Maybe white hair is better?

While some people like gray hair, others like bright white hair so much that they work to make it even whiter. One thing they do is bluish, just like they bluish their clothes to make the clothes whiter. We’re not sure how the chemistry of this works, but we used to have an old 5th grade teacher, Miss O’Connell, who turned blue in her hair. Some days he wore too much and his hair was a whitish blue. Sometimes she wore too much and her hair was dark blue. She may have been the prototype for Marge Simpson.

Well that’s one way to deal with gray: try to make it white. Or make it blue. But most people who want to get rid of gray hair want to look younger, not look like dandelions that have turned to seeds. Or it looks like a smurf.

Are you dying to get the gray out?

How do you manage to remove gray hair and restore youthful blonde, brunette, black or chestnut locks? In an attempt to look younger, some people respond to online advertisements for pills that promise to restore their graying hair to its original color. Do the pills work? Not very likely. Some people rely on special diets or Chinese herbal treatments. These may or may not work, but one thing that will absolutely and positively guarantee a color change is to dye your hair.

If this is the way you want to go and you are the cautious type, you can visit a dermatologist to make sure your hair and scalp are healthy enough to handle the chemicals (such as ammonia) that you or your hairdresser are going. for your head. Chemicals are an integral part of the process to make the fake color stick to your real hair for a while. (But there are other less caustic preparations that give you a temporary color fix.)

If the doctor says your head can handle it, you can make a B-line with a big wad of money in hand to a hairdresser, or you can go to the local pharmacy with about $ 15 in hand to pick up a box of dye. For the hair. These have brand names like Clairol, Revlon, L’Oreal, and Maybelline. (If you just want a deep black, you can buy a container of generic henna.) Each brand has a wide range of colors. The formulations are different, and after maybe a few experiments with different brands, you should find the one you prefer, then you can stick with that brand and color.

Hair color for men?

Men will find two types of hair coloring products supposedly made just for them. One is a lead-based product. After splashing it on your head, spread it out by running a comb through your hair. Do this a few times and the lead will cause the gray to start to darken. The best known of these products is Grecian Formula. Unless otherwise reported, we believe there is no women’s version of this product because women are too smart to splash lead-containing products on their heads. Men would probably put camel feces on their heads if someone told them it makes them look sexy.

The other “for men” product is the same type of dye that women use. Men will notice a much more limited selection of brands, usually just one or two (like Just for Men or Clairol’s Men’s Choice), than what is on the women’s shelf. And they cost more. The higher cost is one of the two basic differences between these hair coloring products and the hair coloring products for women. The other difference is that the men’s product has a picture of a man on the box instead of the female model whose photo is on the women’s product.

So guys, unless you have some macho issues, it would be nice if you took home a women’s product. It is cheaper and has a wider range of colors and a higher degree of permanence. Let’s face it, hair is hair, whether it’s a man or a woman, and that goo you buy is going to work just as well on you as it does on your wife. Don’t worry, you won’t come out of the experience with your voice two octaves higher or feeling an overwhelming urge to crossdress.

DIY or stylist?

Some women who go to the salon may choose to simply cover their gray hair completely, or they may choose to put a few blonde or colored highlights on their natural gray hair or their new color job. That can be quite nice, and since it’s not the kind of thing most seniors can do at home over the bathroom sink, it’s probably best to let a stylist take care of it.

If you’re a guy doing this for the first time, check out some local stylist salons that have a lot of male clients, or ask your friends for recommendations. Then, if you want, while you do your hair, you can bombard the stylist with questions about over-the-counter dyes and how to take care of the work yourself.