My mom believes that men just age better. According to her, women have to deal with pregnancy and hormone issues and menopause and men don't, therefore they age better. We lose our ability to bear children, but men don't lose their ability to "make" them, so there is a biological reason for them to continue being attractive.

Just so no one yells at me: I don't agree with her. Few men age like Cary Grant and George Clooney. Most end up bald and beer-bellied :p I'm just saying that unfortunately it is not an uncommon perception that men get better with age while women deteriorate in attractiveness.

I would totally show my mom this forum and prove her wrong, except that she would have an apoplexy if she found out I interact with strangers on the internet.

The consensus here is that gray hair on an under 60 year old 'ages' you. Which means, that the assumption is made that gray hair is normal for a 60 year old, but not much younger. The reality is that most people will have some graying in their 40's- and that is completely normal. We don't see much of that (as a society) because women and some men will usually dye their gray hair- feeding back into the assumption and giving the idea longevity. I think the other side of the societal standard is historical. People are living much longer now than ever before. 100 years ago or more, when they were writing about a old white haired woman or man, that person was probably in their 40's or 50's. People just didn't live that long. Age is relative to lifespan, and that has changed a lot in the last 100 years.

I let my hair go undyed about ten years ago, in my mid-forties. I actually chopped it all off after letting it grow out a bit. I felt very brave. So I'm a lot grey and then my own color brown too. I agree it does make you look older. Do I like it? It depends on which day you ask me :). There are times I do and times I don't. What I do like is the texture of my hair again, without dye. It feels like real hair again. Maybe there are some really good dyes that make hair soft and wonderful...? One thing people do which I have wondered about doing is to do reverse lights...instead of highlights, doing some of the darker color that is natural to you and weaving that in, so that there is more of an even tone. You aren't really hiding the grey, just making the grey you have look better.

I have been going grey since my thirties. It doesn't look good on me because it is in patches. I also have very light skin, so the grey completely washes me out.

But it looks fab on other people. Particularly people who are "rosy". Try a semi permanent color that washes out slowly and that way you get to see what it looks like dyed and not dyed.

Interesting thread...

I'm almost 31, and have "white streaks" coming through - at the moment they are sparse enough that they don't look out of place, but I do colour my hair about 3-4 times a year, and will keep this up as darker hair suits me more than lighter hair does - lighter hair makes me look unwell. So its not the grey that makes me want to continue colouring - under my current colour is a lighter blonde that I experimented with so I'm covering it until its all gone!

But, my brothers (24 & 26) are quite grey - they started going grey in their late teens. 1 colours his hair (his girlfriend is the beauty therapist so they, as a couple, are both more aesthetically aware than a lot of people around here), the other one just keeps it short and because he is so pale naturally you don't notice it. So I'm very pleased that I've had quite delayed greying in comparison to the boys. Interestingly, they both have VERY noticeable receding hair lines so I can see them being grey and bald before they are 40...

My Nan has pure white hair that is just glorious on her! She has lovely blue eyes and keeps her hair short. So, if my hair ends up like hers (as opposed to my dads that is more a true grey), I'll happily sport it au naturale when its all white...

I think some of that has to do with one's station in life Khris. Turning 60 symbolizes major changes in one's life, even if none of those changes actually happen. It is the year we associate with retirement and the realization of one's lifelong dreams (or at least it was before this dang recession). I guess those changes in life also signal a change in our hair color!

It's important to look youthful (not young, but youthful) in the workplace. Just like there is no advantage to looking like a teenager, there any advantage in looking like a granny. Once you're out of the workplace, there is a lot of freedom, including the freedom to go gray if you so choose.

Well we just disagree on that Maya. I do think that the pressure to color your hair is separate from our society's obsession with youth. Gray hair is seen as not only old, but ugly.

Wrinkles, spider veins, stretch marks, sagging chests...all of these things are seen as unsightly and we are bombarded each and every day with advertising for products and techniques that claim to reduce or eliminate these issues. But unlike hair, these things can't be "fixed" as easily. Perhaps that is why.

I'm still in my 20s and have yet to see a gray hair on me (my fiance that's another matter) so I am not at all speaking from personal knowledge. I really think dying your gray/white hair is a personal choice and you need to be at peace with whatever decision you make. No matter whether it is the stylish choice or not. I hope you all make peace with your choice, whatever it may be.