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, which in French is the feminine form of
brunet, which is the diminutive of
brun (brown, brown-haired or dark-haired).