Organic & Natural Dark Brown Beard Dye

After using JFM for 20+ years, something in their formula either changed or something in my skin changed because I went from just a light tingling that went away in an hour, to having blisters, oozy seepage, and crusty scabs. So looked for something different. I first tried another rapid product that came in a can with 2 spouts, and although it wasn't quite as bad as JFM it still left me irritated, so I thought I would give this product a try. I must say, there are no rashes or skin side effects at all for me, only some trial and error and trying different shades to get it right.My first purchase was the regular brown shade, which like others have mentioned, at first leave you nice and green like the green giant. However by the next morning in my experience all the green is gone and a very nice shade of brown is left. Over a few days as you wash your face and shampoo your hair and beard, the regular brown will start to fade into a strawberry reddish hue when you are in the sun. I have found bar soap seems to make this occur faster than using a shampoo for your whole head, although regular shampoos will also start to strip away the color too. I wanted just a darker color than the medium brown color so my next purchase I went with the Dark Brown. I really like that color and it really looks great and totally natural, however like the regular Brown, using soap or shampoo will begin to reveal the underlying natural plant dyes and in the case of the Dark Brown, it actually turns a shade of purple - I guess because of the Indigo leaves as well as whatever the red leaves are in the regular Brown. Again this takes a few days to show up and I actually kind of like the faint shade of purple in the bright sun. I have begun using a color-preserving hair shampoo this week just to see if that makes a difference. A friend who has used some other natural black organic hair dye product says after the black starts to strip away he is left with a royal "Indigo blue" so it makes sense that purple happens with the dark brown which has both indigo as well as whatever the red plant is. It does take a few days for this to happen though so I can definitely live with it, and Ive gotten to where I just slather it not only on my beard but over my crew cut hair and eyebrows as well so that as everything fades everything turns the same shade.I can say prep time is something you should consider. I set aside a full hour on Sunday nights to get ready for the week. I have found much better results using the organic base first as it does strip out the leftover red or purple, and does make the actual dye perform much better and very even.Here is my routine. I find that making the product, whether the organic base first step or the beard dye itself, is to make it kind of thick like ketchup using really hot water. Then I smear it on my beard and moustache like mud - using an old JFM tray and brush, then I cover my entire beard and moustache with a sheet of saran wrap. The mud-like consistency makes the plastic wrap cling on easily, and keeps it from drying out. Next I use the leftover to dab my eyebrows - I don't cover them with plastic - and then what's left after that I just brush on and use my bare hands to smear it all over the rest of my head. I don't put that on very thick and also do not use plastic wrap there either as the thinner hair seems to take the dye easier than the beard. Next I go sit in my chair and play candy crush or watch tv for 30 minutes. Next, I get in the shower and use regular shampoo to wash my whole head and beard then finish the shower normally as well as shave my neck and do any beard shaping with the razor at that time. Next, I dry off including my beard and hair with just a towel, then go back and mix up the actual dark brown dye and repeat the exact same process with the hot water, ketchup like consistency, etc...plaster it on well, cover the beard again with plastic wrap, smear the rest on eyebrows and head, then go sit down again for more tv or games. I have found that the actual dye turns out about the same whether I leave it on a full 30 minutes or as short as 20, but usually by the time I get the beard done and covered, then the eyebrows then my regular hair, if I wait 20 from that time, the beard itself has gotten 25-30 minutes. After 20-30 minutes I hop back in the shower and simply wash it all off and try to only use just a tiny dab of shampoo since everything is clean and you're just wanting to wash it out. Then just rinse the rest of me off and hop out and dry off. My beard, hair, and eyebrows will be a nice shade of dark greenish brown, but by morning its all nice and dark brown and I'm good for the week.I can say the smell reminds me of when you flip the lawnmower over once a year and scrap off all the dead clumps of grass mulch - that earthy mulchy grassy smell - also kind of like a green tea bag - and every night when you take a shower during the week you will smell a hint of it again but not like when you are doing the treatment. I just got the color-saver shampoo this week so I can't say yet if that will have any effect in the color fade, but so far I really like this product and can live with the prep time and slight red or purple color that appears as it fades - just don't use bar soap on your beard as that will make the fade happen faster. Hope this helps!

