Beard Dye Turned Purple or Blue? What to Do Before Recolouring
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You rinse your beard.
Something doesn't look right.
Some of the white hairs look blue. Others have a purple cast. Or the entire beard looks considerably darker than you expected.
Your first instinct may be:
Put more colour on it.
Don't.
The first rule when beard colour looks unexpected is to understand what has happened before adding another layer.
This is particularly important with plant-based colour containing indigo.
Indigo really can produce blue and purple colour behaviour
Indigofera tinctoria is the plant source associated with indigo colouring.
Recent scientific research has specifically investigated colour development on hair treated with Indigofera tinctoria and documented an initial blue colour followed by movement towards purple under the experimental conditions.
The researchers investigated the roles of the blue compound indigo and the red-toned compound indirubin.
That does not mean every purple beard has one identical cause.
The finished result can also depend on:
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formulation
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starting hair colour
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preparation
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application
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individual hair
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development after application
But it does tell us something useful:
Blue and purple colour behaviour from indigo-based hair colouring is scientifically plausible.
So an unusual cool tone should be investigated rather than treated as evidence that you simply need more black dye.
Why white beard hairs show unusual tones more easily
The palest hairs in a beard have much less natural colour underneath the applied colour.
That makes individual plant-derived tones easier to see.
The same blue or cool tone that disappears visually against a naturally dark hair can appear much more obvious against a white one.
That is one reason a mostly dark beard can look balanced overall while a handful of white chin hairs appear cooler.
Step 1: don't recolour immediately
Give the beard time.
With The Bohemian King’s system, the colour may continue developing for up to 48 hours.
The beard you see immediately after rinsing is not necessarily the finished colour.
Let it:
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dry completely
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develop
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settle
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reach the end of the normal development period
Then look again.
Adding more Midnight Black during that period can turn a manageable colour variation into a beard that is much darker than you intended.
Step 2: get out of the bathroom
Bathroom lighting can be brutal for colour judgement.
Warm bulbs, cool LEDs and strong overhead lights can all change how brown, black, blue and purple appear.
Assess your beard:
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completely dry
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in indirect daylight
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from normal conversational distance
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then close up only if necessary
Don't diagnose your entire beard from one white hair under an LED mirror.
Step 3: think back through the application
Ask yourself:
Was the beard clean and properly prepared?
Did I use the Natural Beard Dye Colour Base according to the instructions?
Did I mix the powder thoroughly?
Did I use warm rather than boiling water?
Did I work the paste through the white hairs rather than simply covering the outside?
Did I stay within the supplied application time?
If the unusual tone appears mainly in one concentrated grey area, application may be part of the explanation.
See the complete UK application guide.
Step 4: don't assume the answer is more heat
Using hotter and hotter water is not our recommended response to colour variation.
Mix The Bohemian King’s powders using warm water as instructed.
Do not use boiling water.
The goal is a properly mixed paste and controlled application.
Step 5: don't automatically add Midnight Black
This matters whether you originally used brown or black.
If the problem is an unusual underlying tone on white hair, simply adding the deepest shade can produce a much darker overall beard.
The already-dark hairs will also receive another application.
You therefore risk solving one small colour issue by creating a larger shade problem.
Diagnose first.
Correct second.
What if the result is simply too dark?
Do very little initially.
Give the colour time to settle through normal washing and grooming.
Do not immediately add a second shade over it.
Then ask whether the problem started with shade selection.
If your natural facial hair is brown but you selected Midnight Black because you assumed black would cover grey “better”, you may simply have chosen a deeper shade than necessary.
Read Black or Dark Brown Beard Dye: Which Should You Choose?.
What if the colour is still clearly purple after development?
Once you have allowed the normal development period and the colour remains clearly wrong, contact us before making repeated corrective applications.
Photographs make this much easier.
Ideally send:
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one full-beard photograph
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one close-up of the affected area
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photographs taken in daylight
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the shade you used
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whether Natural Beard Dye Colour Base was used
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approximate application time
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whether the beard contained a high proportion of white hair
That gives us something useful to troubleshoot.
Why the Base matters
The Natural Beard Dye Colour Base is the preparation stage in The Bohemian King’s two-stage system.
It is particularly relevant where customers experience coarse, resistant or colour-variable grey and white hair.
We deliberately do not describe it as a guaranteed “purple remover”.
That would be too simplistic.
It is a pre-treatment designed to support the colouring process and help create a more controlled starting point before the main shade is applied.
Change one variable at a time
If an application does not go as expected, avoid changing everything next time.
Do not simultaneously:
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change shade
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double the processing time
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dramatically change water temperature
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skip the Base
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add an extra application
If the next result improves, you will have no idea why.
A much better troubleshooting approach is:
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prepare the beard correctly
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use the Base as instructed
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use warm water
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apply evenly
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use the correct application time
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let the colour develop
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change only what the evidence suggests needs changing
That gives you a repeatable process.
What if only a few hairs are blue or purple?
Step back and look at the entire beard.
A handful of lighter or cooler hairs inside an otherwise natural-looking beard may be much less visible to everyone else than they are to you.
Real beards contain variation.
A completely flat, identical colour across every individual hair is not necessarily the most natural-looking result.
The rule worth remembering
If a beard colour looks strange:
Don't panic. Don't immediately darken it. Let it develop and work out what happened first.
That one decision can save you from turning a small colour problem into a much larger one.
Related guides
FAQ
Why did beard dye turn my grey hairs blue?
Indigo is associated with blue colour. Very pale beard hairs can also make cool tones more visually obvious than naturally dark hairs.
Can indigo-based hair colour become purple?
Research has demonstrated blue-to-purple colour development in hair experimentally treated with Indigofera tinctoria. That does not prove every purple result has exactly the same cause.
Should I apply black beard dye over purple hairs?
Not immediately. Allow the existing application to complete its development and identify what has happened before adding more dark colour.
Should I use boiling water with plant-based beard dye?
No. Follow The Bohemian King’s instructions and use warm water, not boiling water.