After all the time and patience, your beard finally looks glorious.

The thing is, there are a few or a lot of grey hairs in it, making you look older than you actually are. You’re aware this is quite normal, but you’re still not ready to give up the young and cool guy look.

Shaving is also NOT an option. Just imagine all the love, care and time it took you to grow the beard of your dreams going down the drain.

On the other hand, greys aren’t an option either. Hm, what now?

You’re right to feel disheartened, but it doesn’t have to be that way. You don’t have to choose between the amazing, but grey beard and younger look.

Why would you have to choose, when you can have both. The solution lays in a beard dye.

With so many beard dyes out there, it’s only a matter of preference. And if you’re worried about safety, we’ve made sure to handpick the 7 best safe AND effective beard dyes and colors you’re going to love.

Top 5 Beard Dyes

These are unbiased opinions based on using products in our homes or barbershops. None of the reviews are sponsored or paid to be promoted. Beardoholic is reader-supported. We may earn an affiliate commission when you buy through links on our site. Thank you.

For more detailed and complete product reviews on benefits and features, keep reading.

Why Would You Want to Dye Your Beard

Maybe you wouldn’t, and that’s completely fine. Some other men, however, want to dye their beards for one or more reasons.

There are no two men alike, and it’s up to you to decide whether or not to take this road.

Although it might sound impossible to some, there are men out there who want to change their beard color.

The possible reasons are various, and here are some of the most common:

Covering Your Age

No one can avoid or stop the process of aging. Some men are cool with that, and they perceive the first greys in their facial hair as early signs of wisdom.

Others will think that it’s too early to look old. One of the ways they will use to cover this sign of aging is facial hair dyeing.

Although beard coloring won’t stop grey hairs in your beard from appearing after some time, it will certainly prolong the time needed for them to come back.

Dyeing Your Beard Because of the Job

This reason is closely related to the previous one. Employers are often more prone to giving a job to a younger man.

Although this sounds like discrimination, you’ve probably had this situation in your surroundings, or you were the one that experienced this on your skin.

Either way, you are not willing to lose your job any time soon because of a few grey hairs in your facial hair.

That’s why some men decide to dye their beards and maintain their youthful appearance for as long as possible.

Changing Your Appearance

Maybe you’re not one of them, but there are some guys out there who like to change there looks now and then.

After experimenting with different clothes and stuff like that, you feel that the time has come to change the color of your beard.

This does not necessarily mean that you have any grey hairs in your beard.

Your beard can be completely ginger, black or any other natural beard color, but you want it to be pink, green, blue or some other color.

If you think and feel this is the right thing to do and that it will look good on you, go and use your facial hair dye. You don’t need anybody’s permission.

Giving Your Beard Some Love and Care

It’s only natural that you love and care for your beard and want to make it the best beard in the world. Every serious bearded man will never take his beard for granted and will develop some beard grooming routine.

After all, having the best beard requires some time and patience but also a commitment from your side.

Besides applying beard oil, brushing your beard regularly and combing your facial hair every day, you can add beard dyeing to the list.

It’s not something you necessarily must do, but it does show that you are willing to invest a little more time in keeping your beard neat and at its best.

The good news is that dyeing facial hair doesn’t require much time, especially if you decide to go with a permanent beard dye.

Beard Dyeing

First thing’s first: How do you choose the best beard dye?

Depending on how long you want the color to last, you can choose permanent or semi-permanent beard dye.

For the permanent option, it’s highly recommended to go to a barber.

They’ll have the right tools to not muck up your clothes or valuables (and do it right) since it’ll be part of who you are for a while. When your beard starts to grow back, you’ll notice your roots right away.

This means you’ll have to pay the salon a visit for upkeep for as long as you want to keep that color.

The do-it-yourself and less expensive option is to purchase a semi-permanent beard dye at your local hair store or online. Semi-permanent means that it won’t last but a few weeks.

The more you wash it, the more it fades. This is the more attractive of the two alternatives because with permanent beard dye, you’ll have to wait for your beard hair to grow the color out completely, or cut it off to start over.