I gave it a good value for the money because it worked for me & didn't cause any skin irritation. My wife is quite a bit younger than me & my beard was mostly grey (quite white actually), with a bit of dark brown still in the mustached and a little bit between the chin & lower lip. My hair is still a dark brown, but about an inch of grey at the temples. I've had a beard since I was 18, with only relatively brief periods of time where it was shaved off.I tried Just For Men, but it caused my face to turn red, itch & get little pussy blisters under the beard that would not heal for days. Totally gross. Tried & tried doing different things to try avoiding that (less time, putting aloe on it right after cleaning it off, cleaning it off with & without soap, etc. At some point I tried powered walnut husks, which seemed to add more color to my skin than to my beard, so I stopped that quick. I also looked into henna, but based on what I'd read, I passed.Eventually saw an article that suggested alternatives for more sensitive skin, so I tried "Clairol Naturals" which actually caused the lower half of my face to swell up bizarrely. Fortunately, the wife is a nurse, so she ran out right away for Benadryl & kept an eye on me to see if we'd have to run to the emergency room. After that experience, I went all natural grey/white, but would temporary cover it with some sort of root coverup thing from Sally Beauty supply whenever I went out with the wife, but was always worried about winding up pulling a Giuliani & having it run down my face. In any event, my wife kept bugging me to shave the beard because I'd leave it white at home.Finally, I told her give me some time to try some other stuff and if it doesn't work, I'll shave it. Looked around a bit more & found this mentioned along with the Just For Men shampoo stuff (which I was leery of trying given my experience with the regular stuff). Was going to order both, along with a box of baking soda $0.77, just to reach free shipping at $25, but accidentally wound up accepting the "free" month of prime, so I removed the baking soda & the shampoo because I figured I could get free shipping on the shampoo if I order in a month if this didn't work out. Naturally, they were out of "dark brown" by the time I decided to order, so I heck with it & ordered the regular "brown" & figured if that seemed to work, I could always go darker (my hair is a dark brown).In any event, I received it on Thursday (3 days ago) and today is 3 days later (Sunday) when the picture was taken.FIRST SESSION: On Friday, at about 9 pm, I did just the dye for the full 30 mins (perhaps 35) and started watching a "free" movie on my "free" Prime while waiting the 30 mins, then cleaned it off in the sink. It smells "earthy", to me a bit like spinach or perhaps a compost pile, but that really isn't a horrid smell or anything. Reminded me of creamed spinach as I was washing it off. I did notice a bit of a greenish tint, with a little brown/light yellow added in, but it was very, very light, not a heck of a lot of color added. Finished the movie & thought it looked a bit darker by the time I went to bed. Woke up 7:30 am Saturday & thought it looked a darker than when I went to bed, but it still pretty darn light & the greenish tint remained.SECOND SESSION: Saturday (around 1:30 pm), I said heck with this, I'll try another dose. This time I did the base for 30 mins, or so. Looks & smells the same as the dye & watched another free Prime video to pass the time. Cleaned up & noticed that already it was a bit darker after applying the base, but still a light green tint. Did the dye right after for another 30 mins & watched some more of the free Prime movie. Like before, it did appear to get darker after some time passed. But, I had church to go to the next morning, so ...THIRD SESSION Saturday night (around 8pm) did another 30 min base treatment, followed by another 30 min dye treatment, including more free Prime watching. After rinsing it off, I was already impressed & figured it would be fine in the morning. When I was young, my beard was always a bit lighter than my hair and ranged from a bit lighter brown than my hair, to parts that had a bit of a reddish tone to the brown, to a bit that was almost a dirty blond color. So, in the end, I thought the regular brown worked pretty darn good. I'm happy with it & the wife likes it too, now just have to what the girlfriend thinks (just kidding).FWIW- I used it up at my temples & the little portion above my ears that is white & that wound up getting darker quicker than my beard & looks really natural with my hair. I also used a bit on my eyebrows because I have a tiny bit of grey in those. I don't know if I'll try the dark brown at another time, or just keep with this.I seem to recall reading one review where the guy just mixed the two packets of powders together and just used them as a single treatment. I might give that a whirl, although I've seen others say that they didn't need the base after a while.PS, I just rinsed the sink off & cleaned up what I slopped on the counter & saw no staining, like someone suggested. I also saw no staining of my skin and I wound up slopping it on pretty good (with the last application going up the sides to about my nose because I was debating on letting the stubble grow (instead of chopping the beard down between the sideburns & the mustache like I usually do).