Best hair dye for men UK: 7 of the best men’s hair dye for grey hair and beyond
Whether you’re looking to cover greys or experiment with a new colour, check out our best hair dye for men list for inspiration
L ong gone are the days when men were expected to put up or shut up about their grey hairs.
There are a number of hair dyes designed with men in mind if you’re looking to switch things up. And you don’t have to wait until you start looking like a silver fox.
Hair dye can completely transform your look, from making your eye colour stand out, to even making your complexion warmer. It’s also available in a huge range of colours.
The majority we’ve listed below are designed for more subtle looks and changes.
Stylists recommend you only go a shade or two darker than your natural hair, or one shade lighter if you’re doing the dying at home.
If you’re feeling adventurous and want to go a little more extreme, especially if you’re looking to add bleach to your hair, we suggest you go to a hairdresser and have a colour consultation first. They will make sure you can mix up your hair colour safely.
FURTHER READING: The best men’s shampoo for thinning hair, dandruff, hair loss and more
Best hair dye for men UK
1. Best men’s hair dye: Just For Men Hair Colourant – £6.35
2. Best gradual hair dye for men: Wella Professional SP Men Natural Shade Gradual Tone – £12
3. Best styling products for grey hair: Restoria for Men Styling Wax – £8.49
4. Easiest hair dye for men: L’Oreal Paris Men Expert Hair Dye – £9.99
5 . Best hair dye for men with natural hair: SoftSheen-Carson Dark & Natural – £7.49
6. Best blonde hair dye: Jerome Russell Bleach Blonde 1 – £5.69
7. Best hair dye shampoo: London Hair Architects – £9.99
8. Best men’s hair dye for grey hair: Just for Men Touch of Grey – £7.49
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1. Just For Men Hair Colourant
£6.35 | Buy now
Just For Men Chances are, Just For Men will have been the first brand you considered or thought of when looking for the best hair dye for men. It is the OG of men’s hair dye and is still hugely popular.
As the marketing promises, Just For Men truly does cover grey hair in just five minutes and gives a natural finish to your hair. This means that even if it’s a drastic change – as in there are a lot of grey hairs to cover – you won’t end up looking like Action Man or similar.
This Just for Men dye itself contains keratin, olive oil and Vitamin E to strengthen your hair.
Inside the box are the colour base, developer, applicator and gloves. To apply, mix the colour base and developer, rub it into your hair, leave for five minutes and then rinse. It’s so simple.
Buy now from Boots
2. Wella Professional SP Men Natural Shade Gradual Tone
£25 | Buy now
Wella Professional
This kit is a little more pricey compared to others in our best hair dye for men list, but it’s because you get a whole kit thrown in. As you have probably guessed, this hair dye gradually restores your shade, rather than providing full coverage.
It’s a permanent dye and covers up to 70% of greys meaning it’s great if you want to go darker while keeping a flavour of salt and pepper colouring. Plus, the addition of Vitamin C helps treat the hair from breaking during colouring.
Inside the kit is a brush to apply the gradual tone mousse hair dye and gloves to protect your hands. You’ll also get a shampoo thrown in to help soothe the scalp.
Buy now from Amazon
3. Restoria for Men Styling Wax
£8.49 | Buy now
Restoria for Men If you’re looking for a way to dye your hair without it looking too obvious, we highly recommend the Restoria for Men styling range.
Instead of using ammonia or pigment, all of the styling products in the Restoria for Men range work with the natural chemistry of your hair to gradually and with continued use reduce the amount of grey hairs you have, while making the grey hairs that remain look natural and blended.
This trend, known as Grey Blending, is a popular way to manage an increase in grey hair and the Restoria for Men range allows you to colour your hair as part of your daily haircare routine.
In this way, it sells styling mousse, styling spray, and cream.
Each product costs £8.49 and will last you months. Plus, if your greys suddenly ramp up, you can use more of this product to speed up the coverage time.
Alternatively, you can use Restoria for Men to help you go grey more gradually and get yourself, and others, to you being a Silver Fox.
Buy now from Boots
4. L’Oreal Paris Men Expert Hair Dye
£9.99 | Buy now
L' This men’s hair dye from L’Oreal Paris Men Expert is the easiest hair dye we’ve used.
Thanks to its unique comb design, you twist the dye to the top of the comb and simply brush it through your hair.
You don’t have to mix anything together, wear gloves, or wait ages for the colour to develop.
This hair dye covers grey hair in just five minutes and blends with your original hair colour to make it look as natural as possible.
This is the best hair dye for men in a rush or those who are looking to manage grey hair without anything too drastic.
There are seven shades so hopefully there is something for every style, however, please note that this is a semi-permanent hair dye for men, so it will wash out after a few washes.
Thankfully, because it’s so easy to use, you can just top it up as and when you need to.
Buy now from Amazon
5. SoftSheen-Carson Dark & Natural
£7.49 | Buy now
Softsheen-Carson The experts at SoftSheen-Carson have specialised in developing hair and beauty products for people of African descent for more than 110 years.
Textured hair tends to be more fragile when wet so you’ll need a men’s hair dye that’s gentle enough to protect the style while being effective at covering grey hair. The box contains one tube of colourant, developer, a comb and a pair of gloves.
Apply to the hair like shampoo and leave for five minutes. This dye is ammonia-free and gives up to six weeks of colour.
Buy now from Amazon
6. Jerome Russell Bleach Blonde 1 hair dye for men
£5.69 | Buy now
Jerome Russell Searches for ‘ice blonde hair dye’ have increased by 100% according to Google Trends and it’s set to be one of the styles of 2022. While it’s usually advisable to go blonde with professional help, it is possible to do it at home.
