Updated January 2023 By Dr Jonathan Palmer

What makes natural hair different colours?

What makes hair different colours
 

Where does the colour in our hair come from?

Within the interior of each of your hair fibres is the cortex. Your hair’s cortex contains many packets of pigment. There are two known types of pigment or melanin in human hair.

Dark hair has an abundance of eumelanin, whereas blond/red hair has a majority of pheomelanin

The full beautiful range of colours seen arises due to differences in these colour molecules' relative abundances and their total concentrations.

Other factors play important roles in hair colour and hair colour perception (using the human eye), so for a deeper dive into hair colour, check out our other colour guide.

Get Expert Hair Analysis and Help

If you are interested in knowing more about your hair's colour, health, or porosity, then check out one of our HairKnowHow analyses.

Contact the HairKnowHow Team if you have any questions.