How to Dye Your Beard with Henna

How to Dye Your Beard with Henna

You may think that Henna is a. always bright red and b. only suitable for dying the hair on your head. But you’d be wrong on both counts.

In fact, when it comes to dying facial hair, Henna is a great alternative to commercial dyes. Mens dyes, often come up very dark and very intense with no colour variation.  Henna is more translucent and if you’re patient can look lovely when tinting facial hair.  

Two key rules before we get started on recipes and advice:

·        ALWAYS do a patch test, behind the ear or on your wrist.  Henna is rarely allergenic but you can be allergic to anything so it’s always best to test.

·        Also test a small amount of colour on your beard.  Remember, Henna oxidises so it will seem brighter at first than when it settles. 

It's important to note that beards are difficult to dye because bristles are a lot coarser structure than hair and it is more difficult for the colour to stick to it. If you have an Asian hair type, it can be more difficult to dye.

We recommend that if you are dyeing a beard you test a small area first to check that the colour is OK before proceeding with the full beard. Strand testing the hair is not sufficient as the colour will work differently on a beard.

PREP

Start by mixing around half a cupful of henna in a glass (never metal) bowl with a teaspoon of indigo, a teaspoon of amla, a teaspoon of cassia and about 200 – 250ml of very strong black tea or coffee.  This will knock out the red and make sure your get a mid-brown tone.

Leave it in the fridge to settle overnight.

When ready to start, prep any areas of the skin you wish to protect, for example the neck and beard, with an organic barrier balm (not Vaseline, petroleum jelly is terrible for the skin).

Wrap an old towel around your neck and get ready for the next step.

DYE

Working with a small brush, thickly coat the beard in colour, then leave to sit for up to 4 hours, depending on the result of your beard test.

Rinse well, then let settle for 72 hours.

Finish by working a beautiful, natural beard oil into the beard.  Doing this weekly will soften the strands and give you a beautiful shine.

If you don’t want to mix your own colour, our pre-mixed natural, organic hair dyes are a great alternative.

Try our Henna for Eyebrows Guide