My scary first attempt at having my beard colored

For National Day I wore a white kandoora (robe) and white guttera (head scarf).  Here I am with a colleague:

 My (American) boss saw that day and half-jokingly said I was too white to wear that.

So I decided to get my beard colored.

Now I must say, men coloring their beards here is as acceptable as women dying their hair in the US.

 I chose a light brown and as you can see this is NOT light brown!

Rather than simply apply the dye to the hair they literally paint it on the face.  I hope this picture troubles you as you try to sleep.  It does me.

I went home and spent 30 minutes washing with soap and reduced the painted on effect. 

I'm not a fan and I think 90% of westerners would not be a fan but my students universally liked it.  (And I've been teaching here long enough to know the difference between sucking up "liking" vs. real "liking.")

I recently tried the lightest shade of brown they had and I like it a little better.  It helped that he didn't try to paint it on my face.