Every pack of braiding hair prints a code like 1B, T1B/30 or 27613, and almost never a color name. None of them says "honey blonde." The chart above shows those codes as colors on braids, and the sections below teach you to read any pack on your own.
How do braiding hair color numbers work?
The code on the pack is the color, but it only follows a pattern for part of the range.
1 to 8: blacks and browns
In the low numbers, the higher you go, the lighter the hair gets, from 1 at jet black through 2 dark brown and 4 medium brown up to 6 chestnut brown and 8 medium ash brown. 1B, off black, sits between 1 and 2.
Past 8: golds, reds, burgundies and grays
After 8, the numbers stop tracking how light the hair is. They're just names:
- 27, 30 and 33 are the warm golds and auburns: honey blonde, auburn and dark auburn.
- 350, 130S and 900 are the reds: copper, brick red and red.
- 99J, 425, 530, BG and 950 are the burgundies and plums.
- 613 is platinum blonde, the lightest code on the chart.
- 280, 34, 44 and 51 are grays. 280 is black with 10% gray, 34 is 25% and 44 is 50%. 51 is the lightest gray blend.
Brights like blue and hot pink usually go by their name, not a number.
The dark end is where most packs live. When we counted the colors on 250 products from 20 brands at one beauty supply store, 1, 1B and 2 showed up far more than anything else. Every one of the store's 21 braid products came in all three.
What number is each braiding hair color?
Know the color you want but not the code? Start here, then check the swatch in the chart above.
What number is copper braiding hair?
Copper braiding hair is 350. With an off black root it's T1B/350. Copper changes more from brand to brand than most codes, from a dark brown-red on one chart to a bright copper on another, so check the pack photo before you buy.
What number is red braiding hair?
Red braiding hair is 900. Brick red is 130S. Both pair well with 1B or 1.
What number is burgundy braiding hair?
Burgundy braiding hair is 99J. The rest of the family is 425 for medium dark burgundy, 530 for deep burgundy, BG for red burgundy and 950 for plum. Some brands sell BG as plain "burgundy," so read the code, not the name. T1B/BG is off black fading to red burgundy.
What number is auburn braiding hair?
Auburn braiding hair is 30, also sold as light auburn. Dark auburn is 33, sometimes called dark auburn chestnut. T1B/30 fades off black into auburn, and F1B/30 runs fine auburn strands through off black.
What number is honey blonde braiding hair?
Honey blonde braiding hair is 27, also sold as strawberry blonde. It ranges from bright golden to deep honey depending on the brand. T1B/27 fades off black into honey blonde.
What number is blonde braiding hair?
Platinum blonde is 613, also called pre-bleach blonde, and it's the lightest code on the chart. For a warmer, darker blonde, go with 27, honey blonde. T1B/613 fades off black into platinum.
What number is brown braiding hair?
Dark brown is 2, medium brown is 4, chestnut brown is 6 and medium ash brown is 8. The higher the number, the lighter the brown.
What number is gray braiding hair?
Gray braiding hair is numbered by how much gray is mixed into black: 280 is 10% gray, 34 is 25% and 44 is 50%. 51 is the lightest gray blend.
What do the letters on the pack mean?
A letter in front of the numbers tells you how two or more colors are put together. The numbers after it are the colors, in order, usually root first.
| Letters | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| T, TT, 2T, SM | Two-tone ombré: the first color at the root, the second at the tip | T1B/30 |
| 3T, 4T | Three or four bands of color from root to tip | 3T1B/30/27 |
| DR, DRFF, DRST, OM, SOM, NR | A dark root shading into the color | DR30 |
| F | Fine strands of the second color mixed evenly through the first | F1B/30 |
| FS | Streaks of the second color, chunkier than F | FS1B/30 |
| S, C, P, H, HL | Highlight strands of the second color through the first | S1B/30 |
| M | A mix of two or three colors blended together | M4/27/30 |
| PEEKA | Peekaboo: the second color sits underneath and shows through | PEEKA1B/613 |
| No letter | Sold as an ombré by some brands. Check the photo | 1B/27 |
So T1B/30 is off black at the root fading to auburn at the tip. F1B/30 is off black with fine auburn strands all the way through.
Watch for run-together numbers. Some packs drop the slash, so 27613 means 27 and 613, and 2730 means 27 and 30.
Why does the same code look different from pack to pack?
Because nobody owns the numbers. There's no industry standard behind them and no brand publishes the exact color it dyes to, so each one decides for itself what a 27 should look like.
