Grey Hair: To Dye Or Not To Dye?

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Sweet Lord, my hair is going rapidly grey! Is dyeing acceptable? If so, when does it become a tragic fashion error? What's a boy to do?

― Tom, Monday, 4 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I think grey hair is more prominent when it's longer - perhaps a numer 3 all over is the answer. However at least it's not bright bloody orange. I've heard that if you pluck one grey hair, seven turn up in it's place - I've been frantically plucking for weeks but I'm still what Dulux would call 'burnt terracotta', or something. It's an outright fallacy, I tell you.

― Paul, Monday, 4 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Shave your head. More seriously -- what, *all* of your hair? We do get old, y'know. ;-) Aim for the Charlie Watts 'go grey with dignity' look -- he wore it well, whereas his bandmates...er...let's not go there.

When it comes to grey, my parents dealt with it without a worry so I'm not going to fret on my end. If I start going bald, though, I'm definitely cutting my hair, because the combination of long hair and balding state is an abomination unto the Lord.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 4 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The only correct answer is to be proactive. Dye your hair snow- white. (No, I'm not kidding. The day I start finding grey hairs is the day my hair starts going colors unseen since Dennis Rodman last graced the basketball court.)

If you _must_ dye your hair a sensible color, find one that is obviously not your natural color but still looks good. People are going to notice that you're dyeing your hair anyway, and hair- coloring that is perceived to be the result of a style or fashion choice seems to go over better than hair-coloring that is perceived to be an attempt to deny the aging process. (Of course, if you can find a hair dye that EXACTLY matches your hair color, feel free to ignore me.)

― Dan Perry, Monday, 4 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I say who cares. Just let it go. The worst it could possibly do is very slightly exacerbate the odd looks you get from shop clerks when you come up the the counter with the latest Britney record. And who cares about store clerks anyway?

― Josh, Monday, 4 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Serves you right for trying to grow a beard if you ask me. Frankly Tom, your rapid aging is not altogether obvious to your average drinking partner. I tend to find the best hair colourant is soot and bad lighting - so see you down the pub.

― Pete, Tuesday, 5 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Just do what i do - hang around with BALD PEOPLE. It makes you feel a Whole Lot Better - "I see you look at my White Hair, my long, thick, flowing, whole-head covering white hair, is it not delightful?"

― MJ Hibbett, Tuesday, 5 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I hate to be such a girl about this, but...clairol natural instincts, i saw in the drugstore recently, now makes a hair color specifically for men. i've used their semipermanent dye before and it's great stuff. it will even make it softer and shinier, ya know? no shame. that said, i am fascinated by the grey hairs of a 28-year-old male friend of mine. who doesn't want an older, smarter MAN?

― Catherine, Wednesday, 6 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

It has been pointed out to me since this particular paranoid fit began that I'm not in any way grey at all, and I'm beginning to suspect that my post-shower horror was a result of my being crap at getting rid of shampoo. Hmm.

― Tom, Wednesday, 6 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

OH MAN!!! What a laff. That made my day, Tom.

― Josh, Friday, 8 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I don't know if it's just that awful "Just for Men" brand dye, but I have seen some truly hideous dye jobs on men where the hair goes all orange. That's nearly as bad as a combover. A little grey has far more dignity.

― Nicole, Saturday, 9 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Nicole: Since when has orange hair become a crap color? Nothing makes me happier than walking into a meeting with an executive who has been the victim of a hair-coloring fiasco. The end result is usually much more entertaining.

― Dan Perry, Tuesday, 12 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Shave it all off. Bald men are strikingly handsome.

― john - us|against|them, Tuesday, 12 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

grey hair is great. ive had it for 3 years and im only 20! my mum went pretty much total grey at 23 so that bodes....something. i dont have a problem with it. cant think why you do. yeah. youve got to have it short tho. look at it this way. its way better than going bald. i think

― ambrose, Monday, 25 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

How grey / how fast? Personally, I'm trying for the Reed Richards look: a couple of grey blobs around the ears.

Grey + wispy = bad Silver + lank = bad Grey + curly = bad "Salt and Pepper" = poor

― John McGhee, Friday, 29 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

one month passes...

fuck me plzzzzz

― madie theskank, Monday, 27 November 2000 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

one month passes...

