Saying no to gray hair

[Lum]

I went gray pretty early in life. I'm not a very vain person, but I've been thought to be 15-20 years older than I am which gets annoying. So when I had it dyed by a stylist the results were dramatically different. People talked to me at a distance of 1 foot instead of 4, security guards didn't go on high alert when I walked into a store and strange women started following me around everywhere I went. It was like the difference between being a street bum and a movie star. Since then I've gone back and forth, but believe it or not most times I choose the street bum look. I just find dyeing my hair to be too much work and too much expense since it grows pretty fast.

So then I say fuck the world and go natural again, and everything is peachy until sales clerks go back to snubbing me. Why does this happen? I think if everyone stopped dyeing their gray hair folks would be amazed just how many young people are covered in it. And it would save me a lot of hassle in the process. On the one hand I believe a little bit of vanity can be a healthy thing, but on the other I feel like I'm being bullied into caring by the status quo.

http://www.filmreference.com/images/sjff_02_img0891.jpg

[nekohead]

I keep plucking mine. But, the more I pluck...the MORE gray hairs keep popping up.

[Lum]

I keep plucking mine. But, the more I pluck...the MORE gray hairs keep popping up.

Supposedly that's a myth, and only one white hair grows in its place. Yes, I've actually done a little research. I go for months not giving a damn, but it keeps coming back to haunt me. I don't even want to say what happened this time, but it was definitely the worst ever. /cry

I guess I'll start the great cover-up again. So I understand that I'm better off doing this myself, that women's hair color is better than men's, a lighter shade is "safer", and I sort of get the semi/demi-permanent debate. So what's a good brand? And isn't there some kind of shampoo that does this?

Just realized this is technically a "questions for the ladies" thread. Someone shoot me.

[Kuroyama]

Ive got very little coming in at the temples, but I shave my head. So for me, any hair is bad. What irritates me though is facial gray. Ive recently gone back to a goatee combo ala Benjamin Sisko... but with gray in it. The annoyance is that its not evenly gray from right to left... Im always real particular about that stuff, so for a few years I plucked... but theres way to much now... just not enough for it to look mostly gray which is what Id prefer.

[Hater Depot]

I started getting gray at 15. I didn't bother dying it until after leaving college when I experimented a bit. Now it seems I have a lot more and my girlfriend is insisting that I cover up and I took the plunge again today.

[Lum]

My guess is I just don't "pull it off" like some guys I've seen, no matter what friends tell me. White hairs look extremely pronounced in flourescent light and flash-photography too I've noticed. So I might like the look in my bathroom mirror, but once I get out and about it's a totally different thing. I'm even worried I might mistake the reaction I get with racism. Sometimes I have the distinct feeling people are trying to say, "If you don't care about how you look then you're not one of us", which would actually be understandable in a Sociology 101 kind of way. Twisted, but understandable.

Anyway Kuro brought up an interesting point as well, because I have a bit of a goat too. I can shave it, but I look a little on the metro side that way. Does it look bad if the, um, throw-rug doesn't match the drapes?

[Kuroyama]

Lum... You could always shave ya head Son! Let it GO! Set it FREE! You will honestly get tired of chicks trying ta rub ya head!

No not THAT one!! behave!

Of course, if your married... that could complicate matters.

[DONKEY]

i look forward to getting these. it doesnt look bad really. sometimes gray can look good.
but its something i never thought about before.. how will people treat me differently when i have gray hair?

[nottyboy]

i look forward to getting these. it doesnt look bad really. sometimes gray can look good.
but its something i never thought about before.. how will people treat me differently when i have gray hair?


I think it's one of those things that some people will find real attractive, and others will just find neutral or off-putting. I have a little bit of white here and there which shows when I'm not wearing hair product, and I've gotten a couple of compliments here and there.

[aelward]

There is a Chinese medicine hair tonic, called "Shou Wu Compound" that is good for premature grey hair.