I'm leaning towards darker but hesitating since there's a good chance in a few months I'll want my hair to be lighter, haha (lighter being a medium brown shade). I'm so easily influenced...I'll see a picture of a gorgeous model in a Japanese mag and want her hair color! But then again, I want a color that'll flatter my skin tone.
Here's what I used for my current hair color (though my hair's not as red, it's actually dark brown on top and gradually fades to a golden reddish brown thanks to my old highlights...I can't wait until I can cut them all off!).

Actually if you ever watch any of my YouTube videos you'll have a good idea of my hair color (except for when the sunlight makes it looks lighter, which kind of shows you the old highlighted parts).
Here are the colors I'm deciding between (yes, four, since once I choose similar or darker, it's a matter of shade/hue variation).
So something similar to my current hair color but without the red tones (I think the red tones are unflattering now that my skin's getting browner)...this is "Royalbrown"

This is "Natural Brown"...looks darker than my hair now...though I'm not sure if this shade will be flattering for my skin tone...



Yeah, I know...I'm indecisive. I predict I'll dye my hair the lightest shade, and if it's too light I'll just gradually go darker until I'm happy, but it'd be much better to just get it right the first time.
I have to say highlights are EVIL. Well, they're great if you're indecisive and want drastic hair color changes, but they absolutely SUCK when you don't want highlights anymore. I've been growing my highlights out for over half a year, and it's a pain when I dye my hair because the highlight parts always fade to a lighter color than the rest of my hair. So I can't really dye it lighter than what my hair currently is because if I dye it a light shade, the old highlights fade and become most embarrassing in pictures since the flash will make them look orange blonde, FTL! (Yes, that happened last summer, lol, snoop around if you must to see how light my hair used to be.)
"Royalbrown" is so much like my color now that I'm not sure if it'd be flattering for my skin tone, but it is probably the lightest my hair can currently go...and the darker colors, well, anyone who dyes her hair black knows that means it is pretty freaking hard to dye it lighter later (without highlighting, and no I don't want to start this cycle all over again!).
I think I'm leaning towards Natural Black (third choice)...what do you think? I'm indecisive, so please help! =P
Yes, I'm vain for posting an entire entry about this.