Naturally darkening a beard is a fantastic way to achieve a number of ideal beard goals. For example a darker beard looks thicker and fuller, less wiry, and you can see through it less. The thing is that not everyone has a thick dark beard naturally. In this article we can look at all of the natural ways that you can darken your beard and they tend to fall into one of two things: firstly, there are a ton of natural dyes that you can use to fill in your beard. And for those that don’t want to dye their beard, there are plenty of products which you can use which don’t rely on dying there but rather filling in the gaps with other types of materials.
You can naturally darken your beard by using natural dyes such as Henna, Amla Powder, cocoa powder, black tea, coffee, and black walnuts. If you want a darker beard without dying it you can use products like a beard pencil or a product like Toppik which is a hair building fibre that will instantly thicken your beard and make it darker.
Here are the reasons why many men want to have a darker beard and why natural products are the preference for most men.
Article Contents
Does a darker beard look better?
When you look at ideal beard is online you’ll notice that they tend to be dark in nature. This is because a dark beard has many desirable attributes according to today’s society. This includes looking thicker and fuller as well as making a beard easy to line up with tremors and scissors because there is a defined edge to the beard.
People with blonde or lighter beards tend to struggle to produce a cohesive beard which exists with defined lines and a sense of bulkiness.
Thicker and fuller
A thick and full beard is easy to trim into a defined shape. Having a dark beard also makes your beard looks more substantial as it traps more light and causes it to appear much more substantial than a beard which you can see through or looks scraggly at the ends.
Although a thicker and fuller beard looks more substantial it comes with own challenges – taming a thick beard can be difficult because of the curly hairs which can poke out in a range of different directions.
More intentional
Having a dark beard also gives the impression that your beard is more intentional. There are range of reasons why beards start to look a little bit less well kempt but all of them have the common theme of your beard not looking as intentional.
Having a dark beard makes it easier to convince an outside observer that your beard has been thought about and care for carefully.
Less see through
If your beard is lighter and naturally looks thin wanting to darken your beard can be an easy fix to make it look less see-through and thin. If you want to know more about the six simple tricks for keeping your beard looking thick and dark I would recommend checking out my YouTube video, below, where I give all of the insider secrets for keeping your beard thick, full, and less see-through.
If you feel like your beard is not as dark as you wanted to be there are a ton of natural dyes which you could consider using on a regular basis to darken up your beard. Some of them will work better than others and if you feel like one isn’t working well you can always try a different one to see if you can get a better result. Remember that growing a beard is like being a scientist – you have to try things and experiment until you find what works well for you. It will be different for different people but with persistence you will find the thing perfect option for your beard.
How can I naturally darken my beard? Natural Dyes
When people think about making their beard darker it is natural to think about using a dye. There are tons of different dyes available for your beard and you can even turn your beard white using a load of different options. If you want to have a look at turning your beard white check out my other article how can I make my beard white? 10 solutions – click here to be taken to article.
But for now let’s have a look at all of the natural dyes which you could consider using on your beard to make it darker.
Henna
Dying your beard with henna is a relatively simple process if you buy a prepackaged henna dye (like this one on Amazon).
All you have to do with a pack is to prepare the mixture using warm tapwater as indicated on the packet. Then you evenly apply throughout your beard and wait for a minimum of two hours. A lot of people wrap their beard in cling wrap to make sure that there are no drips which stain your clothes or your furniture. Two hours is quite a lot of time to be walking around with dye in your beard.
If you decide to buy henna as a dry powder you can also find tune the mixture so that your hair can be more auburn, orange, chestnut brown, or burgundy. This takes a little bit more preparation but here are the basic steps:
- Before getting started remember that henna will dye anything it touches on this includes your skin. Remember to wear gloves and protect the area in which you will be applying it to your beard.
- You will need about 50 g for short beards and about 100 g if your beard is wizard in length. All you need to do is mixing hot tap water slowly until you create a paste that is the consistency of cake batter.
- Allow the mixture to sit for about 12 hours with a plastic wrap on top. This will mean that the dye is a great consistency when you want to work with it. You’ll notice that the mixture will darken to a dark brown over time and this is an indication that is ready to use.
- Apply the paste throughout your beard and spread as evenly as possible. You can’t use too much and if in doubt apply more.
- If you get a dye on your skin wipe it quickly with a hot wet towel.
- Wait for at least two hours for washing out the henna dye. The longer you leave the dye on the deeper the colour will be.
- After two hours rinse out your beard over a sink. Do not be tempted to do this in the shower because the henna will stain your body and bathtub/shower cubicle.
- Wash with shampoo and follow-up with conditioner and your beard is now darker!
You can add a range of different things to change the colour of your beard once you have applied henna. For example, assets like lemon juice and vinegar makes the dye more strawberry blonde. You can use coffee or tea to make it a darker colour and some people even use brandy to give it a more intense red colour.
Amla Powder
Amla Powder is also known as the Indian Gooseberry. It is found in places like India and the Middle East and has been used in some form of medicine for centuries.
Besides being a supplement, you can use Amla powder on your hair. There are plenty of recipes online but here is a basic rundown on the steps that you need to go through if you are going to die your beard using Amla powder.
- Add about one half of a cup of Amla powder to a bowl and add ¼ cup of water.
- Whisk the water and the Amla powder together to make a thin paste. You want to aim for it to be thin and spreadable without being too runny.
- Apply this paste to your dry beard hair and moustache into the hair until it covers your beard evenly.
- Cover your beard with a beard wrap and leave for at least 30 minutes. The longer you leave this in your beard the darker the results will be.
- After 30 minutes jump in the shower and rinse your beard hair with water. You know when you’ve got it completely out because the water running off your beard will be clear.
