diff --git a/doc/api/api_changes_3.3/behaviour.rst b/doc/api/api_changes_3.3/behaviour.rst
index d8a9e377b4d9..40b1bb3d79d8 100644
--- a/doc/api/api_changes_3.3/behaviour.rst
+++ b/doc/api/api_changes_3.3/behaviour.rst
@@ -181,8 +181,8 @@ explicitly pass a "%1.2f" as the *valfmt* parameter to `.Slider`.
 
 Add *normalize*  keyword argument to ``Axes.pie``
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-``pie()`` used to draw a partial pie if the sum of the values was < 1. This behavior 
-is deprecated and will change to always normalizing the values to a full pie by default. 
+``pie()`` used to draw a partial pie if the sum of the values was < 1. This behavior
+is deprecated and will change to always normalizing the values to a full pie by default.
 If you want to draw a partial pie, please pass ``normalize=False`` explicitly.
 
 ``table.CustomCell`` is now an alias for `.table.Cell`
@@ -307,3 +307,8 @@ but will become True in a later release.
 ... to determine whether a string should be passed to the usetex machinery or
 not.  This allows single strings to be marked as not-usetex even when the
 rcParam is True.
+
+`.Axes.vlines`, `.Axes.hlines`, `.pyplot.vlines` and `.pyplot.hlines` *colors* parameter default change
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+The *colors* parameter will now default to :rc:`lines.color`, while previously it defaulted to 'k'.
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/axes/_axes.py b/lib/matplotlib/axes/_axes.py
index 286bf4b87566..c43c3e133ab5 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/axes/_axes.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/axes/_axes.py
@@ -1116,7 +1116,7 @@ def axvspan(self, xmin, xmax, ymin=0, ymax=1, **kwargs):
 
     @_preprocess_data(replace_names=["y", "xmin", "xmax", "colors"],
                       label_namer="y")
-    def hlines(self, y, xmin, xmax, colors='k', linestyles='solid',
+    def hlines(self, y, xmin, xmax, colors=None, linestyles='solid',
                label='', **kwargs):
         """
         Plot horizontal lines at each *y* from *xmin* to *xmax*.
@@ -1130,7 +1130,7 @@ def hlines(self, y, xmin, xmax, colors='k', linestyles='solid',
             Respective beginning and end of each line. If scalars are
             provided, all lines will have same length.
 
-        colors : list of colors, default: 'k'
+        colors : list of colors, default: :rc:`lines.color`
 
         linestyles : {'solid', 'dashed', 'dashdot', 'dotted'}, optional
 
@@ -1196,7 +1196,7 @@ def hlines(self, y, xmin, xmax, colors='k', linestyles='solid',
 
     @_preprocess_data(replace_names=["x", "ymin", "ymax", "colors"],
                       label_namer="x")
-    def vlines(self, x, ymin, ymax, colors='k', linestyles='solid',
+    def vlines(self, x, ymin, ymax, colors=None, linestyles='solid',
                label='', **kwargs):
         """
         Plot vertical lines.
@@ -1212,7 +1212,7 @@ def vlines(self, x, ymin, ymax, colors='k', linestyles='solid',
             Respective beginning and end of each line. If scalars are
             provided, all lines will have same length.
 
-        colors : list of colors, default: 'k'
+        colors : list of colors, default: :rc:`lines.color`
 
         linestyles : {'solid', 'dashed', 'dashdot', 'dotted'}, optional
 
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/pyplot.py b/lib/matplotlib/pyplot.py
index 32f63db834c1..24b26e49cf75 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/pyplot.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/pyplot.py
@@ -2601,7 +2601,7 @@ def hist2d(
 # Autogenerated by boilerplate.py.  Do not edit as changes will be lost.
 @_copy_docstring_and_deprecators(Axes.hlines)
 def hlines(
-        y, xmin, xmax, colors='k', linestyles='solid', label='', *,
+        y, xmin, xmax, colors=None, linestyles='solid', label='', *,
         data=None, **kwargs):
     return gca().hlines(
         y, xmin, xmax, colors=colors, linestyles=linestyles,
@@ -2972,7 +2972,7 @@ def violinplot(
 # Autogenerated by boilerplate.py.  Do not edit as changes will be lost.
 @_copy_docstring_and_deprecators(Axes.vlines)
 def vlines(
-        x, ymin, ymax, colors='k', linestyles='solid', label='', *,
+        x, ymin, ymax, colors=None, linestyles='solid', label='', *,
         data=None, **kwargs):
     return gca().vlines(
         x, ymin, ymax, colors=colors, linestyles=linestyles,
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_axes.py b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_axes.py
index 3efee619c8f3..c8563b159f5b 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_axes.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_axes.py
@@ -3815,6 +3815,13 @@ def test_vlines():
     ax5.set_xlim(0, 15)
 
 
+def test_vlines_default():
+    fig, ax = plt.subplots()
+    with mpl.rc_context({'lines.color': 'red'}):
+        lines = ax.vlines(0.5, 0, 1)
+        assert mpl.colors.same_color(lines.get_color(), 'red')
+
+
 @image_comparison(['hlines_basic', 'hlines_with_nan', 'hlines_masked'],
                   extensions=['png'])
 def test_hlines():
@@ -3855,6 +3862,13 @@ def test_hlines():
     ax5.set_ylim(0, 15)
 
 
+def test_hlines_default():
+    fig, ax = plt.subplots()
+    with mpl.rc_context({'lines.color': 'red'}):
+        lines = ax.hlines(0.5, 0, 1)
+        assert mpl.colors.same_color(lines.get_color(), 'red')
+
+
 @pytest.mark.parametrize('data', [[1, 2, 3, np.nan, 5],
                                   np.ma.masked_equal([1, 2, 3, 4, 5], 4)])
 @check_figures_equal(extensions=["png"])