Why Are My Eyebrows Darker Than My Hair (Find Out Here)

Why are my eyebrows darker than my hair

This morning you woke up and stood in front of your mirror. You do this every morning but, now you see something different from your face. Have you never seen it, has your brain ignored it? Your eyebrows are darker than your hair color!

I know this all too well because a couple of months ago I had the same thing. So, I did what all girls would do… I went to my friends and asked them “do you guys know why my eyebrows are darker than my natural hair color?”

For some of us, this would be an odd question… For us? Just a normal thing about beauty addicts! 

Since my friends could not give me the answer, I went on to find the answers. I looked online, in books at the library, and asked a local beautician and this is what I found out!

Why are my eyebrows darker than my hair?

No, you’re not crazy, your eyebrows are indeed darker than your hair color and this is not a thing to be concerned about. Lots and lots of people have this! But why?

The fact that your eyebrows are darker than your hair color has to do with a pigment called melanin. Melanin is a dark brown to the black pigment that occurs in your hair, skin, and the iris of your eye. Melanin is responsible for the tanning of your skin and as you just read, give the color to your hair.

Now what you need to know is the fact that there are 3 types of melanin.

Eumelanin – Eumelanin is a dark melanin pigment that is most commonly found in your hair, skin, and dark areas like around your nipples. This kind of pigment is also found abundantly in people with darker skin tones. 

Pheomelanin –  Pheomelanin is a type of melanin with pigment that is made up of benzothiazine units. This type of pigment is responsible for the yellow and pink to red tones. You can find this kind of pigment abundantly in people with red hair.

Neuromelanin – This kind of melanin has more to do with protecting neurons in the substantia nigra (in the brain) from iron-induced oxidative stress. We won’t discuss more than this kind of melanin because I don’t know very much about the brain ;)!

When you do not have lots and lots of eumelanin, your hair may be blonde. When you have more of it, your hair is going more and more to the darker colors. 

When you have darker eyebrows than your natural hair color, it appears to be so that you have more pigment (eumelanin) in your eyebrows than that you have in your hair. Nothing to worry about! This can most probably be a genes factor. Most likely when you look at your mother or father (or both) you’ll see the same thing happen.

I like the look that people with darker eyebrows than their natural hair color have. Look at Cara Delevigne for example. Gorgeous eyebrows!

But what if you don’t like it?

The fact that I like this style, doesn’t mean that you have to like it. It can be the case that you don’t find it nice looking or just straight-up hate it. If that is the issue at hand, you always have the option to tint your eyebrows lighter. Preferably you would go to a professional salon so that they can do this nicely for you.

You have two options. You can lighten your eyebrows so that it will match your hair, or you can darken your hair color so that it matches your eyebrows. Your choice! You can always ask the professional at the salon what he/she thinks is best!

Are my eyebrows supposed to be darker or lighter than your hair?

Your eyebrows don’t have to be anything! Yes, they have to be there because they give your eyes definition, to protect your eyes from moisture and dust, and to help to cushion the skin from physical injury, but besides that, they don’t have to be anything.

As you just read, it is a matter of how much eumelanin pigment is in you and your eyebrows.

But, if you want to change it, or want to experiment with what would look great on you, I suggest you use the following guidelines.

Matching eyebrows when you have brown or black hair.
If you have brown or dark hair, it is best to select a shade that is at least 1 to 2 shades lighter than your hair color. This will help give your eyebrows a natural look and not something that is too brown on your eyebrows. The other thing why choosing 1 to 2 shades lighter may be the way to go is the fact that the oils in your skin tend to make your eyebrow color darker, so when you go a bit lighter you prevent your eyebrows from looking too dark.

Matching eyebrows when you have blonde or light brown hair
When you have blonde or light brown hair it can go for 1 to 2 shades darker than your natural hair color. This way you can make your eyebrows stand out from your face a little bit more and to give your face and eyes more definition. Take a color that is light enough so that it will look natural. You don’t want something that looks too dark.

Matching eyebrows when you have blonde hair.
If you have blonde hair, you might be best off when you go for the color taupe. This will ensure that your eyebrows will look natural and not too dark in comparison with your hair.

Making your features softer eyebrows when you have brown or black hair.
You can also go for a soft brown color for your eyebrows when you have brown or black hair. This goes against the saying that eyebrows should generally be slightly darker than your hair color, but making your eyebrows softer by choosing a shade of brown can really help if your hair is very dark.

Matching eyebrows when you have red hair.
If you have red hair, you can complement the red tones in your hair with a blonde color for your eyebrows!

Why have my eyebrows gotten lighter?


It would be weird to look in the mirror one day and see that your eyebrows are suddenly lighter than they normally are! This does not happen overnight so don’t worry, but your eyebrows can become lighter and it is due to mainly 2 causes.

Sunlight and UV making your eyebrows lighter
You might’ve noticed that your hair becomes lighter in the summer due to the exposure of sunlight and the bleaching from the UV rays of the sun. This also happens with eyebrows so don’t worry if this is the case. When you don’t expose yourself to the sun for a while, everything will go back to normal.

Genetics changing your eyebrow color
It can also happen that you simply are dealing with your body’s genetics that is changing the color of your facial hair (and so also your eyebrows). Nothing to worry about, this can happen when you get older.

Now you can do something about this (certainly the genetics part) because you can go start matching your eyebrow color to what it once was. To have a guide for this, you should read the section above this one.

Why have my eyebrows gotten darker?

When you were younger you probably had lighter hair and lighter eyebrows. Now when you grow up and the melanin parts start to play, it can happen that your hair grows darker as you age. This then also is the thing with your eyebrows. 

So nothing to worry about! It just happens as you age. And, as you just read, when you grow much older, your eyebrows can start to face a bit in color and start to go lighter. It is just a way of life.

If your eyebrows never turn darker, you can always go with eyebrow liner if you want to. Or… Just embrace it because you’re beautiful as you are!

Final thoughts

Now you know why your eyebrows are darker than your hair color! It all has something to do with the types of melanin that are inside your body and how everything develops the way it does. I hope that you can embrace your natural beauty cause what I said above is certainly true. You are good and beautiful as you are! However, if you want to experiment with your eyebrow color, to make yourself even more stunning, you can always do so.

You can start by yourself or ask a friend (or local beautician) for advice on how to start. The guide that I provided above about matching your eyebrow color and how light or dark to go, is also a good thing to use. That way you know for sure that you do not use a color that isn’t worth your time and only use colors that can do the things for you that you want.

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