Men’s Hair Color

Male grooming is always in style and an increasing number of men are coloring their hair, whether to cover up gray, darken natural hair color, or just for a change to their style.Gone are the days where men’s hair color kits resemble black shoe polish, leaving men with an un-natural look. There are any number of coloring kits on the market today for DIY coloring with natural results. Men’s hair color kits provide everything you need for the process, and they come in various shades to match or enhance a man’s natural hair color.

Gone are the days where men’s hair color kits resemble black shoe polish, leaving men with an un-natural look. There are any number of coloring kits on the market today for DIY coloring with natural results. Men’s hair color kits provide everything you need for the process, and they come in various shades to match or enhance a man’s natural hair color.

Companies have created men’s kits geared towards the African American male, featuring darker shade selections and are specially formulated for courser hair textures. Many of today’s hair color technologies also feature easy to use “shampoo-in” applications and are designed to process the color in 5 minutes, leaving the hair soft and conditioned. Today’s at-home coloring kits for men will create a very natural finish to the hair that looks masculine. The results give a healthy matte finish to the hair versus traditional women’s hair color that produces a glossy finish.  If you’re not ready to let the world know you are coloring your hair, the key is to have the results almost un-detectable; start the coloring process early when you are seeing 10-20% grey hair.

Let’s look at 3 reasons why men would color their hair and provide tips on having the best possible results with each.

  • Blending Grey
  • Cover Grey/Full coverage
  • Beard

Blending Grey is a great place to start for men with over 20% grey who do not want an immediate drastic change, or for men who like the distinguished look, but want it to appear subtler. The grey blend process will not totally cover the grey hair, but rather lessen it. This can be achieved by a couple of different techniques such as level up or the comb method.

The level up method is achieved by selecting a hair color that is a level (shade) lighter than the natural hair color. For example, your hair is dark brown, you would choose a medium brown shade to apply. The end result will be a toned down grey effect by creating less of a contrast between the natural hair color and the grey hair.

FeatureArticleIn the comb method, a wide tooth comb is used by apply the hair color to the spine of the comb and then comb through the hair. The key to keep the results natural is to only comb through each section once so the color doesn’t look patchy. This type of application can be repeated over time, removing more and more grey each time until he is ready for all of his grey to be covered. For the man that wants more of his grey covered or just wants a different shade, the covering grey or full coverage option is for them.

Covering Grey/Full Coverage is an option for the man that doesn’t want to see any grey or doesn’t like the natural color of his hair. We see this trend, especially in barbershops for African American and Latino men to darken their natural color. This trend of darkening the hair after a close haircut gives a sharper appearance to the outline of the haircut. For this type of coverage, use a shade of men’s hair color that is the same as the natural color. If a more distinctive look is desired, use a shade darker than the natural hair color. Because this is an all over coverage, the shampoo-in method can be used for even color results. Now that all the grey is gone on your head, it is time to tackle beards!

Beards on men have become all the trend from beaches to boardrooms! Men want their beards to look full and healthy to complete their look. There are many new beard care lines that promote a well-conditioned beard. A quick and easy way to make your beard appear thicker, fuller and healthier is to use hair color. This can be done with a full shampoo-in application on the hair and beard, or just the beard to have a subtler effect.

It doesn’t matter if men color their hair to have a sharper outline as a trend, or if they color to blend away grey…with men’s DIY hair coloring kits and the right application, anyone can take care of their grooming needs with natural results.


OTC Beauty Magazine offers useful business tips and effective selling tools to boost revenue and customer traffic for OTC retailers. The magazine also provides invaluable product knowledge, industry news and insights for retail store owners, manufacturers, distributors and professionals in the barber and beauty supply industry. Contact us: editor@otcbeautymagazine.com

Read the latest issue of
OTC Beauty Magazine

March 2024

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