Brown Hair

Brown hair is the second most common human hair color, after black hair. It varies from light brown to almost black hair. It is characterized by higher levels of the dark pigment eumelanin and lower levels of the pale pigment pheomelanin. Its strands are thicker than those of fair hair but not as much as those of red hair. People with brown or black hair are often referred to as brunette, the feminine form of the diminutive form brunet from brun (brown, brown-haired or dark-haired), the masculine form. Brown hair is common among populations in West Eurasia and North Africa, especially among those from Central Europe, Southern Europe and West Asia, where it transitions smoothly into blackish-brown and black hair. Because of migration from Europe from the 16th to the 20th centuries, brown-haired people are also found in North America, South America, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Siberia, and other parts of Asia and Oceania.