Jump to:
Browse our favorite dark purple hair ideas and get inspired to try this trendy color! From rich plums to deep violet tones, there are tons of variations to consider. See which dark purple shades will look best with your complexion in our guide!
The Trend: Dark Purple Hair
- Dark purple hair colors can be cool or warm-toned
- Burgundy, black cherry, dark violet, and amethyst shades
- Fast-fading dye needs special care to last longer
Dark purple hair shines and reflects beautiful violet tones with a rich brown or black base. If pastel or electric purple tones seem a little “too much” for you, dark purple is the ultimate solution.
This trendy hair color is rich and full of delicious depth that looks amazing on a range of skin tones. There are many variations of dark purple hair color with different undertones to suit warm, cool, and neutral complexions.
Choose a cool-toned dark purple, like dark violet or amethyst, if your skin’s undertone is cool. These colors are vibrant and take on a slightly icy look due to the absence of warm (brown, red, gold, etc.) undertones.
Choose a warm-toned dark purple, like burgundy, dark fuchsia, or black cherry, if your skin’s undertone is warm. These shades are vivid, deep, and have a warmer overall tone due to the presence of brown or red undertones in the color.
You can make your dark purple hair color look almost natural by choosing tones with a prominent brown, black, or red undertone. If vibrant fantasy shades are more your speed, dark purple tones with a bleached base will be the best options.
One of the top concerns for people considering dark purple hair color is how quickly it fades. It’s true that purple is a fast-fading color and requires some special color care to last longer without fading. We’ll cover some helpful color-preserving tips later on in this guide!
For now, let’s take a look at some of the best dark purple hair ideas for different skin tones and undertones. You’ll find a few shades to consider and get one step closer to rich, jewel-toned purple strands!
15 Gorgeous Dark Purple Hair Ideas
Get ready to fall in love with some of these gorgeous dark purple hair ideas! We found unique shades and color looks featuring dark purple hues front and center to inspire your next look.
Whether you’re looking for icy cool, vivd warm, or balanced neutral tones, you’ll find beautiful options below to suit your complexion!
1. Dark Iris With Tyrian Purple Pops of Color
Violator22/Shutterstock
The richest dark iris color and pops of royal Tyrian purple around the face make this one of our favorite dark purple hair looks! It’s obviously gorgeous on short hair, but this vivid color combo would also be stunning on medium and long hair. It’s mostly cool-toned, but the warm Tyrian highlights make it suitable for neutral skin tones, too.
2. Dark Magenta and Amethyst Balayage
hedgehog94/Shutterstock
Why choose a single dark purple hair color when you can create gorgeous looks with 2 shades? This dark magenta root color gets elevated with rich amethyst balayage sweeping up through the mid-shaft. You can do this color over an existing color and still get plenty of vibrance.
3. Icy Dark Lavender With Violet Highlights
Pixel-Shot/Shutterstock
Pastel tones can be enriched with a darker base so they appear a little deeper in tone. We love how icy dark lavender gives this color a very cool-toned effect while vivid violet highlights add a touch of color saturation to make this hue pop!
4. Dark to Electric Violet Ombre
FOTOGRIN/Shutterstock
Dark purple hair can be a great base color to play with other, brighter tones! Dark violet color at the roots seamlessly blends out into a warmer electric violet tone at the ends in this ombre look. You’ll need to bleach your hair for the most vivid results!
5. Deep Indigo With Magenta Foils
Aleksandra Voinova/Shutterstock
Cool-toned indigo has beautiful blue and violet undertones that are absolutely smashing with a cool skin tone. This color combo also works for neutral undertones thanks to the warmer dark magenta highlight! This is a really balanced warm/cool look that may last a little longer thanks to the dark base color.
6. Dark Plum Burgundy With Maroon Accents
Lil Maria/Shutterstock
Rich plum burgundy color features a brown undertone that gives the color a more natural look. Dress it up by adding maroon (reddish brown with faint violet undertones) accents to the color! This shade is deep but a little more subtle, so it won’t require bleaching to get these results.
7. Blackened Eggplant Purple
Natalie magic/Shutterstock
The violet tones in a vibrant eggplant color are divine, especially with a rich black base color. Add a few highlights throughout the hair for the purple dye to vividly stand out, but there’s no need to bleach your whole head. Eggplant over a dark or black hair color provides that subtle but notably violet pop of color even without bleaching!
8. Dark Violet to Raspberry Ombre
Lil Maria/Shutterstock
Not a fan of all-over dark purple hair? Try a vibrant ombre color with a warm undertone instead! This look works well for neutral, warm, and even cool undertones thanks to the balance of cool violet and warmer pink-red raspberry tones.
9. Dimensional Dark Boysenberry
Khosro/Shutterstock
Boysenberry color is unique and offers a warmer shade option for those with a warm skin undertone. This vivid tone shows up best on light hair. Scattering highlights and brown lowlights throughout gives it a very dimensional look with lots of light and shadows.
10. Rich Plum Burgundy Brown
VALUA VITALY/Shutterstock
Want a dark purple hair color that looks a little more natural and less vivid? Then a deep burgundy brown look is precisely what you need! This two-toned color features a chestnut brown and lowlights in a rich plum burgundy shade for lots of dimension.
