Going gray...

[sfniceguy]

Nothing looks worse on a man (to me) than dyed hair (especially dyed facial hair). Next to that comes really mature men with clean shaven faces--it does not make them look younger.

Grey hair is sexy and you should embrace it. My 10 cents.

What looks bad is a bad dye job. Those who color their hair right aren't noticable, and it has the intended effect. To me a bad dye job is one where someone uses an over-the-counter $8 dye product, and winds up with a solid mass of one one single color on his head -- THAT looks unnatural and unflattering. No one's hair is naturally one single color -- hair has natural and subtle lowlights and highlights -- and when you cover that over with one single color -- the result is a "bad dye job."

Also, as we age, our hair tends to lighten a bit naturally anyway, so trying to dye your hair back to the color it was hen you were in your 30's (assuming you're in your 40's and above) is also not going to look very natural, especially if your hair was dark when you were younger.

Gray/silver hair can certainly be appealing. But personally, I think this only looks nice after you've reached a certain percentage of gray overall. In the early years, a low percentage of gray doesn't look so good to me, especially if there's lots of contrast between a few strands of white hair in a mass of dark hair.

If you want to experiment with hair color, use a non-peroxide non-permanent color, and use a shade one or two shades lighter than your own natural hair color. The result will color only the gray, making what was gray a highlight color, and won't change the overall color of the rest of your hair. One example if you want to buy supermarket/drugstore color is Clairol "Loving Care" made specifically to blend away gray without changing your own natural color. It's not a bad product for a first timer wanting to see how hair color might work. Results are only temporary, and last about 7 washings.

 

[Bbucko]

Use what you've got to your advantage. Anything else is a lie.

 

[Mr. Bungle]

I first noticed a few grey hairs when I was in my late 20s as well... as a matter of fact, an extremely attractive co-worker had pointed it out to me, and she did so with a smile on her face.. nowadays, when I don't shave for a while, I notice some white in my beard.

BUT- back in 2002 or so, the hair on top of my head started to fall out, and it looked like I was wearing a skin yarmulke... THIS was pointed out to me by an exotic dancer, during a lap dance, mind you. Not the best conversation piece (I should have told her something like "well, your implant surgery looked like it was performed Daffy Duck!!" or something - :biggrin1

I had shaved my head in college, just for the rebellious factor, but the very next morning, the night after the strip club, I took the clippers out and shaved my head again. That was 5 years ago, and I've been doing it ever since!! And people tell me I look better bald, which I think I do as well, so I gotta go back to the strip club and thank her!!

 

[RedGuy]

I went grey fairly early also - I was a redhead and I think a lot of reds lose their color early. I think most younger guys who are going grey look sexy. It's when the pubes start to go grey / white that worries me!

 

[SpoiledPrincess]

I think a lot depends on what sort of grey your hair goes, some greys are more attractive than others. Most women who've got grey hair dye it and if they do it regularly and the colour is similar to what their natural colour was no one even seems to notice. When men dye their hair they seem to go for something that looks unnatural, I don't think there's such a variety of hair dye for men but I can't think of any reason why they wouldn't be able to use women's hair dye if they did decide to dye it.

 

[Captain Elephant]

I started going gray just a few years ago in my late thirties. I wasn't married then, and I really thought it was crimping my style. I tried dying it once (Great Day) and I hated keeping up with it. I wore my hair long then, so I decided to get it close-cropped. It looked much better (read: distinguished) but it was still gray. Finally, just last year I decided to shave the whole thing off, so now the only gray around is in my goatee.

Wifey says it took ten years off.

 

[Lex]

Use what you've got to your advantage. Anything else is a lie.

Word. That is a really succinct way of stating it.

My greatgrandmother went completely gray beginning at age 17. She had silver hair her entire life. It was beautiful on her.

 

[ActionBuddy]

Three words: Anderson Cooper. Sexy.

 

[crazy_one53402]

I started to get a few grays at 13 and I guess so did my father I do also keep my hair short.. and when I want a change then I let it grow a bit then out comes the dye

 

[SlickWilly]

my college roommate was a strawberry blond. When he started to gray, he said: "until someone can prove otherwise... they're BLOND"

Had another roommate a few years later that went gray in his 20s... he just OWNED that look... and it really worked for him.

I personally LOVE the salt-n-pepper look on a man... too sexy!