Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Style and beauty

Looking for style advice? Chat all about it here. For the latest discounts on fashion and beauty, sign up for Mumsnet Moneysaver emails.

Should my husband dye his hair?

39 replies

1ris · 20/02/2017 11:22

DH is a "silver fox". Lovely, however he is looking for a new job and the marketplace is full of youngsters. DH is a young, fit and good looking 57.

He's being interviewed by much younger people usually and feels they are judging him by the colour of his hair - as a much older man.

Even as an experiment...should he do this?

OP posts:
notMarlene · 20/02/2017 19:08

Yup, I'm with mrsmerseeks. Grey hair dyed darker invariably looks bad. Not just on men, on women too. We're just so very used to the effects of it on women that we register that look as part of what's involved in being older than x.

It might well make the people who do it feel good/better (in which case I'm all for it) but it doesn't actually make them look good/better. No.

BringMeTea · 20/02/2017 19:09

No. It never, ever ends well.

Bluntness100 · 20/02/2017 19:19

I don't agree dying grey hair darker looks bad. Like many women in their forties my hair is dyed, but just back to the original brunette as I have greys, I don't think it looks bad. I also don't think it looks unnatural. Most, in fact all apart from one of my female friends do the same and I'd honestly say they don't look bad, I can't say I think the one with the grey looks better although some women do.

I have also got male colleagues who dye their hair and yes it looks denser and not good. One has a fetching coppery tone to it. 🙄

Maybe it's about society norms. We are used to seeing older women with dyed hair, we are less used to seeing men with it. Just like make up. We are used to women wearing it, but less so a man and when we do see a middle aged man wearing make up we often don't think it looks good. Is it any more unnatural looking than the women, no, but it may be what we are used to seeing.so we react thinking the woman looks good and the man silly.

So less about aging, more about society norms maybe,

Botanicbaby · 20/02/2017 19:45

I agree it's about social conditioning. We're not accustomed to seeing men with dyed hair over a certain age. Women yes definitely.

But a bad home dye job is a bad home dye job on anyone.

Imagine if most men got balayage or several tones worked through it would we all be crying no don't do it?!

I think your husband should just go as he feels best & good luck to him!

CaoNiMa · 20/02/2017 20:59

A man ought sooner be bald than have dyed hair.

Oblomov17 · 20/02/2017 21:23

No, because even professionally done it looks awful and you can always tell.

1ris · 21/02/2017 00:52

Thing is that in SE Asia lots and lots (most) men dye their hair. We used to live in Singapore and 99.99% of men over 75 had black hair. We got used to it and it actually looked ok most of the time.

Because DH's eyebrows are also going silver I think he should dye/colour them first so that he has definition.

Maybe that is the first step. How do we organise that?

Troodie - he has a purple shampoo - they ARE good aren't they.

OP posts:
Skooba · 21/02/2017 07:06

If he looks young in the face it prob won't occur to people to look at his hair to see if it's dyed.

yomellamoHelly · 21/02/2017 07:20

Have to say my father did this (many years ago) as he couldn't get a job. Worked straight away. Guess it depends what business he's in. Would definitely get him to sort his eyebrows out. (Blink bar in a John Lewis?)

Bluntness100 · 21/02/2017 07:24

Why don't you use a brow kit, you know just one of the make up ones that's powder or gel first and see what it looks like. The potential for it going wrong is quite high, i.e. Too dark and he looks silly,

Agree a bad home dye job is a bad home dye job.

Paninotogo · 21/02/2017 07:28

My dad dyed his lovely silver hair and his George Michael beard back to his natural black. He looked like fucking Bluto.

CheersMedea · 21/02/2017 13:19

It is absolutely always obvious and it always looks awful and it will make him look older.

I don't agree with this but you need to have it done professionally and a good dye job is expensive.

I know a man who has dyed hair and it looks really natural. The only reason I know is because he told me. I'm not sure exactly how they do it (reverse highlights cap?) but he has a few flecks of silver (the odd hair or two) left there so it looks like he is about to start going grey - which fits his age -he is a lot older than your DH.

If he wants to try it, you need to send him to a proper leading colourist - like Jo Hansford. It will be expensive but it will not look bad block coloured unnatural.

1ris · 21/02/2017 13:26

Thank you all. I'm going to show him this thread and see what he thinks.

OP posts:
CaraAspen · 21/02/2017 13:46

No!!! He mustn't! It always looks awful and so obvious when older men do it. The only men who can get off with it are Goths or whatever and they are usually young. If your OH wears nice trendy suits and has a modern haircut, that is all that is required. Smile

New posts on this thread. Refresh page