Well, December is finally here, and with it, our last Hair Colour of the Month, *sob*! We hope you’ve enjoyed us taking a deep-dive into a few of our Naturtint Permanent shades, maybe it’s inspired you to kick off the new year with a new shade, or perhaps even shake up your shade for the festive season with one of our berry shades? If that sounds like you, then December’s hair colour of the month might be just what you are looking for…!

For December’s Colour of the Month, we’re taking a closer look at the 4M Mahogany Chestnut.

What kind of colour is it?

A beautiful colour! We love all our shades but the 4M Mahogany Chestnut is like a jewel in the crown – in the sense that it is a rich, jewel-like, plum-red that adds depth, tone and intrigue to mid-dark brown colours. Although it’s one of our brighter shades, it has remained a popular colour since its launch and is currently ranked at the number 12 spot for 2023 sales (we have over 30 shades in total!).

Unlike shades like the 6.66 Fireland or 5R Fire Red, the 4M is a more purple-red than a primary-red so think rich garnet or plum tones rather than rubies or red cherries!

Can anybody wear this colour?

Being a 4, so a mid-range colour, the Mahogany Chestnut can be applied to quite a few different hair colours and shades. As we’ve discussed before, with Naturtint being an ammonia-free home hair colour it can only lighten hair by one or two shades – so you couldn’t quite use the 4M if your hair was a true black, but if you were black/brown (imagine our 2N) or lighter, you could apply it. If you are naturally lighter than the 4M shade you can of course use it, but we would say brace yourself if you are naturally fair as it is an intense and rich colour!

If you have a lot of grey hair and would like to use the 4M, we would recommend blending the 4N in with the 4M, rather than just applying it on its own. Imagine you were painting a white wall and a dark wall with the same red shade, the colour would appear much brighter on the white wall than on the dark wall. So, by mixing the 4N in with the 4M, you’ll get a more natural looking coverage of the grey with the warmer tones from the Mahogany Chestnut.

How do I care for it?

Being a red tone, our December colour of the month, 4M, does need looking after but we’d always recommend giving coloured hair some extra TLC anyway, to keep your colour looking fresh for as long as possible until your next application! Red pigments are made up of molecules larger than those found in other colours, so they can’t penetrate as deeply into the cortex of the hair, meaning they fade from the hair a little more easily. Try to wait as long as possible to wash your hair after you have first coloured it with the 4M and consider hairstyles that help you get an extra day or two between washes, perhaps plaiting a greasy fringe or wearing a stylish silk headband.

Because of this potential for fading, you may find that you need to pull the colour through to the ends of your hair a little more often than with other colours – try not to get into the habit of doing this on every root application however, as this will overprocess the hair which will only exacerbate the fading. Instead, only refresh the colour every other or every third application and use cleansing products designed specifically for coloured hair, such as the Naturtint Colour Fixing Shampoo and Colour Fixing Protective Conditioner.