Sly Bald Guys Forum
Head Shaving, Grooming & Care => Beards => Topic started by: marshd1000 on September 06, 2010, 07:31:54 PM
-
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! :D
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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 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.
-
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.
-
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!
-
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.
-
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!
-
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!
-
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. :*))
-
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.
-
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. ;)
-
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!
-
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. :D
-
I started to go grey in my late 40s. Never gave it much thought, but I like the sly look better.
-
I was OK with going gray at first, but when I started shaving and would skip a few days of shaving i hated the silvery stubble that started to come in. It looked like a fungus! Plus the gray really stands out against a tan. I'm much happier sly!
-
My hair was so short, and I didn't have a beard then, that I barely noticed when I started going gray at around age 48. I had a goatee around age 45 that was naturally dark brown, so it was somewhere between those ages where the gray took over. Very happy now with my shaved head and gray beard.
-
Does the chin area typically turn grey before the mustache? I've got quite a few greys on the chin but none in the mustache yet. I'm wondering if my beard will go completely grey before the mustache starts to turn. I'd prefer if things were more evened out. :)
-
My partner has the same issue. He'd prefer it a bit more even too, but it's gonna do what it's gonna do...
-
... it's gonna do what it's gonna do...
Sometimes I think it would be less traumatic if it would just do what it's gonna do a little faster. I remember feeling this way at a certain point in the balding process when I started to wish the rest of my hair would just fall out overnight.
-
49 now and I guess the greying started around 40. First to go was the beard, mostly on the cheeks/jawline. Goat and 'stache area are still darker though it is cropping up there. Next place it infiltrated was the chest followed by my temples. Chest is still a pretty dark mix but the temples would defintiely be 2 tone if I let it grow in. Since the goat is evenly mixed I guess I'll be leavingthat when the winter's fu8ll beard goes away.
Only times I've ever resorted to Just for Men have been a couple of times in falls when I had something important to get to. Spend alot of time on the water in the summer and the dark brown up top used to bleach out through more shades of brown/red/orange/red blonbde than I knew existed. Looked fine at certain points and at others it was awful looking so the JFM came out for a quick job to try and get the curtains even close to the carpet again....
One year it had almost turned to a pure blonde but had a funny shade to it - wasn't quite to a decent shade and I was going to be in a wedding party (in an inland area where summer blonde just doesn't exist as much). I was onthe fence about coloring it or getting something to speed up the sun bleaching. I went with the color and it ended up a decent looking approximation of what nature made it. What I never paid attention to was that my eyebrows were bleached out almost cornsilk blonde. Ended up with a bridesmaid and her makeup kit doing some touchup work to make thigs look even close to normal. I'llnever understand how women have the patience to go through that nonsense every day.....
-
Boy, do I feel left out or innattentive or something because I never really noticed when the graying started. I know that my beard has been gray/silver/white for probably 10 years but no idea when it started. Must've been worrying about something else but no idea what that was either.
-
I shaved mine for many years and never noticed until I had to spend a week in hospital and didn't feel like shaving. When I got out and looked in the mirror I said "holy sh*t" when did that happen.
-
I'm 29, and I first started noticing grey hair mostly on the sides of my head a couple years ago. I've gotten more and more progressively since then, but it honestly doesn't bother me. I could really care less about it.
My fiancee calls it "sexy," whatever that means. ^-^
Oh, BTW- marshd, your beard ROCKS. O0
-
I got my first gray scalp hairs during high school, and my facial hair started out with a few gray hairs. I'm 36 now and it's been steadily advancing the entire time. I think I only have about 10% gray, and I have some in my mustache as well. Once it's largely gray I think I'm going to use that as a chance to play around with different colors since I always wondered what I would look like in red, light brown, or whatever.
I think it's weird when a hair falls out and part of it is one color and the other part is another. What's up with that? I think I've even had hairs where part was gray and part was a color. Strange...
-
I'm 29, and I first started noticing grey hair mostly on the sides of my head a couple years ago. I've gotten more and more progressively since then, but it honestly doesn't bother me. I could really care less about it.
I really wish I didn't care, but the truth is, I do. A lot of people think grey beards are great. And they are -- on other people. But I'm never happy to find a new grey hair in my beard. I know it happens to everybody sooner or later. I can learn to live with it. But I'm not sure I can ever truly embrace it.
-
Grey Beard, for most of us, it means we didn't wake up this morning, reach out, and hit wood. A good start to another day. I use to have a full beard, since 1975, but when I started getting thin on top, it was time to shave all that crap, and not have to worry about keeping an upside down sideburn line. A gray goat works pretty good, IMO, and the rednecks in the bar I frequent, (and their brides) want their men to take a lesson.
Wear it with pride.
