Remember that grey hair is rarely attractive

I’ve now gone grey and I’ve never looked so good.

Of course it’s going to say grey is unattractive, it’s a mail order website. Can’t tell you you are gorgeous as you are and then succeed at selling you beauty products.

He is running a small mailorder business selling haircare products in Devon

The manufacturers address, which I think is probably his salon, is rather pleasingly in New Barnet.

But yes, that 'reminder', complete with exclamation mark, is unpleasant. It's got tones of sexism, ageism and racism. Objectification, assumption that women particularly want to be sexually attractive - which is what he presumably means.

Ha - so to finish, a neutral skin tone would I guess be one that wasn't to extreme in either direction?

Wtf is a ‘neutral’ skin tone? Surely skin tone is by definition neutral? Or is that some weird race thing I’m not getting?

Usually skin tones are categorised by a sort of underlying sense, IIRC there are people with more yellow skin tones, and people with more blue skin tones. It's not necessarily related to race, you can get both in many different ethnic groups. People's eye colour tends to natural suit their skin tone, and usually their natural hair colour is also in the same group of tones.

Anyway, many people feel that the colours that are flattering to you, make you look healthy and vibrant, and not sick or sallow, or which don't sort of clash, are the ones that blend with your skin tone. So for example, lilac or purple might look great on someone with blue in their tone, but a greeny yellow might look awful. And vice versa. (Do you remember years ago people getting their colours done and having a "season"? It's the same idea. They also tend to say that silver goes with the blue skin tones and gold with the yellow ones.

What I think he is saying is that people who look good with grey hair are the people who look good in silver, whereas the people who have more yellow undertones aren't suited by it as well. It seems too simplistic to me, even if you accept the principle, but there is a kind of logic to it.

My olive-skinned, hazel-eyed mum regularly has strangers stopping her in the street to say how fab her (grey) hair is

I remember Chetna from a few series ago on the Bake Off, and it being a real eye opener to me how fab a woman can look with grey hair. We’re so conditioned to believe that ageing is awful and we should deny it at all cost, I don’t think I’d ever seen a woman as young as her who didn’t cover their greys. Certainly she doesn’t have blue/grey eyes either.

My grey hair looks fantastic, thanks Daniel. It’s also in the best condition for years because I’m not applying chemicals to it all the time. I never used to wear blue tones but now they look great on me! What’s going on there?
Unless you are as rich as Nora Ephron, at some point dyed hair isn’t going to look natural: at which point some one other than Daniel will tell us how unattractive mutton dressed as lamb is.
When you are a woman, everything you do is wrong. That’s the point of women, apparently. To be wrong and look after the children.

Wtf is a ‘neutral’ skin tone? Surely skin tone is by definition neutral? Or is that some weird race thing I’m not getting?

I think Daniel Field's opinion on grey hair is heavily influenced by their range of hair colours.

If they worked out a way to produce a silver hair dye I suspect they would have a dramatic change of opinion.

www.livecolour.com/our-products/silver-hair-dye

The way that is worded is weird and not very nice.

I would say that, as far as you can be objective about such things, grey hair comes in some different types and shades, and people's skin and hair vary, and sometimes the particular combination you get isn't as flattering as other times.

When I fist started to go grey, it didn't look great. I have fair skin and eyes and light brown hair, and when it started to go grey it seemed to look very dull and unwashed like it had a residue on it. Now it's about a third grey and it looks much better than it did and in fact I think it probably suits my skin colouring which has also become a little softer than when I was younger. I coloured it for a while when it had the muddy look, which in a way I am opposed to, but at the same time I did not like looking sort of ill and unwashed.

My mother has very beautiful silver hair, but she does need to use a rinse on occasion or it starts to look yellow, like she is a big smoker, which she doesn't like. It's not a real effort since she'd be washing it anyway and it's only every eight weeks or so. Overall though I think she likes her hair now more than when she was younger, as it's very dramatic and unusual.

There is also nothing wrong with doing nothing, the reality is just that at some times we may feel like we look a little better than other times.

It’s the double standards here that really irritate me.

Women with grey hair are “reminded” that it’s unattractive and encouraged to dye it.

Men with grey hair, if it’s mentioned at all with regards to attractiveness, tend to get positive comments about “silver foxes.”

Twaddle & bollocks.

I say that as a qualified professional Authority on Who and What is Attractive.

I hear you, but I don’t think Daniel Field is public enemy number one here.

He is running a small mailorder business selling haircare products in Devon. He isn’t Procter & Gamble or the glossy magazines.

I've had whiteys since my mid 20s and have a bad feeling I'm going to get Dracula pattern greying rather than an elegant salt and pepper in the next 10 years

The reason I chose to go grey after 15 years of dying my hair was because I heard a bunch of male friends congratulating one another one their silver foxiness. I had a complete WTF moment when I thought about the thousands I’d been conned out of in the belief that grey was unattractive when it’s actually beautiful. But doesn’t make hair dye manufacturers any money. They depend on making us feel inadequate

I still don’t have any grey but I’m looking forward to it so I’m no longer mistaken for a student quite as often (I’m an academic)!

And wow that is some racist undertones there - Blue or grey are the “correct” eye tone WTAF!

Remember, Daniel, that being a judgemental vacuous arsewipe is rarely attractive.
Two can play at this game