Women love men with grey hair. It simply doesn’t hold the same negative perceptions as grey hair on women does. A survey of more than 2,000 women from a dating website found that more than half of women over 40 preferred men with grey hair – it was their number one choice for hair colour.
That said, maybe you’re just not ready to join the team of silver foxes. You may like the way your darker hair frames your face or perhaps your wife or partner fell in love with you partly because of your dark locks or fair curls. The good news is that if you’re going grey or are completely grey, there are several options for adjusting your look.
Silver not grey
There’s a reason the likes of George Clooney and Richard Gere are known as silver foxes – their grey hair shines and looks healthy. Grey hair is more porous and so absorbs particles from smoke and pollution from the air more easily, which can lead to dull and slightly off-grey hair.
Bring back the shine and the silvery gleam with special for-grey hair shampoo and conditioner, such as Trevor Sorbie Silver Shampoo.
Shampoos to keep you beautifully grey
Highlights
Women have long known about the advantages of adding lighter coloured sections to their hair. It gives the impression of sunkissed hair and, if you’re going grey, blends nicely with the grey to give you the appearance of having fair hair, rather than grey.
See a good hair colourist to make sure the highlights are done sensitively – they should concentrate in the area around your face, with more emphasis on top, in a similar way to how the sun would naturally lighten your hair.
Lowlights
If you’re dark-skinned or have very dark facial hair, lightening your hair might not be an option and that’s when lowlights come in handy.
Unlike dying your whole head of hair, adding lowlights looks far more natural as most people don’t have monotone hair but different shades of colour throughout. Lowlights are simply a shade or two different to your natural hair, added in sections to avoid looking unnatural.
Hair care tips for the over-50s
Dyeing
As most men have short hair, dyeing can end up being an expensive ongoing option. Unlike highlights or lowlights which won’t be so obvious when your grey starts growing through at the roots, dyeing your whole head means that when new growth appears it will be very clear.
That’s why men’s hair dyes usually come in a form such as a mousse or spray so you can apply it easily and quickly.
Be aware, though, when dying the whole head, that a shade that’s too dark will look like an obvious dye job. Similarly, if your eyebrows or facial hair are obviously greying, it might look suspicious too.
Home hair colouring
Cropping
Another alternative is to keep your hair very short to avoid drawing attention to your grey locks. Also, grey hair tends to be coarser and more wiry, which can make it look frizzy and unhealthy, which is ageing.
Very short hair looks great on older men and it’s a lot easier to take care of too.
Going bald - shave it or grow it