Accepting Your Grey and When Did You Go Grey

[marshd1000]

Well, I should say that for the most part, I still feel young.  At least mentally.  However that changes when I hear most forms of rap and hip-hop.  Then I can relate to my folks when they wanted me to turn off that damn rock music!   

So while I still feel young, I look in the mirror and realize that I am definately a middle aged sly guy.  I do think that many guys look great with their grey, Bootedbear is a prime example.  In some ways I had even looked forward to the grey.  But now that I am there, I feel that while I am approaching 50, I look like I am in my mid 50's.  A few short years ago, I would use "Just for Men" on the beard as the grey was confined to the middle of my chin.  But not only has it taken over my full beard and mustache but also my eyebrows.  So I feel that I can't use "Just for Men" anymore as you shouldn't on the eyebrows.  I know I can shave off all my facial hair and I did look younger when I did that but I am partial to at least a mustache.  So in some ways, I would almost like to grow a big white beard and be a sly Santa Claus but I think that would be a deal breaker on the dating scene.  I also sing as a background vocalist at church, so I don't want to draw attention to myself in that situation.

I should also say that I noticed my first grey hair on my wrist at age 18.  My beard started going grey at 30.  So when did that happen for you?

Also, have any of you had a love-hate relationship with your grey?  I actually like my baldness and slyness just fine.

[Paul]

I have no love for the grey at all Marsh, and have never really come to terms with it.   I didn't start really getting grey until a few years ago and then it hit like a bombshell.   Being sly it a big advantage in that I am rarely taken for my 59 years and a little Just for Men takes care of the beard.

[TheSlyBear]

Awww, thanks Marsh!

I started graying at the chin-line in the mid-90's, and just wasn't an issue for me.  Over the past 15 years, it's progressed from the original dark brown to the salt-n-pepper that you see today. I embrace it.

That said, I'm not thrilled about the gray hairs in my eyebrows -- a little too "Any Rooney" for my tastes, so I keep the worst of those plucked, and the remainder trimmed short.

[kenny57028]

I dont have any grays, but I do have a question. I was reading somewhere about graying vs balding. People that keep all there hair and go gray, do they really view it as bad as going bald?

[Razor X]

I dont have any grays, but I do have a question. I was reading somewhere about graying vs balding. People that keep all there hair and go gray, do they really view it as bad as going bald?

I'm guessing that they don't view it as bad as going bald because most people, given a choice, would rather keep their hair. 

[kenny57028]

I dont have any grays, but I do have a question. I was reading somewhere about graying vs balding. People that keep all there hair and go gray, do they really view it as bad as going bald?

I'm guessing that they don't view it as bad as going bald because most people, given a choice, would rather keep their hair. 

Ya id definetly say it wudnt be as bad because you could just dye your hair, even though most men don't.  I wouldnt mind greying early so that I could get rid of the shadow, but in my family we bald early and don't gray till were about 45.

[J.J.]

My beard started going grey at 30.  So when did that happen for you?  Also, have any of you had a love-hate relationship with your grey?

When I was wearing just a goatee, my mustache was the first area that started to get gray when I was about 37.  Now with the full beard, the evolving grayness is more noticeable, but very patchy and unevenly distributed...mostly under my jawline.  And those gray hairs grow so much faster!  My temples are going gray too, so the stubble in that area is white.  And I've noticed a few grays popping up in the eyebrows, too.

Going gray is like a little wake-up call.  I think I'm more bothered by my gray chest hair than by my graying beard at this point!

[Razor X]

My beard started going grey at 30.  So when did that happen for you?  Also, have any of you had a love-hate relationship with your grey?

When I was wearing just a goatee, my mustache was the first area that started to get gray when I was about 37.  Now with the full beard, the evolving grayness is more noticeable, but very patchy and unevenly distributed...mostly under my jawline.  And those gray hairs grow so much faster!  My temples are going gray too, so the stubble in that area is white.  And I've noticed a few grays popping up in the eyebrows, too.

Going gray is a like a little wake-up call.  I think I'm more bothered by my gray chest hair than by my graying beard at this point!

There's a guy that I sometimes see on the train in the mornings and half his goatee is white and the other half is brown.  Right down the middle -- the left side is all one color and the right side is the other color (can't remember which side is which).  It's the strangest thing, and I don't think it's dyed, either.  He's always dressed very conservatively in business casual attire. 

[J.J.]

There's a guy that I sometimes see on the train in the mornings and half his goatee is white and the other half is brown.  Right down the middle -- the left side is all one color and the right side is the other color (can't remember which side is which).  It's the strangest thing, and I don't think it's dyed, either.  He's always dressed very conservatively in business casual attire. 

Yeah!  My right side is definitely grayer than the left!

[marshd1000]

I am getting more grey body hair too.  Particularly on the upper part of the chest.  But that is not noticable unless you are up close to me when I am wearing a open collar shirt or at the lake or pool!

[The Scottish Ambassador]

We have a comedian over here called Billy Connolly. He is really funny.

He does stand up, and in one of his shows he talks about the day he was in the bath and looked down and saw his first grey pubic hair. It was hilarious. 

[marty22]

Paul-u dont look 59.....I had 4 gray hairs at 19. Never really bothered me. I do not like the wiry characteristics of gray chest hair that grow at a rapid rate.

[Mikekoz13]

My goatee is about 1/2 grey..... and if I don't shave for a couple of days you can see a lot of grey in my hair...... and I have a lot of grey chest hair....... but I don't care about any of it. I'm 50 and have earned every one of them.

It is what it is Gentlemen........... move on.

Paul doesn't look 59 and Marsh would look 10 years younger shaved. I wore just a mustache after shaving my head for a year or so. I was just as stunning with just the 'stache as I am with the goat. 

[benmcd]

Been a while! Grey versus bald? For me grey points to ageing much greater than hair loss does. Somehow a shaved head can make somebody look younger, however grey hair does the opposite. I have a lot of grey in my beard and also on the sides of my head, shaving certainly makes me look better.. I think!

[D.A.L.U.I.]

My gray first showed up on my chest in my 40's.  My combover was pretty much dark brown, but when I buzzed it, the "sparkle" of gray seemed to say that I was a lot more gray than I thought.  My beard, formerly red, was pretty much totally gray at some point before I started my goat and continued to expand during it's 18 month life span.  My new full beard is pretty much all gray w/ spots of dark brown--unsymmetrical color pattern though.  
I tried  JFM, but although I didn't have problems at first, I seemed to develop a sensitivity to something in the mix and had to stop.  If I hadn't gotten the bad reaction, I'd still be using it.  Now my choice is Mr. Clean or gray--I'll try the gray for a while.  
Funny how gray shows up at different ages, one relative in his twenties has had large amounts of gray since high school--no mpb though.  Two other relatives, brothers, one with every possible hair, salt and pepper and his brother totally white and advanced mpb, until he buzzed it to about a #1 before his daughter's wedding, and his goat is white too.  My wife's hair started to go gray in high school, but modern chemistry has kept it as it's "natural" color since then.  If I had a choice I'd take white over gray, but as w/ mpb, no one asked my opinion or permission.