Black Hair With Cherry Red Highlights: 15 Stunning Ideas To Try

If you want to make your black hair look more vibrant, try adding cherry red highlights. This keeps your black hair deep and shiny, while the red highlights catch the light, brighten your face, and grow out naturally. To keep your hair looking fresh, use gloss treatments between salon visits.

Have a look at 15 cherry red highlights that will make black hair really shine, all drawing on current salon styles.

1. Classic Cherry Red Balayage on Black Hair

This is the classic style: long black waves with dark roots and bright cherry red streaks through the mids and ends. It’s a balayage so the red is all soft edged and flows with the hair, never looks like it’s in strips.

2. Subtle Black Cherry Balayage

Here the cherry is deep and quite subtle. The long dark waves have a very deep black cherry sheen which is almost black in the house but comes through as red in the light. If you’re after a deep glossy color with no red at all then have a look at dark chocolate brown hair with mocha caramel highlights.

3. Dark Cherry Glaze

A dark cherry glaze adds a sheer, glossy red over very dark hair (almost black) to give the whole head a deep cherry glow with no lifted sections at all. If that still seems a bit too much, check out a warm gloss on dark brown hair with hazelnut highlights for a much more subtle effect.

4. Cherry Cola Highlights on Black Hair

This is a front view of cherry cola done properly: a black base with quite distinct red-brown streaks through the long layers, deeper than your standard cherry and warmer than burgundy. For a softer, browner take on red, have a look at the light reddish brown hair color ideas.

5. Violet Cherry Cola Highlights

This is the coolest cherry look in the guide. Long, voluminous waves with a dark base and vibrant violet toned cherry cola which shifts from purple to red depending on the light. It has real dimension but the overall tone is very deep.

6. Cherry Red Streaks on Sleek Black Hair

Straight hair shows all the detail so the cherry streaks are kept very fine and neat. The long, sleek black hair has the slim true cherry ribbons from the mids to the ends and the smooth surface means each red piece is going to shine like glass. This is the most precise placement in the guide.

7. Bright Cherry Red Money Piece

Here the two bold front sections do all the work. The rest of the hair is left dark and the face is framed in vivid cherry red from the part down for maximum impact with minimal color. This is the quickest salon option in the guide and the easiest of the cherry looks to grow out or alter at a later date.

8. Cherry Red Face Frame on Black Waves

This is a softer version of the money piece. The shoulder length black waves are predominantly black with cherry red blended into the front sections so that it fades into the black rather than creating a stark line. The red really brings the face to life every time the waves move.

9. Peekaboo Cherry Red Underlayer

This is the surprise placement. The long dark hair is very calm from above, but there’s a very vivid cherry red panel hidden underneath which pops up at the sides and through the ends whenever the hair moves or is lifted. The top layer keeps it very subdued until you want to reveal the color.

10. Chunky Cherry Red Highlights

This is the boldest classic in the guide with wide panels of vivid cherry red alternating with black panels in long straight hair to create a high contrast colour block. The chunky highlights work best with a straight style to really show off the clean stripes and a regular gloss will keep the color bright.

11. Cherry Red Tips on Black Hair

All the color is at the ends. The roots and mid-lengths of black hair remain black and the ends are a vivid cherry red which pops against dark clothes and dark skin. As only the ends are lightened you can easily cut away any faded cherry red when required.

12. Cherry Cola Highlights on Curls

Curls need color placed on the curl, not against it. This shoulder-length curly hair keeps a rich dark base while cherry cola highlights are painted through the spirals, so every ringlet catches red at its curve. The result is dimension you can see from across the room.

13. Cherry Glow Highlights on Straight Black Hair

Fine cherry highlights are throughout. Long straight black hair with fine red threads running from root to tip throughout giving the whole head a cherry glow without any real bold panels. Inside it’s a very rich dark red dimension and in the sun the reds really come alive.

14. Vampy Cherry Cola Ribbons

These are the most moody ribbons in the guide. A close back view shows dark waves with deep cherry cola ribbons running through them (red enough to be noticed, dark enough to be mysterious). The colorist described it as cherry cola with a ‘vampy’ twist and that deeper tone is what makes it so easy to wear.

15. Vivid Cherry Red Highlights Full and Dimensional

This is the full cherry look in the guide. Long black hair with a soft fringe and vivid cherry red highlights woven through every strand from front to back. It’s the most maintenance intensive of the looks in the guide and by far the one that is photographed the most.

Final Thoughts

Black hair with cherry red highlights allows you to choose how you want your red (deep or bright, hidden or bold) against that black base.

Decide what works for you, pick a placement that suits your own routine, comment with your preferred option, share it with a friend and save this guide.

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