Meghan Markle's Hair Color, Decoded

Meghan Markle’s hair colour has become one of the most quietly studied details of her entire look, not for drama but for consistency. Where many public figures cycle through dramatic transformations, Meghan has spent the past several years refining a single, dimensional brunette, and the story behind it turns out to be as considered as the shade itself. It begins with a colourist, a technique, and a friendship that started, of all things, with a pandemic hair emergency.

The woman responsible is Kadi Lee, the Los Angeles colourist whose client list reads like a masterclass in “your hair, but healthier.” For more than four years, Lee has been the person translating Meghan’s brunette into the glossy, warm, camera-ready colour seen at everything from Invictus Games appearances to product launches. The technique itself has a name, and it is less mysterious than the finished result suggests: balayage highlights, layered with demi-permanent all-over colour, built up slowly to create genuine dimension rather than a flat, single-note brown.

Meet Kadi Lee, the colourist behind the shade

Kadi Lee is not a household name in the way a celebrity stylist sometimes becomes, and that appears to be by design. Based in Los Angeles, she has built a client roster that includes Julia Roberts, Gwyneth Paltrow and Diane von Furstenberg, alongside Meghan, and her reputation rests on a specific philosophy: colour that prioritises hair health over instant, high-drama change. Lee has spoken publicly about avoiding ammonia in her formulas and favouring a “slow and natural beauty” approach: colour that builds gradually across appointments rather than forcing a single dramatic sitting.

That philosophy is precisely why the relationship has lasted. Meghan’s hair has stayed recognisably her own colour, season after season, rather than lurching between trends, a notable discipline in an industry that often rewards the opposite.

How Serge Normant made the introduction

The connection between Meghan and Kadi Lee did not begin in a salon chair by chance. It came via Serge Normant, the hairstylist who styled Meghan’s hair for her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry and has remained part of her styling circle since. During the pandemic, after a string of at-home colouring attempts had gone visibly wrong, Meghan reportedly turned to Normant for advice. His answer was simple and, as it turned out, career-defining for the friendship that followed: she needed to see Kadi.

It is a very Court & Capital sort of detail: one trusted professional relationship quietly generating the next. Normant had no stake in hair colour specifically, but his recommendation connected Meghan with the person who has shaped her signature look for years since. The introduction also says something about how the entertainment and royal-adjacent worlds actually work: not through agencies and press releases, but through word of mouth between people who already trust each other’s judgement.

The technique: balayage meets demi-permanent colour

The actual mechanics of Meghan’s colour are worth spelling out, because “balayage” gets used loosely in general conversation. True balayage is a hand-painted highlighting technique (colour swept onto sections of hair freehand, rather than foiled in uniform blocks) designed to mimic the way hair naturally lightens in the sun. Layered underneath or around that is demi-permanent all-over colour, a gentler formula than permanent dye that deposits tone and shine without lifting the hair’s natural pigment as aggressively.

Combined, the two techniques do different jobs. The balayage highlights add lightness and movement around the face and through the ends. The demi-permanent base unifies everything underneath, so the highlights read as dimension within a single rich brunette rather than as a separate, competing colour. Kadi Lee has described using heavy lowlights alongside the balayage, finished with two layers of gloss for what she calls “tone-on-tone reflection,” the source of the colour’s noticeably high shine in photographs.

Chocolate chestnut: the signature shade

The specific brunette Lee and Meghan have refined carries its own name in the trade: chocolate chestnut. It is built from a mix of red and golden undertones layered into the brunette base, which is why the colour can look warmer in some light and richer, almost espresso-toned, in others. Colourists often reach for red and gold undertones specifically because they flatter a wide range of skin tones and photograph well against both daylight and studio lighting, a practical consideration for someone photographed as often as Meghan is.

The shade first drew wide attention when Meghan debuted a noticeably richer version of it during a winter trip to Canada for the Invictus Games, where the deeper, warmer tone stood out against the season. It was, by most colourist accounts, a subtle shift rather than a reinvention, proof of Lee’s gradual-build philosophy in practice rather than a one-off transformation for an event.

