diff --git a/docs/ipc b/docs/ipc
index db1ef681..fc46590e 100644
--- a/docs/ipc
+++ b/docs/ipc
@@ -475,7 +475,7 @@ verbose (boolean)::
 	Should the bar enable verbose output for debugging? Defaults to false.
 colors (map)::
 	Contains key/value pairs of colors. Each value is a color code in hex,
-	formatted rrggbb (like used in HTML).
+	formatted #rrggbb (like in HTML).
 
 The following colors can be configured at the moment:
 
@@ -516,10 +516,10 @@ urgent_workspace_text/urgent_workspace_bar::
  "workspace_buttons": true,
  "verbose": false,
  "colors": {
-   "background": "c0c0c0",
-   "statusline": "00ff00",
-   "focused_workspace_text": "ffffff",
-   "focused_workspace_bg": "000000"
+   "background": "#c0c0c0",
+   "statusline": "#00ff00",
+   "focused_workspace_text": "#ffffff",
+   "focused_workspace_bg": "#000000"
  }
 }
 --------------
diff --git a/i3bar/src/xcb.c b/i3bar/src/xcb.c
index 076fe791..40d19a3e 100644
--- a/i3bar/src/xcb.c
+++ b/i3bar/src/xcb.c
@@ -294,16 +294,16 @@ void init_colors(const struct xcb_color_strings_t *new_colors) {
     do { \
         colors.name = get_colorpixel(new_colors->name ? new_colors->name : def); \
     } while  (0)
-    PARSE_COLOR(bar_fg, "FFFFFF");
-    PARSE_COLOR(bar_bg, "000000");
-    PARSE_COLOR(active_ws_fg, "888888");
-    PARSE_COLOR(active_ws_bg, "222222");
-    PARSE_COLOR(inactive_ws_fg, "888888");
-    PARSE_COLOR(inactive_ws_bg, "222222");
-    PARSE_COLOR(urgent_ws_fg, "FFFFFF");
-    PARSE_COLOR(urgent_ws_bg, "900000");
-    PARSE_COLOR(focus_ws_fg, "FFFFFF");
-    PARSE_COLOR(focus_ws_bg, "285577");
+    PARSE_COLOR(bar_fg, "#FFFFFF");
+    PARSE_COLOR(bar_bg, "#000000");
+    PARSE_COLOR(active_ws_fg, "#888888");
+    PARSE_COLOR(active_ws_bg, "#222222");
+    PARSE_COLOR(inactive_ws_fg, "#888888");
+    PARSE_COLOR(inactive_ws_bg, "#222222");
+    PARSE_COLOR(urgent_ws_fg, "#FFFFFF");
+    PARSE_COLOR(urgent_ws_bg, "#900000");
+    PARSE_COLOR(focus_ws_fg, "#FFFFFF");
+    PARSE_COLOR(focus_ws_bg, "#285577");
 #undef PARSE_COLOR
 }
 
diff --git a/src/cfgparse.l b/src/cfgparse.l
index cd936ac5..8c853dbf 100644
--- a/src/cfgparse.l
+++ b/src/cfgparse.l
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ EOL     (\r?\n)
 <BAR_COLORS>active_workspace    { BAR_DOUBLE_COLOR; return TOK_BAR_COLOR_ACTIVE_WORKSPACE; }
 <BAR_COLORS>inactive_workspace  { BAR_DOUBLE_COLOR; return TOK_BAR_COLOR_INACTIVE_WORKSPACE; }
 <BAR_COLORS>urgent_workspace    { BAR_DOUBLE_COLOR; return TOK_BAR_COLOR_URGENT_WORKSPACE; }
-<BAR_COLOR>#[0-9a-fA-F]+        { yy_pop_state(); yylval.string = sstrdup(yytext+1); return HEXCOLOR; }
+<BAR_COLOR>#[0-9a-fA-F]+        { yy_pop_state(); yylval.string = sstrdup(yytext); return HEXCOLOR; }
 <BAR,BAR_COLORS,BAR_MODE,BAR_POSITION>[a-zA-Z]+ { yylval.string = sstrdup(yytext); return WORD; }