# Actors in your 60s and 70s please quit dying your hair! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 15, 2019, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-in-your-60s-and-70s-please-quit-dying-your-hair/840284 "2019-09-15T20:56:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2019, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-in-your-60s-and-70s-please-quit-dying-your-hair/840284/1 "2019-09-15T20:56:30Z")
I saw an ad for Blue Bloods and Tom Selleck has jet black hair. He’s 74 with darker hair than when he was half that. Thomas, me boyo, based on your wrinkles and other signs of age, that color is not remotely believable. Accept that you would still look good in gray and, being that you’re on CBS, your audience is at least as old as you, so grow it out naturally. You aren’t fooling anybody. Note: I was going to use Blue Hairs to describe his fans but everybody has already gone there and, looking at my neighbors, nobody does that anymore. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2019, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-in-your-60s-and-70s-please-quit-dying-your-hair/840284/2 "2019-09-15T21:20:39Z")
I find middle-aged actors wearing hairpieces to be equally annoying. Every time I see one, I want to say “Oh, come on, dude! No man over the age of 30 has real hair like that!” ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2019, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-in-your-60s-and-70s-please-quit-dying-your-hair/840284/3 "2019-09-15T21:34:26Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Actors in your 60s and 70s please quit dying That, I can get behind. As for whether actors in their 60s and 70s should be dyeing their hair, isn’t that up to their directors, or the stylists and costumers on their shows/movies, based on what their characters should look like? ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2019, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-in-your-60s-and-70s-please-quit-dying-your-hair/840284/4 "2019-09-15T22:44:16Z")
Joe Mantegna on Criminal Minds went from dark hair to gray hair “overnight”. They wrote it into the script. His character said something about getting older and it was time to go natural. I guess if they stop dyeing then they would need to explain it somehow. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2019, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-in-your-60s-and-70s-please-quit-dying-your-hair/840284/5 "2019-09-15T22:46:32Z")
Dyed scalp hair can look great if it’s done correctly. Dyed eyebrows usually just look strange. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-in-your-60s-and-70s-please-quit-dying-your-hair/840284/6 "2019-09-16T00:13:37Z")
Well at least it’s not as bad as the insane plastic surgery celebrities, both male and female get. Dyed hair is small potatoes by comparison. ---
**Author:** ![Cell\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@Cell\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cell_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-in-your-60s-and-70s-please-quit-dying-your-hair/840284/7 "2019-09-16T01:03:25Z")
Every time I see Paul McCartney I think the same thing. > [@pool](#): > > Well at least it’s not as bad as the insane plastic surgery celebrities, both male and female get. Dyed hair is small potatoes by comparison. Like any of the women in the BH90210 reboot/whatever-it-was. They looked terrible! Um, or so I’m told, I would never watch something like that show. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-in-your-60s-and-70s-please-quit-dying-your-hair/840284/8 "2019-09-16T02:11:42Z")
I’m going to go to bat for at least the actresses here. There are very few roles for actresses over 40, and competition is fierce. While silver hair can be attractive, we live in an ageist society, and Hollywood is especially so. Meryl Streep is one of the few women who manage to continue getting starring roles after age 40. The fact she’s an incredible actress is undoubtedly the main reason, but it doesn’t hurt that she looks younger than her 70 years. Her hair is dyed a very believable blonde. Anybody think, “Oh, hell no, Meryl! Let that mop go white?” I don’t think so. Could it be the issue isn’t so much that actors dye their hair; it’s that some actors dye it harsh colors that look artificial? ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-in-your-60s-and-70s-please-quit-dying-your-hair/840284/9 "2019-09-16T02:24:59Z")
Gray can look good. I remember when “Dallas” was on, and Miss Ellie, as a widow, had a guy courting her. He was played by Howard Keel, whom I had a thing for from old musicals. He was gray and still looked good to me! ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-in-your-60s-and-70s-please-quit-dying-your-hair/840284/10 "2019-09-16T04:08:13Z")