My beloved boyfriend is balding and has a touch of grey at 24 and I still think he's hotstuff.

― Audrey, Tuesday, 23 January 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

two months pass...

if your not grey afterall...take a nap.

― Kevin Enas, Sunday, 25 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

one month passes...

Just do what I do.. I'm only 18 and have white hair.. well Partly.. See I have a facination with zebra print.. Soooo I went out.. and dyed my hair half black half white.. I love it, My g/f loves it.. my band loves it.. Though the strange looks I get are amusing.. It's hard to finda job liek this.. ~shrugs~ oh well, that's life. I say go wild.. dye it an odd color.. even if you're not going grey... GO with a lime green.. or really bright shade of purple..

― Wiggy, Thursday, 24 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I was 36 thee other day, and my hair is greying. However, it's developing a couple of Roderick Usher-esque streaks above my ears! I suppose I'll just have to go gothick, or something....

x0x0

― Norman Fay, Thursday, 24 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

two months pass...

I started greying at 22 - not an aging thing. At 26, I started dying and became a slave. At 30, I was insecure and felt like I was lying. At 36 I quit dying and had a number one cut on the sides with a longer 'messed up' look on top - no parts, no maintenance. I am now dating 26-30 hotties that can't quit playing with my hair. Interesting but true - I was so wrong. Let it grey - just find the style. It's worth the extra money to see a good stylist. Don't become a slave - it's harder to get out than in...

― , Sunday, 5 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

four weeks pass...

DO WOMEN GENUINLEY PREFER MEN WITH GREY HAIR OR ARE THEY JUST BEING TACTILE? I DIED MY HAIR MANY COLOURS (MOSTLY BLACK) UNTIL I WAS 36. MOST PEOPLE SAY MY HAIR SUITS MY FACE BETTER NOW & I DO FEEL A RELIEF OF HONESTY YET SOMETIMES MISS MY DAYS AS A BRYAN FERRY CLONE. NOW I FEEL LESS ABLE TO BE THE OUTRAGEOUS FLAMBOYANT DRESSER I ONCE WAS BUT DONT HAVE THE NIGHTMARE OF WAKING UP & FINDING OUT I AM RONALD REGAN INCARNATED. NOBODY WANTS TO BE THE OLDEST SWINGER IN TOWN ALTHOUGH INSIDE THAT FLAME SHOULD NEVER DIE! OK HONEST & NASTY WOMEN LETS HEAR THE TRUTH!!

― matthew quinn, Monday, 3 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Steve Martin, anyone?

― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Monday, 3 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

two weeks pass...

Ok- i just had to write..... i am 49 years young chick and i think the spider from mars bowie album just hit my head coz my hair is brite pink.My new canvas is my hair! i put pink streaks in my strawberry blonde hair and the little grey parts at my temple are shocking pink and i jus love it so much so i say grey be damned. i'm gonna have fun with it and my b/f loves it which is so cool but i been gettin strange looks from my dog....

― Constance, Wednesday, 19 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

When your face is really fucking wrinkly, it's time to stop dying your hair, unless you are dying it a light color. Wrinkles with dark hair = scary.

― Nude Spock, Wednesday, 19 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

four months pass...

Gray hair on an 18 year old girl isn't the same as on an old person. The gray one still has estrogen and magnetic female stuff going on, in addition to which the shafts themselves will be lustrous no matter what. The situation is very unusual and kind of hot - in a fetishy kind of way, sort of like having a brown eye and a blue eye. Enjoy your wierdness. Then again, it could be indicative of a gene that happened to drop off during conception and that you're a parthenogenic creation with only twelve or thirteen chromosomes, in which case everything's going to fall apart before you're thirty - so you'd better have fun now.

― Matthew Bright, Saturday, 9 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

two weeks pass...

yo dawgs white hair is the way to go! All the kids are gonna start doin it instead of queer blond

― bobby hartzel, Tuesday, 26 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm 34, and I've got this wonderful silver streak going from just above my right ear down. I love it.

― Christine "Green Leafy Dragon" Indigo, Tuesday, 26 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

one month passes...