The pandemic “Elvira” moment

Not every chapter of this story is polished. In an episode of her podcast, Confessions of a Female Founder, Meghan told the story of colouring her own hair at home during the pandemic, using repeated rounds of boxed dye in the absence of salon access. The result, in her own description, was “this very inky, almost Elvira-esque black hair,” a nod to the campy, jet-black-wigged horror icon played by Cassandra Peterson. The comment went viral enough that Elvira herself replied on social media, offering, with evident good humour, to share “beauty advice from a queen.”

It is exactly the kind of anecdote that makes the professional relationship with Kadi Lee land so well. The fix for that inky home-dye episode is what ultimately brought the two together properly, and Lee has since described gradually working the colour back toward something wearable: lifting, toning and rebuilding rather than stripping the hair in one aggressive session. The story also does double duty as a fairly universal confession: even with access to the best colourists in Los Angeles, a pandemic and a box of dye proved a difficult combination to resist.

From client to business partner

The relationship has since grown beyond the salon chair. Lee co-founded Highbrow Hippie, a haircare and wellness brand with a physical studio in Venice, California, alongside business partner Myka Harris. In November 2024, Meghan became an investor in the brand’s newest product line, which focuses on scalp health and hair thinning through a serum and supplement pairing. At the brand’s launch party, held at the Venice restaurant Gjelina, Meghan reportedly presented Lee with a bouquet of roses cut from her own Montecito garden, a personal touch reported by those in attendance, and a small sign of how far the relationship has travelled from that first pandemic phone call.

It is worth noting how unusual this trajectory is. Celebrity-colourist relationships rarely evolve into business partnerships, and when they do, it tends to signal genuine trust built over years rather than a single successful appointment.

Why it still matters

What makes Meghan’s hair colour story worth telling is not the shade itself, pleasing as it is, but the discipline behind it. Four-plus years with one colourist, a technique chosen for health over drama, and a public willingness to laugh at the one time it went wrong at home. Together, it reads less like a transformation story and more like a case study in consistency. For more of the beauty relationships and routines behind the most photographed women in royal-adjacent life, browse our Royal Style & Fashion stories.

Frequently asked questions

Who colours Meghan Markle’s hair?

Meghan’s hair colour has been done by Los Angeles colourist Kadi Lee for more than four years. Lee also colours hair for clients including Julia Roberts and Gwyneth Paltrow, and co-founded the haircare brand Highbrow Hippie.

What hair colour technique does Meghan Markle use?

Meghan’s colourist uses balayage highlights combined with demi-permanent all-over colour, a gentler formula than permanent dye. The two techniques together build a dimensional brunette rather than a single flat tone.

What shade is Meghan Markle’s hair colour called?

Colourist Kadi Lee has described the signature shade as “chocolate chestnut,” a brunette built from mixed red and golden undertones that reads warmer or richer depending on the light.

How did Meghan Markle meet her colourist Kadi Lee?

Hairstylist Serge Normant, who styled Meghan’s hair for her 2018 wedding, introduced her to Kadi Lee after a string of pandemic-era at-home dye attempts went wrong.

What happened when Meghan Markle dyed her own hair during the pandemic?

Meghan has said that repeated boxed dye during pandemic lockdowns left her with “inky, almost Elvira-esque black hair,” a story she shared on her podcast, Confessions of a Female Founder. Kadi Lee later helped correct the colour.

Is Meghan Markle naturally blonde or brunette?

Meghan is naturally brunette. Her colourist adds subtle red and golden tones through balayage and demi-permanent colour to build dimension, rather than lightening her base shade significantly.

How often does Meghan Markle get her hair coloured?

Colourists who work in this gradual-build style typically see clients for touch-ups roughly monthly, with a fuller refresh of highlights or lowlights every three to four months to maintain tone and dimension.

Does Meghan Markle have a business relationship with her colourist?

Yes. In November 2024, Meghan became an investor in Highbrow Hippie, the haircare and wellness brand Kadi Lee co-founded, which focuses on scalp health and hair thinning treatments.

Details on Kadi Lee’s technique and the Highbrow Hippie partnership are drawn from Lee’s own interviews with HELLO! and other outlets; the “Elvira-esque” account comes from Meghan Markle’s own retelling on her podcast, Confessions of a Female Founder.