-
Oh, BTW- marshd, your beard ROCKS. O0
Thanks for the compliment! I actually shaved it off last month but started growing it back when a buddy of mine decided to fly me up to Fairbanks to visit him. I firgured that there are a lot of beards in Alaska. Also I plan on visiting Santa Claus House in nearby North Pole and plan to get Christmas card pics taken there. So I am hoping to look more Santa like!
-
Grey Beard, for most of us, it means we didn't wake up this morning, reach out, and hit wood. A good start to another day.
Wear it with pride.
Well, at 42 I still pretty much take for granted that I'm going to wake up each morning and not hit wood. It all gets back to what somebody said about earning all the grey hairs. I don't feel like I have yet.
-
I don't mean to 'thrash the tread" but God just might have a different plan. Many are denied the privilege of reaching 42.
-
I don't mean to 'thrash the tread" but God just might have a different plan. Many are denied the privilege of reaching 42.
I hear you, and you're absolutely right. I'm not complaining -- going grey isn't a problem, any more than going bald is a problem. It happens to all of us at some point, except for those who are unfortunate enough to die too young. I accept it. I can live with it. But I just can't view it as a wonderful thing as some of you apparently can.
-
A few gray hairs here at 21....started to really go gray at age 35.
-
Also I plan on visiting Santa Claus House in nearby North Pole and plan to get Christmas card pics taken there. So I am hoping to look more Santa like!
Ha. I love it!!
-
I accept it. I can live with it. But I just can't view it as a wonderful thing as some of you apparently can.
I don't know if I speak for the rest of us, but I definitely don't view it as wonderful, or see it in any other positive connotation. Really, I'm indifferent to it.
I watched my father's head go grey over the past several years.. to me, at first it was a sign of him getting old. As time went on though, I saw how little it affected him. My father and I are close, and he's never said a word about it, never even shown any signs that it bothered him. My mother is about as insecure as they come, and she was dying her hair for quite some time to hide it. This stopped a while back. My point is, I began to see my parents' grey hair as a sign of distinguishability. They both clearly took it as simply nothing more than an inevitability, and not a setback.
-
Oh, you meant "wake up and hit wood" as in the sides of a coffin..I was thinking something else..........the loss of which would likely make me consider the coffin.....
(hopefully this is vaguely worded enough to not offend anyone 'cause my original response had something about tv commercials with people in bathtubs....)
-
I accept it. I can live with it. But I just can't view it as a wonderful thing as some of you apparently can.
I don't know if I speak for the rest of us, but I definitely don't view it as wonderful, or see it in any other positive connotation. Really, I'm indifferent to it.
Same here, it is what it is.
-
This thread caught my interest, as a lad who was bit by the grey genes pretty young. I'm 34 and I think I spotted my first grey strands around 19. Nothing was really apparent however until about three years ago, when grey began sprouting on my sides at a high rate. I was deployed overseas in '08 and even then -- three years ago -- I can't see grey in the photos (maybe b/c I had a high and tight the whole time).
In the past two years however, grey went ballistic and basically took over the sides of my head to the point where, well, I'm basically grey now on my sides. A photo of me with a cap on shot just over this past weekend was a shocker to me for some reason. First time I've seem myself in a photo with the sun hitting me, now with very apparent, very grey hair. For me, I'm committed to just accept it and rock it. Strangely, almost no grey in the beard yet. For my head, however, I doubt the pepper will still be there in another few years. c 'est la vie!
-
For my head, however, I doubt the pepper will still be there in another few years. c 'est la vie!
What :/O? Most of the guys here who would have gray hair don't see it any more than their mpb because they shave their heads and hide it in plain sight. Gray, depending on the shade, could minimize the shadow too.
-
Accept it? I'm supposed to accept it?
::)
Seriously, I didn't mind when the temples started getting wisps of white in my late 30s. I had already embraced my baldness (lost hair between 18-20). A little silver at the temples is kinda distinguished for me. Besides, it's not like there was a lot of hair up there to begin with.
But when my Van Dyke started being flecked with white... well, that I'm not so keen on. My wife loves it, however. So I guess I'm learning to accept it. About the only thing I can do about it is shave the chin fuzz off, but that would disappoint my wife. So...
Hmmm...
Accept it, huh? We're actually supposed to accept it?
-
I not only accept it, I embrace it.
-
Going grey is why I went sly. I have very thick hair all my head over but it is turning grey at an alarming rate (Im 39) so I decided bald is better than grey.
-
Mine has by now become white to the extent I have any. Being older I have also very little body hair which is thin and white.
In getting a new Drivers license recently you are asked to select hair color. None wasn't given as a choice.
-
Accept it, huh? We're actually supposed to accept it?
