on-trend right now. Another plus? Au naturel light brunette or medium brunette hair color looks great on everyone. It’s also so low maintenance and easy to maintain, looks great with added barely-there balayage, and is far from boring. There’s absolutely nothing drab about natural-looking, healthy-looking mousy brown hair color anymore. It’s official, 2021 is the year where “mousy brown hair” became a compliment. Check out our top 3 favorite ways to get gorgeous, multi-tonal mousy brown hair color…

 

This might be our favorite look of the bunch. We love how natural and effortless this light brown shade of hair color looks, particularly when it’s casually tousled and unstyled—call it “undone brunette.” Choose a light neutral brunette shade of hair color like Umbria Light Brown 7.5NNA (we highly recommend this shade if you have resistant gray hair) or Avella Light Brown 7N. Either way, light neutral brunette is anything but boring—it looks fantastic on everyone and it’s so effortlessly gorgeous.

 

Mousy brown hair gets a summer makeover with this warm, barely-there balayage hair color look. We like to think of it as a beachy light brunette. Keep or color your roots mouse brown, then add a pop of lighter blonde hair color to your mid-lengths and ends. Choose a light golden brown shade of hair color, like Lucca Light Brown 7NGV, as your light brunette base. Apply permanent hair color to your roots, then add Light Works® Balayage Highlights in Palmi Warm Honey to your mid-lengths and ends. Be sure to add balayage to some face-framing pieces. There you have it, the perfectly sun-kissed, spent the day at the beach brunette hair color look for summer.

 

Smoky brown and mousy brown? Yes, it can be done—and it happens to be super on-trend at the moment. Cool tones look especially great with mousy brunette hair color. We recommend coloring your hair a smoky light brunette shade to achieve an ash tone for light brunette hair color. It’s still multi-dimensional and natural-looking, just on the cool rather than neutral side. Try a mousy brunette shade like smoky Veneto Light Brown 7NVA. Trust us, light ash brown hair color looks so casually cool right now.

 

So tell us, have you embraced the mousy brown hair color trend yet? Do you think this low-maintenance, natural-looking hair color trend is here to stay? Shout out your favorite mousy brunette looks in the comments.