If you have a full and long beard, you may not want to do that.

Second, choose whether you want to do a natural & hypoallergenic beard dye, versus the chemical alternative.

Natural & hypoallergenic beard dyes are great alternatives to traditional beard coloring products because they won’t leave you with itchy face and beard or redness.

It’s also important to mention some major differences between temporary and permanent best beard dyes:

Temporary Beard Dye

As its name already suggests, this beard dye lasts only for a limited amount of time.

This happens because it doesn’t penetrate very deep into your beard as a permanent beard dye for a facial hair does.

With a temporary facial hair dye, you will color only the outside layers of your beard, and this won’t cause any chemical reaction.

With permanent beard dye, there will be a chemical reaction, so keep that in mind. There are a few pros that come with temporary beard dyes.

For example, they dry off pretty quickly, which means that you won’t need more than a couple of minutes to dye your beard and be ready for the day.

Also, they come with a brush applicator, which is very easy to use and you won’t make a mess while coloring your beard.

And because most of the semi-permanent best beard dyes can be washed out easily and re-applied again the next day, you get to choose whether you will change your beard color every day or just on special occasions.

One downside of temporary best beard dyes is that they can destroy your pillows and sheets at night if you don’t wash it off, so make sure to do that every night.

Most facial hair dyes in fun colors such as green, pink, blue, red and others are semi-permanent. In case you are in a position to experiment with the color of your beard and want to have fun, you should try some of them at least once.

They will wash out over time, so you’ve got nothing to lose. However, if you like the unique color and wish to keep it, you can maintain these colors much longer by washing your facial hair dye with a color-safe shampoo and cold water.

Permanent Beard Dye

You do realize that permanent facial hair dye won’t last your whole life, but it will for several weeks or months, without the need to re-apply it every day.

However, you should be careful when choosing the color of your permanent beard dye, because once you apply it, you are stuck with it for quite some time.

The good news is that permanent, best beard dyes look more natural than temporary ones and that there are a lot more colors to choose from.

On the other hand, they are made by mixing hydrogen peroxide and ammonia with a coloring agent.

This gives them their permanence, but it can also damage your beard due to chemicals being left in your facial hair for much longer.

Beard Dye Colors

Depending on the beard care products you choose, the brands will have different colors. The most prevalent are black, dark brown, medium brown and light brown.

You’ll also be able to find gray in certain brands, for those meaning to accentuate their gray hairs.

If you’re looking for more variety, ask your local barber for their recommendation for color and where to find it.

Choose the Right Color

Since beard hair tends to be thicker, the absorption of hair dye is a bit more difficult on your facial hair.

The short of it is: Instead of trial and error with multiple colors, choose the color that looks the closest to your beard hair now, but go darker rather than lighter.

If you think it’ll be too dark, simply don’t leave it on for the whole recommended time. In case your beard turns out to be too dark after all, you can always lighten it with a protein-binding agent.

Avoid using lighteners as they are harsh and can damage your facial hair. This is especially true for the lighteners that are coming from a box and not from a professional.

Most of those box lighteners use a 40 volume developer, that works the best on black hair. This being said, if your beard is not black, a lightener can only damage it.

On the other side, a protein-binding agent helps in protecting hair follicles and doesn’t have any side effects, no matter the natural color of your beard.

If you choose too light, there won’t be a way to make it darker, so choose carefully.

The long of it is: What do you want? Are you simply trying to get rid of some of the gray hair because your 30’s snuck up on you?

If that’s the case, dyeing your whole beard may not be for you as of yet.

You’ll get there, but for right now, you may just need a touch-up tool to take care of those pesky gray hairs.

Bear in mind that, although beard colors are not created equal, there aren’t a ton of choices for color out there.

Choose the touch-up color that suits you best and makes your beard look the closest to your natural beard hair color.

You may have to order until you get it right, but this tool will serve you right until you need to dye your whole beard.

Speaking of which, if the goal is to dye your whole beard, then a touch-up tool won’t do. You want to go full force.

That means reading this article to figure out what the right color is for you.

As stated before, most fellas want their beard dye job to look as natural as possible, which is valid.