We sampled the swatch photos on two brands' color charts and one braiding hair shop's listings, code by code, and the gaps are big:
- 27 came out bright golden (#ECB973) on one chart and deep honey (#9C6D3F and #A66F3D) on the other two sources.
- 350 was a dark brown-red (#652F22) on one and a bright copper (#C77050) on another. Same number, different color family.
- 4 read as medium brown on both charts and close to black (#2E2623) on the shop's listing.
- 6 ran from a light chestnut (#A9764B) to a deep brown (#5B4027).
The charts don't agree on grouping either. The two biggest we went through list 1,760 and 710 colors, covering wigs and weaves as well as braids, and sort them into different families.
So buy every pack for one style from the same brand, in the same code. If you have to mix brands, open the packs and lay them side by side before you start, because a swatch on a screen won't show you the difference the way the hair in your hand will.
Ombré vs blend vs peekaboo
Each of these uses two colors, placed in a different part of the braid.
Ombré
An ombré changes color along the length of the braid. The root color sits near your scalp and fades into the tip color. Codes start with T, TT, 2T, DR or OM, and the numbers after the letters read in order from the scalp down to the ends. T1B/27 (off black to honey blonde) and T1B/30 (off black to auburn) are two you'll see on a lot of braid packs.
Want a light color without the contrast at your scalp? This is the easy route. The dark root blends into your own hair.
Blend
A blend mixes the second color through the whole braid. F codes use fine strands, so the color reads soft and even. S, C and FS codes use thicker streaks you can pick out. F1B/30 reads as one warm, dark shade from a distance. Up close you'll see the auburn.
Peekaboo
Peekaboo keeps the colors in separate braids. The top layer is one color and the braids underneath are another, so the second color only flashes when your hair moves or goes up. PEEKA1B/613 is off black on top with platinum underneath. You can do this with any two solid packs, since it's a placement, not a dye job.
Can't decide? Pick two colors in the mixer above and switch between the modes. It shows you the code to ask for.
How to blend two braiding hair colors by hand
Pre-mixed packs only come in a few combinations. If yours doesn't exist, blend it yourself: Pinterest is full of braiders hand-mixing their own colors, and you need two packs of hair and the patience to keep pulling until the stripes disappear.
What you need: Two packs of braiding hair in different colors, Rat-tail comb, Hair clips or a hair tie.
- Pick a base and an accentThe base is the color most of the braid will show. The accent is the color running through it. A dark base with a lighter accent, like 1B with 30, is the safest place to start.
- Set your ratioPull a piece from each pack. Two parts base to one part accent gives a soft blend, and equal parts gives a bolder one. Keep the ratio the same for every piece so every braid matches.
- Stack the piecesLay the accent piece on top of the base piece with the ends lined up. Hold the stack firmly in the middle.
- Pull and restackHold one end in each hand and pull the stack apart into two halves. Lay one half on top of the other and pull apart again. Each pass breaks the colors into thinner stripes.
- Check it at arm's lengthLook at the piece at arm's length. If you can still pick out a solid stripe of either color, keep pulling and restacking. Stop when it reads as one mixed shade.
- Make every piece before you braidBlend all the hair for the style first, then clip it in a bundle. Mixing as you go lets the ratio drift, and the braids at the back end up a different color from the front.
Braiding a child's hair? Do the blending the night before. Braiding day is long enough without it.
Once the hair is ready, clean parts make the color look even. Every braid gets the same amount of hair, so every braid gets the same amount of each color.
Want an ombré instead of a blend? Buy it pre-made as a T code. Feeding a second color in halfway down every braid is slow work, and a pre-made pack has the fade done for you. Our braid size chart and planner works out how many packs a style takes.
How we built this chart
On October 5, 2026, we went through the two biggest hair color charts we found from braiding hair brands, plus the color lists on their braid products. Those charts cover wigs and weaves too, so they list hundreds of colors. The braid packs we checked came in about 20 to 30 colors each, so that's what we kept: 39 colors, made up of 22 solids, 7 ombrés and 10 brights.
Each solid and ombré color on the chart is the middle value of the swatch photos we sampled for that code. Plain names come from Pinterest's top-ranked braid color chart and from brand product listings. Where a code goes by two names, the chart shows both.
Frequently asked questions
Find your color in the chart above, or put two in the mixer and write down the code it gives you. That code is what you look for on the pack.