One of the best ice blonde hair dyes we’ve come across is the Bleach Blonde 1 from Jerome Russell. It’s a permanent lightener that will lift your current colour by about eight or nine shades. This means, in order to get the ice blonde look, you’ll need to already have blonde or lighter hair. However, you can still get a significant blonde overhaul with this dye, even if your hair is brown.
The kit is easy to use and includes a conditioning shampoo to cleanse and condition. It also contains avocado oil for extra hydration. Be warned, though, that putting bleach on your hair can cause damage. That’s not to say you shouldn’t do it, just make sure you’re conditioning and treating the hair before and after application to keep it in the best shape.
“To get the [ice blonde hair] look, you’ll need an all-over blonde bleach, completed over a few sessions. The key is to take your time and not bleach it too quickly, otherwise, you can over process the hair,” explained celebrity hairstylist and Bblonde brand educator, Jason Collier.
And if the blonde starts to go yellow, opt for a purple shampoo to bring back its icy hues. We recommend the No 4P from Olaplex (£26) or the cheaper Provoke Touch of Silver range (£6.26).
Buy now from Amazon
7. London Hair Architects Instant Hair Dye shampoo
£9.99 | Buy now
London Hair Architects No-fuss or frills, the Instant Hair Dye shampoo from London Hair Architects has to be the simplest way to dye your hair and beard.
Each pack comes with four sachets of hair dye shampoo, meaning it should last you four months, and it covers greys in as little as three minutes.
It does only come in two colours – black or brown – and the brand recommends you dye your hair 1-2 days before any planned outings, in order to give the colour time to settle. So don’t be shocked if the colour comes out darker than you’d planned.
You then leave the black shampoo on for three minutes, and the brown shampoo on for up to eight minutes. Leaving either on longer will just make the colour darker and deeper.
To make sure that you do your patch test, London Hair Architects offers free patch tests with every order. You just need to type FREEPATCHTEST at checkout.
Buy now from London Hair Architects
8. Just For Men Touch of Grey
£6.35 | Buy now
Just for Men Grey hair for men is super fashionable at the moment, thanks to the likes of Mark Ruffalo and David Ginola and if you’re looking to join this trend, or at least embrace your “salt and pepper” locks then you can’t go wrong with the Just for Men Touch Of Grey.
It’s unique in that it doesn’t dye the whole of your hair. It allows you to reduce, or enhance the grey, naturally and gradually and it’s as easy as combing your hair.
The formula is gentle and long-lasting – the results should be visible for about six weeks – and it doesn’t damage your hair because it contains no ammonia or peroxide.
You can get the Touch Of Grey in a range of shades and if you can’t decide which one you need, we recommend you try the lighter shade first.
You can then always go darker later, or as you get more used to the results of the lighter version.
FURTHER READING: Rise of the Silver Fox: Grey hair has never been so popular among men – here’s how to embrace it
Buy now from Boots
Men’s hair dye: What to look out for
Home hair dyes are sold in two main formulas – permanent or semi-permanent. As the name suggests, permanent hair dye will last until your natural hair colour starts growing back through. Semi-permanent will fade each time you wash and gradually disappear. Typically within 8-12 washes.
Permanent is great for coverage and long-lasting results, semi-permanent is great if you want to experiment with colour or minimise greys without going the whole hog.
Should men dye their hair?
Shutterstock Absolutely. There is no reason why men shouldn’t dye their hair – whether it’s to cover greys, go blonde, switch up your look or whatever other reason you can think of.
There are a couple of things to bear in mind though. Men’s hair dyes – as well as women’s – can impact the health of your hair, particularly if you opt for a permanent dye. This is because permanent hair dyes penetrate the hair shaft to alter its structure, in order for the dye to take hold and last.
If your hair is thin, weak or damaged, this can mean the shaft is exposed and becomes more delicate. This doesn’t guarantee damage. Instead, it makes it more prone to damage from other sources such as heat styling, the sun and similar.
If you’re going to use a permanent hair dye, make sure you use a conditioner or hair treatment on a regular basis to stop your hair from breaking or becoming thin.
Alternatively, if you want to embrace your greys gradually or minimise the damage, semi-permanent hair dye will get you (and others) more used to the grey poking through until you’re ready to let them shine through.
Can men use women’s hair dye?
Yes! If you find that men’s hair dye doesn’t offer the coverage range you’re after or you can’t find an adequate shade, it’s perfectly fine for men to use women’s hair dye. In fact, women’s hair dye often contains greater levels of conditioning ingredients. This isn’t always the case, but it’s common.
The downside to using women’s hair dye, though, is that you often end up paying more. This is partly because women’s products seem to cost more generally than like-for-like male products, but in regards hair dye, women tend to have longer hair. As a result, women’s hair dyes contain more product to cover larger sections of hair, so cost more to cover this extra dye.
Men’s hair dye tips
If you’re looking to dye your hair at home, doing the following will give the best results:
- Do a patch test. This involves applying a small amount of dye behind your ear. If you get any redness or irritation it suggests that you’re allergic to the dye and you should avoid using it.
- Apply men’s hair dye to unwashed hair: Shampoo your hair a few days before and make sure it’s free from styling products before dying.
- Be prepared: Grab an old towel, or one you don’t mind getting stains on, to protect your clothes. It’s also worth dying your hair in the bathroom, so the dye can be easily washed off the ceramic and tiles.
- Block off your skin: Apply Vaseline around your hairline and ears to avoid stains. Conditioner also does the same.
- Read the instructions: This seems like a simple tip but different men’s hair dyes have different development times. They can also be applied in different ways, so reading the instructions before you do anything else will make sure you don’t have a hair dye disaster.
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