by Patrick Sills

Created on: May 12, 2009   Last Updated: May 14, 2009

This article was literally composed less than 24 hours after I made a very poor error in judgment. Later this fall, I will celebrate my 50th birthday. I first noticed a few gray hairs sprouting up while still in my 30's. I must let it be known here that women are not the only ones that have vanity issues. Many men will likewise make an attempt to stay young-looking for as long as possible. In the beginning, my gray was so sparse that I did nothing. My natural hair color was a dark, dishwatery shade of blonde, and so anyone detecting the gray would have had to have very sharp eyes.

As time progressed, the other side of 40 came and went; and along with it, the increase in gray hair. I experimented with store-bought hair-coloring solutions. Sometimes, I picked shades that were too dark, and at other times I chose wisely. Eventually , my temples became completely gray. I began to leave the rest of my hair untouched with dyes. By comparison, the top was and still holds about 90% of the color I've known all of my life. This made me wonder why I ever colored that area to begin with. I therefore began to color the temples only. My hair was cut very short on the sides, so I used a "Just For Men" solution formulated for beards, mustaches, and sideburns only. This worked quite well, and blended with the rest of my hair quite nicely. However, it didn't matter in the end, for there was a recurring problem that surfaced. My hair became brittle and dry. Furthermore, each time I went to get a haircut, I had to repeat the procedure all over again. Roots grow back, you see.

A few more years passed, and for whatever reason, I hadn't shaved for about a week. My wife was curious to see what I would look like with a goatee and mustache. I shaved the rest of my whiskers on my cheeks and gave it a shot. The mustache matched my natural hair color, but the goatee was almost completely gray. This gave me a new and previously unknown look, and it was for the better. I have a very small chin that is overshadowed by a large nose. The beard created balance. Gray or not, I became attached to the look. Nevertheless, I attempted to color the facial hair, and the results were disastrous. It appeared as though I had applied shoe polish on my face! I shaved it off and let the gray grow back. That was about 2 years ago.

Fast -forward to May, 2009. My 12-year-old daugher was looking closely at me and commented that I had a lot of gray. She suggested that I would look younger if I colored it like

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