DO WOMEN GENUINLEY PREFER MEN WITH GREY HAIR OR ARE THEY JUST BEING TACTILE?

This is one of the world's greatest typos.

― Dan Perry, Tuesday, 2 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"Do you really prefer my hair this way, honey?"
"I don't know, lean over and let me feel it."

― Sean Carruthers, Tuesday, 2 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

one month passes...

All I have to say is I have had grey hair's since I was 13, and my husband found one, JUST ONe grey hair in his beard a month ago and went ape sheit. I an\m 25 now have a forest of grey and well I say dye it all grey and get it over with, dooner or later it is going to happen at least I can control it this time....

― connie, Saturday, 11 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"Just Being Tactile" = title of my next album

― Clarke B., Saturday, 11 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Who were all these people who posted in the Olden Times, never to return, I wonder?

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 11 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm still here. I think.

― Christine "Green Leafy Dragon" Indigo, Saturday, 11 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

That you are. :-)

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 11 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

two weeks pass...

Your head decides it wants grey , there aint nothing you can do to stop it. Just relax and enjoy the ride.

― Frank Antz, Friday, 31 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm 25, and am having a hard time dealing with my grey hair. My father started to go grey around 18.. like father like son. I find myself wearing a hat all of the time. Just fell that people stare and always ask, "what's up with hair?". What's really weird, is that I am the kind of person that could give two shits what other people have to say. In this case, it's not the same. My girlfriend loves it, but insists on telling me that my hair is getting greyer. Can't people just leave it alone, so "we" can move on with our lives.

― Jon, Sunday, 2 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

34 here and I found my first grey hair yesterday. Yes, I pulled it out.

― Sean, Monday, 3 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Thanks for sharing Sean, but what did you do with the grey hair? (HAW HAW HAW PHEAR MY RAPIER WIT)

― Dan Perry, Monday, 3 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

two months pass...

I have a lot of grey hair .. I m 26 .. and its bad to have grey hair at this age. I don't know how it all started. People often look at my hair first and then me. I use henna for dying the hair. At times I feel shameful and also thik if I would b able to attract a girl. Can any one provide solutions if any.

― Prashant N, Friday, 9 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

i'm 18 now and i have been getting grey hairs since i was 14!!! they seem to get worse with stress from exams and driving tests!! u can always see the odd one or two so pluck them out as soon as i see them. i like my natural hair colour and dont want to dye it because of grey hair, has any body got any suggestions????

― Amy Knight, Friday, 16 April 2004 20:56 (twenty-one years ago)

WTF is this thread doing in ILM?

If I start going bald, though, I'm definitely cutting my hair, because the combination of long hair and balding state is an abomination unto the Lord.

But Ned, surely you are already going bald starting with the area just in front of your ears (and possibly working up your temples to attack the top of your head someday)?

― webcrack (music=crack), Friday, 16 April 2004 21:17 (twenty-one years ago)

These were the pre-ILE days, webcrack.

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 16 April 2004 21:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Ahh...I forgot that the two were once the same and that ILE was a split-off. ILE was already fairly established by the time I showed up.

― webcrack (music=crack), Friday, 16 April 2004 21:22 (twenty-one years ago)

has any body got any suggestions????

Don't take any exams or driving tests.

― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Friday, 16 April 2004 21:27 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

Ive had grey since i was 16, n am starting 2 get para bout it now its getin worse now am 19. Nyone ny suggestions?

― Sean Murray, Monday, 27 February 2006 21:02 (nineteen years ago)

hat, fuk

― senseiDancer (sexyDancer), Monday, 27 February 2006 21:07 (nineteen years ago)

I say: rock the grey hair like a silver foxxx

― Drew Daniel (Drew Daniel), Monday, 27 February 2006 21:07 (nineteen years ago)

DUDE PREMATURE GREY RULES!

― pssst - badass revolutionary art! (plsmith), Monday, 27 February 2006 21:08 (nineteen years ago)

wow..probably the longest thread here that got nothing to do with music and was not deleted!