Data point: Ted Danson (who has always had amazing hair, it was a running thing back on “Cheers”) looks damn fine with his current white mane. It would be a shame if he covered that with dye. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-in-your-60s-and-70s-please-quit-dying-your-hair/840284/11 "2019-09-16T06:57:10Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Data point: Ted Danson (who has always had amazing hair, it was a running thing back on “Cheers”) looks damn fine with his current white mane. It would be a shame if he covered that with dye. Cheers: Sam’s Big Secret [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/CA3di2Q_DaI/maxresdefault.jpg "Cheers: Sam's Big Secret (11x22)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CA3di2Q_DaI&t=60) ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-in-your-60s-and-70s-please-quit-dying-your-hair/840284/12 "2019-09-16T07:56:42Z")
Hate to break it to you, but the actresses and actors in their 20’s to 30’s are usually not sporting their natural hair and eye colour too, when you see them on screen. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-in-your-60s-and-70s-please-quit-dying-your-hair/840284/13 "2019-09-16T08:13:00Z")
heh anyone remembers it was huge news when bob barker stopped dyeing his hair for the price is right? (to me the dye job always looked like wet paint that was going to melt any second ) I mean it made national network news ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-in-your-60s-and-70s-please-quit-dying-your-hair/840284/14 "2019-09-16T09:18:17Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > I saw an ad for Blue Bloods and Tom Selleck has jet black hair. No, he doesn’t. Frank Reagan has. Tom Selleck has no problem walking around grey, from what I’ve seen of him in interviews and such. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-in-your-60s-and-70s-please-quit-dying-your-hair/840284/15 "2019-09-16T09:59:13Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Hate to break it to you, but the actresses and actors in their 20’s to 30’s are usually not sporting their natural hair and eye colour too, when you see them on screen. A lot of them use hair fibers and some other tricks to hide balding and makeup to hide wrinkles, too. I saw a casual pic of one of the Chris actors, wants to say it was Pine, and he had a lot of eye wrinkles and obvious thinning hair and temple balding. Reminded me of his dad during the CHiPS era. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-in-your-60s-and-70s-please-quit-dying-your-hair/840284/16 "2019-09-16T11:29:36Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I find middle-aged actors wearing hairpieces to be equally annoying. Every time I see one, I want to say “Oh, come on, dude! No man over the age of 30 has real hair like that!” Yes I do, and I left my 30s behind well over a dozen years ago… Full, thick, wavy, only a few greys. I know I’m the outlier, as nearly all my contemporaries, including 99% of my family, have thinning hair with more grey at an earlier age. My younger brother is the same as me. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-in-your-60s-and-70s-please-quit-dying-your-hair/840284/17 "2019-09-16T13:10:29Z")
It’s disgusting when old farts dye their hair. Who are they trying to fool? What are they hiding? Young people would never do that! (mascara, blush, lipstick, etc. etc… ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-in-your-60s-and-70s-please-quit-dying-your-hair/840284/18 "2019-09-16T13:37:03Z")
C’mon, have you ever really looked at hair in TV and movies? It’s always bigger and fuller and more MORE than in real life. It’s just part of the fakeness of entertainment. As for graying, they would never have someone move naturally through the transition of thinning and graying over the years. Most real people with graying hair don’t have the dark base with nice white flecks salt-n-pepper look, or the full white look, instead they have something that just looks unevenly washed out and mousy. But for TV/movies you need to have distinct salt-n-pepper or distinct white (Ted Danson). ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-in-your-60s-and-70s-please-quit-dying-your-hair/840284/19 "2019-09-16T14:33:30Z")
When they dye their hair they end up looking even older than they are. Paul McCartney and Robert Redford are two that look awful. Redford’s color must be called “Dandelion Yellow”! I just saw a picture of Arnold Schwarznegger that was horrible - his hair had a “nice” reddish hue to it. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-in-your-60s-and-70s-please-quit-dying-your-hair/840284/20 "2019-09-16T14:49:10Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > I saw an ad for Blue Bloods and Tom Selleck has jet black hair. While I agree it’s likely colored, Selleck’s hair in that show is not remotely close to “jet black.” It’s got obvious, if sparing, salt and pepper. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-in-your-60s-and-70s-please-quit-dying-your-hair/840284.md?page=2)