11. Espresso Base With Dark Magenta Accents
VALUA VITALY/Shutterstock
Buck the status quo with a dark brown base color like espresso and pops of dark magenta color throughout! This multi-toned look adds tons of dimension and brilliant, vivid purple color on the warmer end of the spectrum. It’s a look that can work for warm, neutral, or cool skin tones.
12. Dark Purple With Maroon Balayage
Pixel-Shot/Shutterstock
Dimensional dark purple color gets an instant warm lift with maroon/magenta balayage. If you love dark purple hair but worry it won’t look great with your warm skin tone, this is an easy way to make the look more complementary for your complexion.
13. Dark Fuchsia and Violet Balayage
Sun Shock/Shutterstock
Pairing a cool-toned dark purple hair color in a violet shade with vivid dark fuchsia makes for a stunning balayage look. A lengthy espresso-toned root melt makes it lower maintenance and really helps those deep colors pop!
14. Vibrant Violet and Indigo With Peekaboo Brown
ilyasadovski/Shutterstock
Keeping your vibrant dark purple hair color limited to the outermost layers of the hair lets you relax the look a bit and make it more natural. Let a darker hair color (even your natural shade) peek through in the bottom layers to add depth and break up the vivid purple tones like lowlights.
15. Oil Slick Magenta Indigo
Eugene Partyzan/Shutterstock
Magenta + indigo color lets you benefit from the warm and cool undertones found in these different purple shades. This color takes on an oil slick effect, with the shades varying under different lighting and in movement. It’s a great color combo for neutral skin tones with the warm magenta and cool indigo balance, but honestly works well for warm and cool complexions, too.
Things to Consider
Going for a dark purple hair color can be a major change to your strands and makes a big difference in your overall look. Here’s what you should consider before you settle on a rich purple shade for your next color!
- It’s true – purple fades fast. Purple and red are closely related on the color wheel and the way purple and red dyes “act” on the hair are very similar. Both have larger dye molecules that are too big to deeply penetrate the hair, so they tend to superficially sit on the hair without getting a solid grip on strands. This makes purple dye does not last as long, just like red. Color refreshes every 3-4 weeks may be needed for vivid purple colors.
- Find your perfect purple shade. There are many different shades of dark purple, but you need to specifically look at the ones that mirror your skin’s undertone. If you look best in gold jewelry, opt for a warm burgundy, black cherry, dark magenta, or dark fuchsia color. If you look best in silver, choose a cool violet, iris, plum, or eggplant shade. Neutral undertones (look great in gold and silver) should look at balanced warm and cool purples to play up their undertones.
- Preserve your purple color at home. Color refreshes at the salon will ensure your dark purple hair stays vibrant, but taking care of it at home will help you space them out more. Sulfate-free shampoo is a must, and washing with purple shampoo once a week can keep brassiness at bay. Dry hair fades faster, so keep your mane moisturized with regular hair masks that deeply hydrate and make color more vibrant. Avoid washing your hair too often and don’t use hot water, which strips dye faster.
- Make sure your hair is healthy enough. Applying semi-permanent or demi-permanent purple color without using developer shouldn’t harm your hair, but permanent purple color (and bleaching before dyeing it purple) definitely can! Make sure your hair isn’t overly dry, experiencing breakage, stretching out when tugged, or extremely frizzy before you decide to dye it purple.
So, Will You Look Good With Dark Purple Hair?
Dark purple hair is trendy, beautiful, and kind of magical and mysterious. Who doesn’t love it? But it’s really important to consider how dark purple hair will look on you and your complexion.
You already know to consider your skin’s undertone (warm, cool, or neutral) when you’re picking out deep purple shades. But it’s hard to really know how you’ll look in a given shade of purple without “trying it on.”
Since even temporary purple dye runs the risk of staining your hair, the best way to try purple hair color on is virtually. We created an app to let you do just that!
The best hairstyle try-on app. Period.
Our virtual hair color try-on app uses your webcam in real time and allows you to pick out different colors to try on. You can also switch out your hairstyle and length to see how you’d look with a major hair transformation! Give it a try before you dye – it’s the only way to really know that your chosen shade of dark purple hair color will work for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Inked Pixels/Shutterstock
Wondering if dark purple hair will be the right choice for you? Read through a few FAQs to learn more about this color.
What is purple brown hair called?
Dark purple brown hair color is typically called burgundy or plum burgundy. Burgundy hair color is a brownish purple color with faint red undertones, while plum burgundy has a more obvious purple overtone.
How long does dark purple hair last?
Dark purple hair color lasts longer if you use permanent hair color. Semi-permanent purple hair color lasts 6-12 washes (and begins fading after a few washes).
Permanent purple hair color lasts up to 8 weeks but may need a refresh before that time since purple dye is prone to fading.
Is purple hair hard to maintain?
Purple hair is relatively hard to maintain due to the nature of the dye pigment. Like red dye, purple dye molecules are too large to deeply penetrate hair.
The large size of purple dye molecules means they tend to sit on top of the hair, making them prone to fading before other colors.
What level does hair need to be for purple?
You can get purple hair color with or without bleaching your hair first. Dark purple tones stand out best on bleached hair, but will provide a subtle color tint for dark hair colors without bleaching.