The last thing you want is for someone to overtly notice it, and make a big deal of something you may have wanted to keep low key.

It’s also preferable to select a hair color that matches certain beard styles. People may comment on your new, best beard style, per se, but they shouldn’t be able to put a finger on exactly what you’ve done, and that’s great.

How do you do this? Do a little recon and don’t be shy. If you have a full and long, the best beard in the world, simply walk into your local hair shop and match your beard to the color of the box.

If you’ve chosen a semi-permanent beard dye, then you can err on the side of darker (just not too much). Know that it will wash off.

Don’t go so dark that it will look unnatural, because people will most certainly notice the change and, although the beard dye washes off, it can take a few days-worth of purposeful washing to get the extra hair color off.

If you have a hipster beard style and it’s not as long, still walk into your local hair shop and ask the attendant for assistance.

They’ll be able to tell you exactly what your beard color is, or at least close to, and then you can match the color to the box.

If you can’t tell and don’t want to ask, then trial and error my friend. Remember that you’re going for a natural beard look, as close to your beard now, or at the very least, as close to your hair color now.

Your beard does tend to look a bit darker than your hair because of the thickness of it, but not too much.

Beard Coloring Preparation

After you’ve chosen the right beard dye for you, follow these steps for preparation:

Step 1

You can’t dye your beard without the proper tools and materials at hand.

This means that the first step is gathering all the stuff you need for dyeings, such as the best beard dye, rubber gloves, applicator, paper or cloth towels, vaseline or mineral oil and tint remover.

You can also make your own tint remover by mixing bleach and water. Use 50% of each and test your skin for sensitivity before applying it.

However, note that this mixture has the potential to be pretty harmful to the skin, nose and eyes before rushing to make it.

If you want a safe solution that works and removes hair color for certain, a strong clarifying shampoo is what you should go for.

Step 2

If you’ve chosen a regular beard dye, be sure it won’t irritate your skin. Do a small coin-size area first before applying the dye to your whole face.

It’s recommended that you do this test in a more sensitive area of your body, such as the bend of your arm or behind your knee. Give it 24 hours. If your skin doesn’t react, continue.

Step 3

Leave your beard dirty! The facial hair color will take easier if your beard isn’t super clean. Of course, get rid of debris, but you don’t have to wash your beard the day you dye it (or the day before, for that matter).

However, some experts think that you should wash your beard before dyeing it.

They say that this will remove dead cells from your skin, nourish hair follicles and help your beard retain the color easier.

Step 4

Wear an old t-shirt or shirt, and old pants. A beard dye can get everywhere you didn’t think it could so it’s better to cover up.

Also, cover your sink and bathroom with plastic or an old blanket you don’t care about. This will make clean up quick and easy.

Step 5

Using a petroleum jelly-based product on the exposed parts of your face will also make it easy for any dye splatter to clean.

How to Dye a Beard and Mustache

The best beard dye you purchased has all the steps you need and even tools, such as a brush in it. If it didn’t come with a dye brush, use a toothbrush.

It works just as well. It’s not recommended to use it on your teeth thereafter.

Also, if you’re going to cut your beard or trim it, be sure to do it after you dye it.

After taking the necessary steps to prepare for the process of dyeing your beard, there are also some steps that you need to take in order to dye your beard properly:

Step 1 – Protect Your Skin

While working with the best beard dye, the chances are that the dye will leak from your beard onto your skin. Fortunately, there are a lot of products and ways you can use to remove the hair color from your skin.

This can be prevented if you put Vaseline or mineral oil around your beard. Another great solution is the best beard conditioner.

The reasons for using a conditioner are obvious. It’s extremely easy to remove, it doesn’t leave any residue and if you have the best beard look for quite some time than you probably already have one in your grooming arsenal.

Also, facial hair dye will irritate and stain your hands if you don’t protect them with some rubber gloves.

You can use other types of gloves, but rubber is the best material because it provides just about enough dexterity and gives you more sensation in the fingers.