Depends on what you mean by "accept". If you mean do we have to like it, then hell, no. ;) But we do have to learn to live with it -- either by dyeing it, shaving it, or just putting up with the grey -- none of which are great options, IMO.
-
You left out actually liking it. O:O
-
You left out actually liking it. O:O
How does that work, exactly? ^-^
-
I think the salt-n-pepper looks good. Guess I'm just missing the "freak-out-at-going-gray" gene. 8)
I also like lima beans.
-
I like lima beans. And I like the salt and pepper look, too .... as long as someone else is wearing it. :D
-
I like lima beans. And I like the salt and pepper look, too .... as long as someone else is wearing it. :D
I'm with you on this one Razor.
-
Going Gray. ? I'm sure I did. Or am. It probably happened after I'd shaved my head. Maybe I should let it grow back a bit and find out if I've got gray hair or male pattern baldness....or maybe I'm completely bald. And if that's the case, why am I still shaving my head?
-
This is an interesting thought:
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/nyu-scientists-find-cure-gray-hair/story?id=13871004
-
Ah yes, another "disease" that needs a "cure". ::)
-
Ah yes, another "disease" that needs a "cure". ::)
Good point; "cure" probably isn't the best term to use. "Solution" or "remedy" would perhaps be better?
-
I'm sorry, I can' accept my grey yet...
I believe some of it has come prematurely due to needless stress.
After I add those 4-5 years to the equation...maybe I will accept it.
Until then, JFM it is...
-
I am 37 and had some white on my head before shaving it about 4 months ago. I then thought I would grow a beard. To my pleasant surprise, my whole chin area was stark white. I really actually quite like it even though it makes me look older. I'm hoping it will keep spreading then my beard will be all white in a couple years (hopefully my head will do the same and then will have no shadow issues). Being white or grey really is something to be proud of (ie lived long enough to get them).
-
I'm sorry, I can' accept my grey yet...
I believe some of it has come prematurely due to needless stress.
After I add those 4-5 years to the equation...maybe I will accept it.
Until then, JFM it is...
My thoughts exactly!!!
-
I am salt and pepper - -but alot less of it - -I let the fringe go and it is all salt and pepper - -I can't tell what the dome is because there is not enough and I hate the fuzz on top so I always keep that smooth - - - -
-
Perhaps around 45? I've been shaving my head since I was 55 so what it might be now is unknown. After 15 years I'm not sure it would have the gall to grow back. Even 25 years ago it didn't bother me. It was just the next thing that happened in the aging process. The good thing was, even in my mid fifties, I still had a reasonably full head of hair, not even the suggestion of a bald spot. Now it's all bald spot. Wouldn't have it any other way.
-
I'm 22 and while getting my hair buzzed today, the stylist and I both looked down to see the inside layer of my left side was completely grey. I've had a hard life it seems. It really looked grey after I cut it. She tried a #4 on the side at first just so she could work me down slowly and not freak me out. I had so much grey hair. I looked twice my age. It HAD to come off at that point. lol
-
My grandpa had completely white hair as long as I can remember. I asked my mother about it. She said that he had white hair as long as SHE can remember. When she was 4 or 5 grandpa would have been about 35 or so. Thus he was completely white at 35ish. He just went white early. He also had a full head of hair when he died at 92. I did not inherit the white gene. At nearly 60, I have some white in my beard, but that's about it. I don't mind it. And while I still have a full head of hair, I prefer it buzzed extremely short.
-
My goatee is half and half. Brown mustache and some gray on my chin.
-
I started graying on the chin at 27, when I had very dark, dark brown hair. The temples followed a few years later. This is not a-typical for my fair skinned Irish heritage. By my early 50s, I was all white and extreeemly thin on top. I never fretted over any of it, going bald or turning white. There are a lot worse things that can happen to you in life. Now, with my tight, clippershaved, MPB haircut, whenever the conversation in my perr group turns to balding and graying, I just quip, "I'll take every white/gray hair I can get". My wife likes the tight buzz, and we had agreed when we married that neither of us would color our hair as we aged....what's that song, "Don't go changing, I like you just the way you are"? It could be taken to mean, let nature takes its course and do the best with what you've got. I think that's what we generally espouse here re hairloss. So, I am Ok with white and bald, and thankful to be healthy. I have to say, while I never fretted over my thinning hair, for some reason, I did find it difficult to embrace actually buzzing my hair...as much as I wanted to do it. And now I am very happy with my tight #0 buzz and occassional shave...I do think it makes me look younger. This site has been very helpful in that regard.
-
One of the downsides to a greying beard, particularly if you have a light complexion, is that it can blend in with the skin and look somewhat invisible from a distance. Or having grey patches can actually make it look like there are bald spots in the beard. I've found that letting the beard grow a bit longer can make a huge difference and make the grey a lot more bearable.