Guys who have tried dying their hair and/or beard, would you reccomend it?

[MichaelB]

Not sure why you were surprised. Not many guys in their mid-40's opt for green hair.

Good point. To be fair, it was only half green. And of course, there were more whispers behind my back than comments to my face.

Work was different. Comments and questions about the color difference between my facial and cranial hair. Good thing everything else was covered ...

 

[splitwdw]

I'm considering it and want to know if people concluded it's too much of a hassle, does it potentially look fake, etc? Also, did you use a straight dye or one of the dye shampoos? Did you keep some grey or go full color?

Try it, you can always let it grow out. BUT don't don't go with a dark shade. I work with a guy who dyes his hair black. It looks like he has paint or shoe polish on his head. Don't know his natural color but it's usually recommended to dye your hair a shade lighter. AND red heads, you need a pro to get a natural looking red hair. On many people, it looks like copper wire.

 

[braumeister]

I agree with those who say only use a professional to color your hair. I have a good friend in his late 50s who does, and it really looks perfectly natural. He admits it's expensive, but I believe it does help him in his business.

 

[SeanPizzle]

I'm not so vain that I would put toxic chemicals on my scalp or beard. Aging gracefully over here

 

[Montecfo]

DH used to use Grecian Formula and then could not longer find it. He let his hair go gray and it aged him 10+ years. He found a product called Youthair that works similarly to Grecian Formula and now looks younger again. It’s very different than dyeing hair. It just reduces the amount of gray gradually. Looks great and very natural!

I assume you and Mr Scuba are ok with him getting hounded by all the young chicks...

 

[aja8888]

Who remembers GLH-9 ads?

"The Babes Are Back"

 

[ponyboy]

I wouldnt include the word guy and tried dying their hair and bear in the same sentence. Just sayin.

 

[Scuba]

I assume you and Mr Scuba are ok with him getting hounded by all the young chicks...

Ha ha, I was more worried about all the old ladies when his hair was grayer! Not too many young chicks where we live.

 

[Scuba]

Looked up the ingredients, lead acetate. Seems like that wouldn't be safe.

This is a good point. Maybe DH should get his lead level tested. He’s tried the “lead free” version and said it didn’t work.

 

[Bryan Barnfellow]

A friend of mine at work decided to color his hair as it grayed in his 50s. The result was a disaster. Instead of the return to brown he was looking for he ended up with a reddish tint that had a very 'Ziggy Stardust' look to it.

Personally, I've made my peace with going bald and now going slowly gray in my 60s. Invisibility is our super power - embrace it.

Same for a work colleague from 30 years ago. Everyone was clucking about it, when he wasn't around to hear them. And, it's the only thing I remember about him now.

-BB

 

[Amethyst]

I see no reason why a man necessarily has to use a "men's" hair care product. Hair is hair; it varies mainly by texture and thickness of the hair strand.

There are a lot of home-use hair color products out there, including one or two, made for sensitive scalps, that don't contain peroxide (which means, unfortunately, that they are not permanent). They have been around for decades, are not expensive, and if I were a man, I would try them. Who cares if a woman's picture is on the box?

 

[Amethyst]

There is one old man at my gym who wears his white hair pulled back tight into a sad little bitty pony tail. His hair does cover his scalp, and would be decent, if he would get it cut properly.

During my working years, I used to tell my wife I was gonna grow a pony tail when I retired. Well, I’m retired now and not nearly enough hair left to grow a pony tail. So, when it gets to be about 3/4” long, I go get it buzzed back. What’s left is pretty much all white and the thought of dyeing it seems pretty stupid to me.

 

[street]

What I think is worse for me is not all hair is totally grey. I would rather be all grey not have some dark hair at all. Not sure if there is a product you can get to make facial hair or head hair grey instead of trying to dye your hair dark.

I'm not interested in having dark hair anymore and would think of trying to do that.

 

[tb001]

DH died his hair for many years. He started going very gray in his early 30s. He had it professionally done and I honestly had no idea until long after we were living together. It looked totally natural.

He stopped, with my encouragement, when covid hit. His hair now is super thick and very white. I love it, but it does age him quite a bit. With young kids I sometimes wonder if I should be encouraging him to dye it again. But it’s hard to go the other way now. It’s also quite expensive.

My dad also dyed his hair for ages. First very black and then went lighter and ended up with the red tint people talk about. It was not a good look at any point.

 

[Amethyst]

Silver hair dye exists! I have seen young women with their hair dyed silvery gray.

What I think is worse for me is not all hair is totally grey. I would rather be all grey not have some dark hair at all. Not sure if there is a product you can get to make facial hair or head hair grey instead of trying to dye your hair dark.

I'm not interested in having dark hair anymore and would think of trying to do that.

 

[street]

Silver hair dye exists! I have seen young women with their hair dyed silvery gray.

Ohhh I suppose they do. I don't feel old but when I look in the mirror, I know I'm old. Lol

 

[Amethyst]

So, you have hit only one of the Aging Trifecta. I'd say you're doing OK.

1. Looking old
2. Feeling old
3. Acting old

Ohhh I suppose they do. I don't feel old but when I look in the mirror, I know I'm old. Lol

 

[rodi]

DH went grey at a fairly young age. When I met him he was using Just For Men. I talked him into stopping it - but he had to wean off... As it grew out he would apply less, and try to mix it with the grey so it wasn't as obvious that he'd been dying his hair (no straight line of grey roots.) He was in his late 40's and he found the side effect was that clients and his boss gave him more respect as he "greyed". I guess it gave him more gravitas of professional experience.

