My stache and goatee have a lot of gray, which makes it indistinguishable from my face from a distance. I’d rather dye it white than a dark color.
Since most guys want to cover up their gray, the dyes for facial hair are all darker colors.
Can I just get regular hair dye, maybe platinum blond, and use it on my facial hair? Is it safe to use in the vicinity of the mouth and nose? Should I follow the instructions, or modify them?
Is there anything else I can use, like hydrogen peroxide?
Well, “Just for Men” is a dye specifically for beards… but they only do various shades of brown to black.
I’ve used several regular hair dyes on my beard, to get other colors. Just try to get the “low ammonia” versions, and test it first on your skin (like they say to). I’ve never had any problems.
Well, for starters, you don’t “dye” things white, you bleach them.
You may wish to consult with a professional beautician on this one. Or maybe not, because some of them are into quite elaborate techniques and prices. They may not tell you how to do this on your own in preference to you having to come into their shops regularly for treatments. Then again, you could get some very nice results that way.
Problem is, a lot of hair dyes are toxic. You don’t want to get them in your mouth
You’re far better off buying a regular hair dye than anything formulated specifically for men. There’s not as much science to hair dye as the companies would have you believe; formulations are not very different between different products, and if you’re talking permanent hair dye, “low-ammonia” is meaningless as if products don’t contain ammonia, they do contain similar, similarly irritating strong bases.
Unfortunately, there are still a few lead acetate products marketed to men. There is apparently no conclusive evidence that they are harmful, but I personally would not risk it, and since I can’t tell you which brands use lead and which don’t, I’d avoid any hair color specifically for men - especially the ones that you just comb or shampoo in for five minutes a day. (Note that after using a lead-based product, you CANNOT redye the same area with normal hair dye - a chemical reaction occurs that becomes extremely hot, and it’s been known to cause burns. If you’ve used a lead-based product, you’ll have to cut the hair off. I don’t know whether Just For Men is a lead product or not.)
Just be careful. Get as little on your skin as possible; do an allergy test if you’re so inclined (the box will have instructions); protect the surrounding skin with petroleum jelly. Note that gray hair is going to be rather difficult to turn platinum blonde with just a dye - but you shouldn’t feel too worried about messing around with regular hair dye. Long as you keep it away from your lips and mouth, that is.
I’d get some of the stronger hydrogen peroxide favoured by blonde wannabes and use that. It will do the job more cheaply and effectively than a hair dye AFAIK.
There are, by the way, bleaching products intended to be used around the mouth area. They’re marketed to women with “unwanted facial hair”. As I said, they’re bleaches - they don’t remove hair, just make it lighter. If you do use one, just make sure it’s only bleach and not combined with a depilatory.
Hey, I thought I was the only one who was interested in something like this! I, too, have a similar situation and I thought it would be cool to just bleach the whole thing out (instead of going all dark) and maybe, if I’m daring, dye a dark patch from my lower lip down. Like a racing stripe.
I tried just Paroxide but, didn’t do a thing. Still experimenting…
regarding what Broomstick said, try Jolen (or your drugstore’s brand - same thing).
It’s a “kit” that has a tub of cream, a little vile with powder bleach, and instructions on how to mix it and apply. I can’t say I’ve ever used it on any good amount of hair, but it does a fine job on my womanly moustache.
I have dark, curly hair. As my beard is also curly, I sometimes get ingrown facial hairs. Cleaning my skin with hydrogen peroxide helps prevent infection. However, hydrogen peroxide is sold in different strengths – 3% and 6%. The 3% is a good disinfectant. The 6% turned the front of my brown hair blond from where I would wipe my wet hand on my head to dry it. Moral: buy the stronger stuff to bleach your facial hair – the percentage is everything.
I have been using the Grecian Formula and other brands for a couple of years on my beard.
The nice thing is, it comes in two tiny tubes, and you only need a very little squirt of both to have enough to “darken” those gray spots away, and it doesn’t look fake.
Again, the trick is to ignore the instructions (that want you to use far too much) and just do about three little drops from each tube. Mix them well with the enclosed brush, apply and wait longer than they say…about 10 minutes or so. Then get in the shower and wash it all away.
The beard/goatee then doesn’t have the dramatic “ohmygodwhatthefuckhaveidone” effect.
I have personally never had any allergic reactions.
I forgot to mention, it is better to go LIGHTER then darker when buying these products. You can darken it simply by leaving it on longer before showering.
Back when my dad owned a drug store with his brother he used to steer people away from Grecian Formula because it was one of the worst offenders for containing lead compounds. Have they changed the formula?
That’s not really a great idea. Number one, it won’t work as well - it’ll probably end up uneven, and it’ll take a hell of a lot longer. When I bleach the hair on my head to turn it funny colors, I use 40-volume developer, which is 12% peroxide, and the oxidation is catalyzed by the ammonia in the bleach. 6% is probably an appropriate strength for around the mouth, but without the catalysts in the bleach powder, it’ll probably take a good deal longer. Bleaches also contain blue dyes, which cancel out the yellowness that invariably results from bleaching. Simply applying peroxide will likely result in canary-yellow hair; to make your beard a nice color you’ll need to bleach it and then apply a toner (which is just bluish or purplish dye to make yellow hair blonde). I wouldn’t try doing this without the right chemicals.
Yeah, and stay away from Grecian Formula. You want lead acetate around your mouth? Uh-uh.