Step 2 – Prepare Your Beard Dye

Beard dye is similar to head hair dye in terms that it comes with two tubes. First is a tube of base color and the second one is a tube of the color developer.

The color developer’s role is to act as a filler and to thicken the solution. Your job at this step is to mix these two natural ingredients in any container that looks like a dish.

Some dyes will come with their own tray, and in that case, you should mix the ingredients in the tray.

Don’t use everything from the tubes. Instead, use just enough to cover your whole beard at once.

Never use the part of your brush with bristles because it will be harder to apply the best beard dye to your facial hair.

Step 3 – Dye Your Beard

Before you even start with the dying process make sure that you wash your beard to ensure that it’s clean enough.

That way you are removing all the unnecessary barriers that might impede the coloring agent to do its job as there is less color it has to fight through.

After that, using the tip of the brush, dip it into the dye. Next, apply the beard dye on your beard by using up and down motion.

All visible patches have to be covered with it. Make sure that you work the beard dye deep into your beard hair and to cover all the hairs.

Step 4 – Test the Color of Your Beard Dye

After you have waited for as much time as the instruction on the package says, make sure to test the color of your beard dye.

This can be done with a paper towel or a cotton swab. Wipe off just a small amount of the best beard dye and if you notice that it’s still very light, reapply more dye and let it stay for a few minutes.

However, don’t wait more than the instructions on the package suggest or you’re risking that your beard takes in more color the longer you wait.

The best way is to start with lighter colors and to increase its darkness gradually.

If your beard turns out darker, remember: Semi-permanent dyes are great because the intense color begins to wash off at your next face wash.

Even if you use beard oils and conditioners, expect a semi-permanent dye to fade at the expected rate.

Step 5 – Rinse Your Beard after Dyeing It

Once you notice that there is no more dye in the water, pat dry your beard with a towel.

Step 6 – Washing Your Beard

After some time you will have to wash your beard with a beard shampoo. Make sure to choose the one that’s safe for color-treated facial hair.

Beard Dye for Sensitive Skin

If you naturally have sensitive skin, you’ll want to choose products like the Surya Henna Dye, a perfect dye for sensitive skin.

This product lacks the chemicals that can lead to skin irritation and beard rash for some men.

After you’ve figured out your color and you’ve dyed your beard, don’t forget to keep your facial hair moisturized by using the right shampoos and oils.

Men with sensitive skin especially want to make sure to use a beard moisturizer because it can help soothe irritated skin.

Proper Maintenance with Top Beard Shampoos

After you’ve dyed your beard, you don’t want the color to fade quickly, or for other issues like beard dandruff or a skin rash to ruin the look that you’ve worked so hard to achieve.

Having one of the top beard shampoos is essential to proper maintenance and care of your beard. This is true basically all the time but especially so after dyeing your beard.

There is a huge selection of beard shampoos out there, from the best all-natural beard shampoos to shampoos for beard dandruff.

You can even make your own beard shampoo. Men who have full and long beards also often like to apply beard softeners to keep the hair from getting too wiry or scratchy.

Keep Stocked up on Top Beard Oils

To make the dye last longer, you’ll also want to make sure you have a premium beard oil.

Beard oil promotes healthy beard growth and also keeps your skin from breaking out in reaction to chemicals, trimming, or styling.

If after dyeing your beard you experience irritated skin, you can use essential oils and moisturizers to stop beard rash. Best of all, beard oils often have a pleasant aroma, allowing the beard oil to double as a cologne.

Closing Thoughts

It can happen that you don’t get the color you’ve been expecting on the first attempt of beard dyeing. After all, beard dye will wash away after some time or those dyed hairs will be replaced with new ones.

A question that pops up from time to time is whether a short beard can be dyed or not. In theory, a short beard can be dyed, and the process is the same as for the long beard.

However, most experts think that it’s better to wait that your beard gets a bit longer before you rush to dye it because the results will be more noticeable.

One more thing, if you prefer dyeing your beard white and not black, know that it’s harder to achieve Santa beard color with white best beard dyes as it is less efficient than darker colors.

The better solution would be a spray-on color that can provide full coverage even if you have a darker beard.