The "Expensive Brunette" Hair Color Made My Thin Hair Look Rich and Full

In my world, there's nothing better than receiving a compliment — especially when it comes to my hair. As someone with fine, dry, and sometimes unruly hair, anyone who tells me it looks good (and means it) immediately gets added to my "favorite people" list. I recently went from a brassy brunette to an expensive brunette, and in all honesty, it was life-changing. (Yes, I'm being dramatic, but also totally not.)

I was born with dark-brown hair, but I've experienced not-so-great highlights in the past, which is what has led me to my current struggle: red tones. As far as I know, every brunette hates when her hair turns brassy and red, and I'm absolutely one of those people. Red tones are quite literally the bane of my existence, and although I don't have them in my natural hair color, I'm currently growing out highlights so I deal with them constantly.

To save my hair, I visited celebrity hairstylist Nikki Lee in Beverly Hills. Lee has worked with celebrity clients like Selena Gomez, Emma Roberts, and Jennifer Love Hewitt (just to name a few), so I knew I would be in good hands when I went to visit her.

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Nikki Lee is a celebrity hairstylist, founder of Nine Zero One salon, and a Wella Global Ambassador. She is based in Los Angeles.

At our appointment, I explained to her what was going on — not only did my hair look and feel lifeless and lack body, but I was also moonlighting as a redhead. (Love a redhead, by the way, just not with my skin tone!) On top of that, I was dealing with some grey hairs right down the middle of my part, and I was overall just looking for my hair to look and feel better. Enter, the antidote: expensive brunette.

One thing to know about the expensive brunette trend is that it isn't an all-over color. What exactly your stylist will do depends on multiple factors, like how often you can commit to getting your hair done, your eye color, and your skin tone. The goal, however, will be to create dimension and movement.

After taking a look, what Lee decided to do was to cover up my grey with demi-permanent color, add in some low lights in the area where I was feeling most red, and then do a couple of tip outs (aka lightening) throughout my hair to give it even more movement.

"To achieve an expensive brunette look, I love the combination of a lowlight using a demi-permanent color, such as Wella Color Touch and an all-over gloss like Wella Shinefinity," Lee says. Why lowlights? Well, according to Lee, "A lowlight adds depth and dimension to give the hair life." As previously mentioned, life is absolutely what my hair needed, which is what we set out to do.

I was excited to test out Wella's Shinefinity gloss because I stalk the sh*t out of hair salons on TikTok, and a few of my favorite salons are always doing major hair transformations and crediting the sleekness and shine to Wella's product.

When we were all done coloring my hair (and after Lee gave me a much-needed trim), I honestly couldn't believe my eyes. I'm not being dramatic when I tell you that "this is the best hair color I've ever had" was the words that popped out of my mouth. The red was gone, the greys were banished, and my hair looked damn good. I mean, look at my before and after photos. The proof is in the pudding, babe.

The biggest surprise? I have fine hair that leans much more thin than thick, but the lowlights mixed with tip outs gave my hair so much dimension that I actually think my hair somehow started looking thicker.

So, how do you maintain this gorgeous, expensive-looking color? Well, to start, you'll want to make sure to book an appointment six to eight weeks after your initial color. Glosses are the best way to keep your hair looking sleek, shiny, and healthy. As for what you can do at home, Lee says, "You can keep the color looking fresh by using a Raindrops Shower Filter ($95), a color safe shampoo and conditioner, and a good heat protectant." Lee's favorite is Wella's Ultimate Repair line, which I am also a huge fan of. (I truly cannot live without my Wella Professionals Ultimate Repair Miracle Hair Rescue ($35).

If you've been struggling with red tones, or you're as in love as I am with the way my hair turned out, Lee was kind enough to share the exact formula so you can share the information with your colorist.

Renee Rodriguez (she/her) is a senior staff writer and social producer for PS. She writes across all verticals, but her main areas of expertise focus on fashion and beauty content with an emphasis on reviews and editor experiments. She also produces social content for the PS TikTok and Instagram accounts.