Now his hair is thinning - and he just trims it with a flowbee.

My hair has shifted from red to auburn, and at age 60 I have just a little bit of grey/white at my temples... Don't plan to dye it.

 

[John Galt III]

I tried Just for Men beard dye and Just for Men hair dye. In both cases, applied the 'test patch' for both. I didn't have a bad reaction to either, so went ahead and used them both, at different times. I got a red rash from the beard dye, which was itchy but not too bad. But from the hair dye, I got a horrible puffy swollen red reaction all over my scalp. I even went to the doctor about it. I think he said to do nothing, just let it fade away, which it did. Don't know why the test patches I tried didn't show a reaction. Not enough 'critical mass'? And the effect on my hair was to make it a very dull color, although it did get rid of the grey.

 

[street]

So, you have hit only one of the Aging Trifecta. I'd say you're doing OK.

1. Looking old
2. Feeling old
3. Acting old

I like that! Lol Two more to go that is good!

I got a text this morning from a young rancher, and he was already feeding cattle. He told it must be nice to sleep late and still in the house. lol

I told him I'm up at 5 or 530 I don't stay in bed because people die in beds. Lol

 

[Retired Expat]

Started dying it in my early to mid forty’s as it just made me feel old and had a young girlfriend at the time. Always went a shade or two lighter than my natural color so it looked very natural. The one time they did it professionally was a disaster! Obviously fake and way to dark. Best to get the one that washes out after 6-8 weeks so it fades naturally. Now am just happy to still have any hair! Wife doesn’t want me to die it and prefers to be the pretty one. Also let’s face it no more young girls trying to get with me.

 

[Retch The Grate]

never tried dyeing my beard when I had it. The pandemic has impacted my hair color a lot, I've been too lazy for stripping and dyeing it its natural neon yellow, so it is currently this crazy dark brown with grey on the temples. Definitely looks wrong.

As far as stripping and dyeing hair, yeah, it is work (hence not bothering over the pandemic), but you can change your hair to whatever color you want, so win.

 

[Qs Laptop]

I'm considering it and want to know if people concluded it's too much of a hassle, does it potentially look fake, etc? Also, did you use a straight dye or one of the dye shampoos? Did you keep some grey or go full color?

Back in my early-mid 50's I got good results with Just for Men Hair hair color. This was when I was just starting to turn a bit gray. At the time I went full color. By trial and error I found the process that worked really well for me.

1. Always apply Just for Men the same day you get a hair cut. Wash your hair first to rinse out any clippings, thoroughly dry, then use the product. The place where I got my hair cut includes a shampoo so I'd have them shampoo and dry after cutting then go home and use the product.

2. Get a hair cut every 4-5 weeks. This cuts down on the problem of light colored roots. Also, I think people subconsciously notice something is different about you and chalk it up to the fact you got a hair cut and don't really notice any coloration.

3. I went with the color closest to my natural hair color (not one or two shades lighter as has been suggested) but I would not leave the formula in my hair for the full amount of time specified in the directions. So if you are supposed to leave it in for 10 minutes I would rinse it out at 8 or 9 minutes.

4. As I grayed more and more I went to one lighter shade than my actual hair color but kept up the routine described in steps 1-3.

I don't think anyone knew I was coloring my hair, as I started coloring very soon after noticing lighter hair clippings on the cape worn at the barber. I took before/after pics once to compare and I was happy with them.

Eventually I gave up because the process was too much of a hassle.

 

[Koolau]

When I first grew my goatee in my late 40s, after shaven it off after graduating from college, it grew in white, while my hair and mustache were still black. I had a "two-tone" look that I did not like. But DW loved it (she always thought I should have kept my goatee as I had one when we first met). Her friends liked it as well (of course DW could have put them up to it ). I thought about dyeing it but it just seemed too much of a hassle.

When the Great Recession hit, had I lost my job I would have been tempted to dye it dark. But several of my friends who did lose their jobs dyed their hair to look younger, and they really did not... I cannot blame them, you gotta do what you gotta do to find a job. But that also led me to not consider dyeing it.

Now my hair and mustache are definitely gray, but my goatee is still whiter than those areas. But at this point, folks have known me so long with it natural that it does not make sense to dye it, everyone would know. SO I am happy with it as it is. Besides, DS and DIL say our grandkids recognize me because of it, as when they see other darked-skinned men with gray hair and whitish goatees on the telly they start asking "Gamba?" So for their sake I will leave it as is .

DW used to accuse me of having Technicolor hair. I was a blend of blond and brown to dark brown on top. The sides of my beard were brown but the stash was pure blonde while the chin whiskers were red! Now, all my "colored" hair on top has gone to a very dark brown - almost black with wisps of gray . The sides are going white, the stash is a mix of gray and faded blond and everything below that is white. I guess I'm Technicolor - in moonlight!

I think my DW is secretly glad that I'm going gray now as we used to have doctors or sales people commenting on my "mother." DW was NOT amused but YMMV.

 

[Out of Steam]

don't do it, unless you are going to a pro, and even then...

Most women who color their hair in a way that you can't tell do a double process, a mix of base and highlights, that produces a more natural look (no one's hair is all one color all over).

The woman who was cutting my hair before I retired said to see her if I was ever tempted to dye it, so that she could leave some lighter highlights. I never took her up on it.

It's 80-90% white now. During the early stages of COVID, I toyed with the idea of using a temporary wash that was more silver. Probably due to boredom.