When uninvited gray hairs appear unannounced, the silver-haired set faces one common question: whether to join or dye.
Look to the White House`s currently revolving door for examples of both sides of the issue. Ronald Reagan claims he didn`t dye, but hairdressers (and his 77 years of age) somewhat belie his adamant denial. On the other hand, incoming First Lady Barbara Bush remains steadfast with keeping her locks the way nature intended.
Bush-who was once quoted in an interview as saying, ”People who worry about their hair all the time, frankly, are boring”-admitted that she dyed her hair for 10 years before giving it up. If Nancy Reagan brought red back into fashion designer favor, perhaps Bush can spearhead a back-to-basic hair- color trend.
Closer to home, KNBC-TV news anchor Colleen Williams sports salt-and-pepper hair coloring on the front of her mane. KCBS-TV weatherman Kevin O`Connell`s strands are pearly white, as are those of NBC talk-show kingpin Johnny Carson.
TV viewers witnessed the steady graying of Beatrice Arthur`s brunette tresses during the six-year run of her CBS sitcom ”Maude” and the move to a whiter shade of pale in the last three years of her current NBC hit ”Golden Girls.” And when French designer Christian Lacroix tapped gray-haired Marie Seznec as his signature model, gray hair moved to the fashion forefront and on to the pages of magazines around the world.
”It`s that quality of surprise that attracts,” said Kathleen Madden, executive editor of Self magazine when asked about Seznec`s impact. ”Her influence, in retrospect, will probably affect very few women. Gray isn`t a matter of fad or fancy. If we`re seeing more gray, it`s because we`re looking at a different kind of woman who is gray today. She is health-conscious, exercises and may even have small children.”
Natural state
Demographics show that the graying of America is on the rise. Individuals between the ages of 35 and 59 now outnumber young adults. As a result the graying of America is only inevitable. Most frequently, age and heredity cause individuals to turn gray. But the sheer number of baby boomers seeing gray, and leaving it intact, may be enough to change the way gray-haired people are perceived.
Yesterday`s gray-haired woman, said Madden, tended to overcompensate for her hair color with excess makeup and overdressing. Madden said such measures are ”an aging approach to beauty.”
The way graying individuals are portrayed in films also seems to be changing. In a genre sometimes guilty of promoting racial, gender and age-related stereotypes, gray hair does not rank as a prerequisite for casting older characters, according to casting director Peter Golden.
Golden, who is 31 and has yet to see a strand of gray on his brunette head, said gray hair was rarely a required characteristic for those he casts. Yet for older actors, Golden said, gray can sometimes be an asset.
”Once actors reach a certain age, if they have gray hair, it can sometimes be an asset because it occasionally helps reinforce a message of maturity when needed for a certain type of character,” he said.
Golden could think of only one instance in which gray hair was instrumental in adding credibility to a character. He recently cast a TV movie called ”Baywatch,” scheduled to appear on NBC in the spring. An older lifeguard character was needed, and the fact that Richard Jaeckel, who landed the role, had gray instead of blond or black hair helped him win the role, Golden said.
Battle scars
While gray hair is not always indicative of a person`s age, Golden said he believes actors like John Forsythe, Lloyd Bridges and NBC`s Carson have paved the ”with-it” way for the silver foxes of the `90s.
”A good actor has a strong sense of persona. Steve Martin with black hair would look odd. Carson looks great. They have made the natural look more accepted. Men don`t feel they have to color their hair unless they want to,” said Golden.
Sherman Oaks, Calif., resident Bryan Charlton said he wouldn`t think of tinting his gray strands. Charlton, who has been gray since he was 35, said he was pleased with his natural hair-color metamorphosis.
”I was pleased. We`re talking battle scars, dealing with two divorces, people who are trying to take the shirt off my back, the car from under my seat, the usual things people encounter in a capitalistic society and don`t always survive,” quipped the 43-year-old businessman.
Charlton, a partner in J&B Global, a trading company, described his hair color as a healthy mix of salt and pepper. Though he said women often tell him his hair is distinguished-looking, he doubted many women receive similar compliments about their natural gray coloring.
Graying gracefully
”There is a double standard there. A man would not tell a woman that,”
insisted Charlton. ”I think women should look young, and gray hair is not a part of that, unless they are an ash blond like Linda Evans.”
Michael Rackerby of Glendale, Calif., who has been graying gracefully with his wife of 22 years, Carole, said he likes his wife`s salt-and-pepper coloring instead of what he thinks are more artificial-looking tints.
”I like it; it`s interesting and different, and I much prefer it to a dyed look. It`s her. Whether it becomes gray or not is irrelevant as long as it is nicely styled,” he said.
Carole, whose original natural color is a deep brunette, said she got her first gray hairs in her 20s.
”I pulled them out when there were only a few, but in my 30s there were too many,” said Rackerby, who recently turned 42.
She has gone through various stages in the decade or so since her first gray strands appeared. In her mid-30s, she applied temporary shampoo-in hair colors to cover the gray. In her late 30s, she let the gray grow and ended up with a salon-applied burgundy tint as she approached her 40s. The burgundy shade, she said, was fine for a while, but over time some of the tinted gray hairs turned pink.
Here today, gone tomorrow
Rackerby recalled her husband`s reactions to the changes her hair has undergone since the initial gray hairs appeared.
”He never teased me about it. He knew better because he was getting gray in his mustache in his late 20s. Whenever I would tint my hair, he would say, `That`s nice for a change,` but each time I went back to the natural color he said he liked it better. He didn`t want me to look younger than him. He wanted us to grow old gracefully,” she said.
For Adele Henkel, gray hair has brought a surprising number of compliments from both sexes. During a recent visit to her hairdresser, Henkel said a male patron once asked her how she achieved her unique hair color mix, which is completely natural.
Henkel started getting gray in her mid-20s and admitted she wasn`t quite ready for its untimely arrival.
”I pulled them out. I didn`t like my gray hairs at first, but now I`ve passed through to a new level of acceptance, so I live with it at this point,” said the 37-year-old Ventura, Calif., professional, who admitted she contemplated dying it a couple of years ago. ”My mother turned completely platinum at 30, and now at 37, I`m only three-quarters gray, so I guess I`m faring better than she did.”
The truth comes out
Some gray-haired individuals who once relied on dyes, like Trudy Udoff of West Hills, Calif., eventually opt for a more natural look.
The 69-year-old retired schoolteacher said she dyed her hair continuously for 17 years to a light-brown shade closest to her original natural hair color, but came to fear the consequences.
”I started to worry about carcinogens and chemicals, when all the adverse publicity came out about dying, but I was also curious to see how gray I had really become,” she said.
Udoff`s hairdresser Mitchell Field of Antenna, who operates salons in Burbank, Calif., and Reseda, Calif., talked her into growing her hair out, a decision she said she has been happy with for three years.
”I happen to think I look pretty good in my gray hair,” she said. ”I think I`ll leave it that way.” –