― gret garb, Monday, 27 February 2006 21:08 (nineteen years ago)

These were the pre-ILE days, webcrack.
-- N. (nickdastoo...), April 16th, 2004 5:19 PM. (nickdastoor) (link)

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 27 February 2006 21:13 (nineteen years ago)

i don't give a shit about what a man's hair is doing. it could even look like neil young's current cut which everyoen recognizes is bad - i do not care. i think hiding a flaw is always a bad idea though.

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Monday, 27 February 2006 21:20 (nineteen years ago)

what if your flaw is a gaping wound?

― senseiDancer (sexyDancer), Monday, 27 February 2006 21:25 (nineteen years ago)

let it air out.

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Monday, 27 February 2006 21:28 (nineteen years ago)

Big ups to grey hair. Cf., John Cale, Robyn Hitchcock, Patti Smith.

― Myke. (Myke Weiskopf), Monday, 27 February 2006 22:06 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.taylorhicks.com/Gallery/l%20a%20trip%20085.jpg

― morris pavilion (samjeff), Monday, 27 February 2006 22:20 (nineteen years ago)

beyond that ^ - its socially acceptible to tease yourself into a poodle, or comb yourself into a fox or alsatian (michael mcdonald) ...but only if you have grey hair.

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Monday, 27 February 2006 22:40 (nineteen years ago)

robert forster of the gobetweens dyed his grey, to look more "distinguished".

― armalite roffle (haitch), Monday, 27 February 2006 23:17 (nineteen years ago)

one month passes...

The only reason I could think that someone would hold grey hair against you is if they were thinking of having children with you and knew that grey hair was heredity... although your intellengence and other assets should make up for the grey.

― Alex Alias, Wednesday, 5 April 2006 00:47 (nineteen years ago)

Far, far better to go grey & deal with it than to try (hopelessly) to fool people. (If you MUST dye your hair, at least dye it a colour that it NEVER was before.)

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Wednesday, 5 April 2006 02:28 (nineteen years ago)

grey hair on head/beard = sorta depressing, but no biggie

grey chest hair = ewwwww

grey pubes = i'll let you know

― timmy tannin (pompous), Wednesday, 5 April 2006 05:08 (nineteen years ago)

I've always thought grey hair looked cool since I bought Mott the Hoople's Mott LP when I was 15 and glommed bassist Overend Watts' shoulder-length prematurely grey locks. Interestingly my blond hair works as camaflouge for the greying trend; it's definitely there but not really noticeable to anyone but me.

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Wednesday, 5 April 2006 08:59 (nineteen years ago)

*sigh*

― Sundar (sundar), Wednesday, 5 April 2006 21:32 (nineteen years ago)

looks good on wayne c0yne

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Wednesday, 5 April 2006 21:41 (nineteen years ago)

Wayne "Cone"

― Øystein (Øystein), Wednesday, 5 April 2006 22:07 (nineteen years ago)