There are some unsubstantiated claims about other benefits such as strengthening your hair and preventing beard dandruff but using it to dye your beard naturally is something people have been doing for a long time and getting good results.
Cocoa powder
Some people have also used cocoa pastes to darken their beards. It is very simple and, like the methods above, require you to create a paste using cocoa powder.
Once again, you do not want the paste to be too thick or too thin. You want it to be thin enough to spread evenly throughout your beard hair but not so runny that it drips off the ends.
After you have created a thick paste applied evenly throughout your beard and let it sit for at least 15 minutes. Like the other items in this list the longer you leave the paste on your hair the darker the results will be.
Once you are finished, rinse your beard with water and follow-up with shampoo and a good conditioner.
Black tea/Coffee
Black tea and coffee is full of melanin and keratin. This is what gives tea and coffee it’s dark colour. You can use tea or coffee to darken your beard slightly naturally. Here’s how you dye your beard with tea or coffee. One of the things you’ll notice is that you are not able to create a paste like the other options in the list so there is a slightly different technique that you can use.
- You should buy a dye applicator from your pharmacy or one like this from Amazon.
- Prepare a really strong pot of black tea which you will use to dye your hair. Using loose leaves of black tea is easier but you should aim for about three bags of black tea in a small tea pot.
- Let the tea boil until there is only a small amount of liquid remaining.
- This concentrated solution is what you’re going to use to dye your beard.
- Place in the dye applicator bottle and apply the thick black tea liquid all over your hair. You can wear a shower cap over your beard if you are finding that is dripping everywhere.
- Wait for one hour
- rinse your beard hair with lukewarm water and do not shampoo your beard hair for at least 24 hours.
It should take about one week before the colour starts fading and you can repeat the dying with tea regularly. Feel free to repeat this process a couple of times if you want a darker result. It won’t give you the darkness of the other examples in this list but it will help you darken your beard hair naturally.
Black Walnuts
You can purchase black walnut hull powder to make this process much easier for yourself rather than using whole walnuts.
Here is the process for using the powder to dye your beard:
- Boil about 5 cups of water and add 5 tablespoons of the black walnut powder. Allow it to sit for about one hour.
- Once the solution has cooled down you can apply it throughout your beard evenly.
- Allow it to sit in your beard for at least 15 minutes and allow it to air dry for 3 to 4 hours after applying the paste.
- You may want to apply heat to the hair as the walnuts hair dye sits in it as there is some evidence to suggest that it results in a darker colour for your beard. You can also take your beard out into the sun while it has the black walnut paste in it for a similar result.
If you find that the paste is a little bit too thin you can thicken it with some cornstarch.
Some people want to darken their beard hair without using dyes. In the next section you can talk about your options for darkening your beard hair using products which don’t actively dye the hair fibres.
How to make your beard darker without dying it
In this section, we can go over how to make your beard darker without using any sort of commercially available dye or the natural dyes that we’ve talked about above.
Beard pencil filler
You can purchase a beard filler pencil which gives you a much darker beard. The great thing about using a commercially available beard filler is that you do not get any smudges and it is water and sweat resistance.
The process for using a beard pencil filler is to start by drawing on the contour of your beard and moustache so that you have defined the ages. Then you simply brush the product over the rest of your beard as if colouring in between the lines.
This product is great if you have a patchy beard as it will even out the colour and perceived thickness and density over your entire face. You can even use it on your eyebrows or other areas of your body hair that you want to appear thicker.
It has been designed with four tips on the top so that it’s easy to apply and get a well-defined edge.
Toppik hair fibres
You can also consider applying some hair fibres to the hairs that already exist on your face. There are products such as Toppik hair fibres.
Hair building fibres can either be applied by shaking the hairs over the surface of the beard or you can use a spray applicator attachment. Shaking the hair building fibres are later coverage over a large area but if you want more precise application then go with the applicator attachment. This simply provides a puff of air to deliver the hair fibres.
Use as follows:
- dry and style your hair as usual – hair fibres used static to stick to the hair so having as dry a hair as possible will work better.
- Apply the hair fibres using the applicator or shake over the area where you want darker results.
- Some products come with a hairline optimiser which can be inserted to the edges of the beard to achieve a more natural line.
- Gently pat the hair to disperse the hair fibres and stop any clumps that have formed from staying.
- Consider using a fibre hold spray which is a specially formulated to increase the bond between the hair building fibres and your hair. This will mean that it last for as long as possible.
These will last until you wash your beard hair in the shower. But it should be easy to apply the next time that you want your beard to appear darker.
Grow it out
Lastly, you can get a naturally dark beard by simply growing it out for as long as possible.
If you want a naturally dark beard you should consider growing at your beard for no less than three months. I have been through a couple of growth cycles and I completely resist the urge to trim or shape my beard for a couple of months.
This won’t work for everyone but your be amazed at how much darker your beard appears even after a couple months of growth. It may mean that you don’t need to actually purchase any products and all you need to do was wait for a certain amount of time for your beard to develop.
Also, it’s worth noting that if you are relatively young and you haven’t yet developed a full beard these products may only need to be used for a little bit of time. Many beards do not come into their full thickness until the men are in their mid-20s.
Feel free to use some of these products until your beard fills in as you want.
Summary
In this article, we have gone over all of the ways that you can naturally dark in your beard. We have looked at some of the natural dyes that you can use as well as products which do not darken the hair through changing the colour of the hair shaft but rather add bulk and colour to hairs that already exist.
Choosing the best option for you will require you to look at your daily routine and what you are happy to stick with as some methods are more time intensive than others.
Happy beard growing!
