by Joseph Higareda

Created on: December 13, 2008

How to dye your beard and mustache at home (on a budget)!

You can acquire a new identity. You can appear younger than you did this morning. In just 10 minutes you can have a visually arresting, fashionable look. You keep seeing those guys more often: Silver haired top with a dark beard and mustache; men with auburn or brown hair sporting darker facial hair. That is Cool walking by on two feet. So whether you are only covering the gray in your short beard and mustache, or seeking a contrasting look, how do you go about it? There is the more expensive, complex way that some hair stylists recommend, and the simpler, budget way I discuss here. The difference is that the stylist way gives you facial hair color that lasts for more than a week, while my cheaper, simpler method lasts 4 days. I recommend that men with blond hair who wish to cover gray, read "Danny Davids Men's facial hair tips How to color your beard" on the internet for their needs.

Precaution. When I began dyeing my prematurely gray hair and sideburns many years ago, I wondered if I could dye my facial hair with the same regular hair dye. The first downside was the box said no. Blogs on the internet said no. Friends said no. But nobody could tell me why not. After further research, including consulting with hair stylists, I discovered some stylists themselves use regular hair dye on clients' facial hair, except they use and sell their own more expensive stuff. Their opinion was that the hair dye manufacturer, in not recommending regular hair dye for beards, was exercising cautionary legal protection for the company, in case of an allergic reaction. However, the issue can be resolved if one follows all of the precautions on the box, including the patch test. The other downside was in discovering that facial hair is thicker than head hair and will not hold color as long. I myself have been dyeing my head hair and facial hair with the same type of dye for more than 10 years without a single problem. But we are not all identically created. So, follow all of the precautions on the box, do the small patch test, and decide for yourself.

But forget the expensive stuff. Walmart's budget-priced ammonia-free Revlon hair dye (approx. $3.00) works great for covering gray or just darkening facial hair. First, you buy your desired natural shade, then read the before-and-after color recommendations on the back of the box. Lighter browns and warmer reddish browns work great if those are your natural colors. For darker

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