Searching for comments like these relieve my worries slightly. I'm 18 years old and a few months and recent paranoir has led me here. It seems this could be the place for me to let out my feelings. Last summer I got a comment from my father, and then someone else regarding a few grey hairs. I dismissed the first, and didn't think about it until the second comment. Then I started checking my hair, which was very short at the time. When first cut they are hardly noticeable but after a couple of weeks you start to see them. So I plucked them then and there. Yet still got a comment about a month later at college. After that I made the decision to start growing my hair. So the length and the products I used hid any grey hairs I may have had. My hairdresser has never mentioned them so in that respect it can't be that bad. For about 4 or so months I grew my hair so it was relatively long. Then I got it cut but not too short so I could still use hair products to style it. Then again I got it cut and now a few days ago again, very short at the sides, longer on top and back. A couple of days before this my brother pointed out a grey hair on the side. Then for the first time in 6 or so months I started checking very close up in the mirror. I found one on the side and one at the front. Checking the sides is hard, because wherever the light is it makes some lighter brown hairs look grey. I checked the sides when my hair was slightly longer and couldn't find anything so that relieves me a bit. During those 6 months I found myself avoiding the mirrors, I hate places with massive mirrors, and I can't look in them enless my hair is wet or styled. Of course at 18 it is very depressing for me right now. For now I can avoid any comments by styling it or having it very close and getting clippers to do it myself every 4-5 days. To be fair one of my best friends told me that he had greys already, and I said nothing back, but I will soon be confiding in him. Another boy I know who is 17 has a lot more than me, and they are clearly visible close up even when he has it all gelled up. I feel bad for him but I know that kind of situation is coming to me in the near future, enless these that I am finding are stress related. I am a very paranoid person in reality and having unprotected sex with a girl a few years ago led to me worrying about sexual deseases for ages, despite reasurrances from her that she has been tested and is fine. I don't know, do they cause grey hair, my paranoir links it together. I will find it hard to get close to a girl because I don't want her so close that she will be pointing them out to me. When someone is standing over me I move away for fear that they will see. I'm pretty sure my dad stares at my hair sometimes. I don't think dying it will ever be an option for me. One of my teachers is half and half despite only being mid 20's, another one is mid 30s and is almost totally grey, and I respect him hugely. As long as I make it to late 20s early 30s without being overly grey I will be happy. One thing for sure is this gives me a challenge, almost like it is set by God for me to overcome. It gives me the chance to find a girl that will like me for who I am, and she won't be shallow enough to dismiss me for a few greys. For now I shall ignore it and come to terms with the fact that not everything is perfect. I will be praying to God to help me with my problems and look forward to the things I enjoy most. Obviously I will always be limited with what I can do, I cannot simply walk out the door in the state I am when I wake up because I know someone will probably notice. I don't think I am nearly as bad as some people, I read one saying as a 15 year old with 60 or so greys, I feel bad for these people but they should know that I will never abuse someone for having grey hair, nor will I respect or treat someone any less for having them at an early age. There is nothing we can really do about it without getting worked up and dying it every month or so. Even going bald would not trouble me so much as I would just trim it close. Whatever may come of this, writing this has been a huge help, and has helped me realise some things. If you have read through it all I hope it has helped with similar problems, and I wish everyone luck in the future. It is time for me to sort myself out and strive to be who I want to be, but at the end of the day, if that is a good person it would be perfectly fine.

― Nik2006, Friday, 14 April 2006 23:49 (nineteen years ago)

What exackly is he trying to sell?

― Mingus Realty (noodle vague), Saturday, 15 April 2006 00:04 (nineteen years ago)

GET A BLOG

― gbx (skowly), Saturday, 15 April 2006 00:21 (nineteen years ago)

"paranoir has led me here"

― Bn1 (Bn1), Saturday, 15 April 2006 02:14 (nineteen years ago)

one month passes...

you dont even know what its like being 30, having some white chest hair, finding white and grey head hairs and going bald. now do ya? NO

― 30 grey, Wednesday, 17 May 2006 04:47 (nineteen years ago)

I am 26 female who has had dark hair all their life. And now some white hair, which I understand that it heredity. My grandmother was fully white haired at 35, but she looked great with it. I have been thinking about just bleaching my dark hair now, just to see what it looks like. Any advice?

― Jamie Newman, Monday, 22 May 2006 01:58 (nineteen years ago)

Well, Reading all this I'm feeling pretty lucky! Sorry guys/girls. I thought finding my 1 grey hair was the end of the world! Man going grey at eighteen etc... SHIT! I thought I really had it bad!

I'm 26 this year and I only had 2 pieces of grey hair, which both I've found and plucked like it was the most important thing to do. I'm glad so far I haven't found more like the myth says pluck it and see 1O. Thats a load-a-shit, people want you to look bad cause it makes then look good and younger etc..

Anyhow my grandmother didn't start having greys until she was about 53 years. So perhaps I'll have grey, but slowly. I hope I don't wake up and have a surprise! LOL>>>>>>>.

I say, relax, laugh and drink lots of water.........and don't smoke! Your killing your cells and that's what fuck things up! Have protein. Buy whey protein you need your amino acids! I look like i'm 16 years old. I get that alot. Its a complement most of the time. But then I feel like a little kid and thats what I"m NOT!

― Sonia S., Monday, 29 May 2006 23:29 (eighteen years ago)

five years pass...

― surm, Wednesday, 25 January 2012 05:27 (thirteen years ago)

why is half my head full of gray hair

― surm, Wednesday, 25 January 2012 05:28 (thirteen years ago)

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