Appearance altering potion

An appearance altering potion is a tradeable item produced at an apothecary. By clicking on the item&mdash;found under Potions inside the Booty tab&mdash;and selecting "Drink," the player can alter their appearance. If the look selected is what the pirate already looks like, the potion is not used even if the "Alter!" button is pressed. Facial hair altering potions are usable only by male pirates. Potions that heal a specific injury may only be used by pirates with that injury.

Each potion has one use (swig) before it is fully consumed. Appearance altering potions never decay. Injury healing potions are made with common herbs and are generally quite cheap. The other appearance altering potions tend to be extremely expensive&mdash;an apothecary cannot produce any of them without multiple units of rare or semi-rare (and thus expensive) herbs.

Note: Wigs, diving helmets and active curses (from use of amulets or in-game events) can prevent the potion from working correctly, so if you are having issues, please check to see if you are wearing one before filing a bug report or petitioning an Ocean Master. Curses from amulets are reset by logging out, event-based curses can be disabled by turning off the option for special effects.

Beard control wax
Allows the user to change his or her facial hair options. For male pirates: permits the full range of facial hair styles. For female pirates: only usable by those affected by dastardly moustache wax to remove the moustache entirely.
 * Broom flower: 2 units
 * Cowslip: 2 units
 * Indigo: 2 units
 * Iris root: 2 units
 * Lily of the valley: 2 units
 * Lobelia: 2 units
 * Nettle: 2 units
 * Pokeweed berries: 2 units
 * 1 hour of basic alchemical labor
 * 3 hours of skilled alchemical labor
 * 4 hours of expert alchemical labor

Universal hair dye
Allows the user to change hair color.
 * Butterfly weed: 2 units
 * Elderberries: 2 units
 * Iris root: 2 units
 * Old man's beard: 2 units
 * Madder: 2 units
 * Sassafras: 2 units
 * Weld: 2 units
 * Yarrow: 2 units
 * 1 hour of basic alchemical labor
 * 3 hours of skilled alchemical labor
 * 4 hours of expert alchemical labor

Hair control tonic
Allows the user to change hair style.
 * Broom flower: 3 units
 * Cowslip: 3 units
 * Indigo: 3 units
 * Iris root: 3 units
 * Lily of the valley: 3 units
 * Lobelia: 3 units
 * Nettle: 3 units
 * Pokeweed berries: 3 units
 * 1 hour of basic alchemical labor
 * 3 hours of skilled alchemical labor
 * 4 hours of expert alchemical labor

Skintone elixir
Allows the user to change skin color.
 * Madder: 3 units
 * Old man's beard: 3 units
 * Sassafras: 3 units
 * Weld: 3 units
 * Yarrow: 3 units
 * 1 hour of basic alchemical labor
 * 3 hours of skilled alchemical labor
 * 4 hours of expert alchemical labor

Leg regenerating draught
Removes the peg leg injury.
 * Cowslip: 1 unit
 * Hemp oil: 1 unit
 * Lily of the valley: 1 unit
 * 3 hours of basic alchemical labor

Hand regrowth salve
Removes the hook injury.
 * Cowslip: 1 unit
 * Hemp oil: 1 unit
 * Lily of the valley: 1 unit
 * 3 hours of basic alchemical labor

Patch-eye remedy
Removes the eye patch injury.
 * Cowslip: 2 units
 * Hemp oil: 1 unit
 * Lily of the valley: 1 unit
 * 5 hours of basic alchemical labor

Starfish repellent
Removes a starfish.
 * Cowslip: 1 units
 * Hemp oil: 2 units
 * Lily of the valley: 1 unit
 * 4 hours of basic alchemical labor

Cure-all elixir
During the 2005 Halloween events cure-all elixirs were available to pirates who did not wish to participate in the zombie events. They were obtained by requesting one in a petition from an Ocean Master. Cure-all elixirs also removed all injuries, however, and needed to be taken every time a pirate logged on. Cure-all elixirs may also be obtained as rare prizes in events.


 * Note: This potion was originally colored white but was changed to orange during.

Temporary hair dye
Temporary hair dye can be won from gold boxes, with a six percent probability. It changes a pirate's hair color to a non-standard color until they log off.


 * Bottled Bluebeard, available in April, turns hair blue.
 * Mossy mousse, available in June, turns hair green.
 * Pink pomade, available in August, turns hair pink.
 * Violet volumizer, available in October, turns hair purple.
 * Scarlet Shampoo, available in December, turns hair red.

Dastardly moustache wax
Dastardly moustache wax can be won from series 3 black boxes, with a one percent probability. It is an item that adds a moustache to the pirate's face, whether male or female. This effect is permanent, until reversed with beard control wax.

Weight loss concoction
Turns a pirate into a skellie until logout. Obtained from the trading post. Contains three swigs.

Philter of putrefaction
Turns a pirate into a zombie until logout. Obtained from the trading post. Contains three swigs.

Lunar libation
Turns a pirate into a werewolf until logout. Obtained from the trading post. Contains three swigs.

Cultist conditioner
Changes a pirate's hairstyle to spiky until it is changed by a hair control tonic. Obtained from the trading post. Contains one swig.

Historical notes

 * Dastardly moustache wax was introduced with series 3 black boxes in an unnamed release on June 22, 2012.
 * The weight loss concoction, philter of putrefaction, and lunar libation were introduced in.
 * The temporary hair dyes that come from gold boxes were changed from a single swig to a random amount between 3 and 5 with the early morning reboot on 2012-04-11.
 * The first temporary hair dye was first available with gold boxes on 2012-04-06.
 * The starfish repellent was added along with the starfish injury that it removes in.
 * The original seven appearance altering potions (everything except the starfish repellent and temporary hair dye) were introduced with.

External/other links

 * Commonly discussed ideas about Appearance from Game Design