# Will Obama's hair be totally grey by November? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 10, 2012, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-obamas-hair-be-totally-grey-by-november/627754 "2012-07-10T01:43:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-obamas-hair-be-totally-grey-by-november/627754/1 "2012-07-10T01:43:16Z")
Maybe it’s just the age folks tend to be when they run for President, but the job appears to really age you. Barack Obama’s hair is salt and pepper right now; is it going to be solid grey by Election day? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-obamas-hair-be-totally-grey-by-november/627754/2 "2012-07-10T08:04:47Z")
When it comes to hair, there’s no such thing as “totally gray.” It’s a meaningless term. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-obamas-hair-be-totally-grey-by-november/627754/3 "2012-07-10T10:06:35Z")
Do we know for sure it wasn’t already gray and he’s just letting the dye fade? ---
**Author:** ![gatorslap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gatorslap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gatorslap)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-obamas-hair-be-totally-grey-by-november/627754/4 "2012-07-10T10:56:27Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > When it comes to hair, there’s no such thing as “totally gray.” It’s a meaningless term. [This](http://i.imgur.com/useEw.jpg) looks totally gray to me. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-obamas-hair-be-totally-grey-by-november/627754/5 "2012-07-10T12:26:26Z")
I mentioned it the last time it came up, in the lifetime of most dopers here Presidents have entered office at around an average age of 55 (and that goes Eisenhower til today, which is probably a bit too far back for most of us. I don’t remember the Eisenhower presidency myself.) That is an average age in which you’re old already and will continue to look older over 4 and 8 year time spans. Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were considered “young” at inauguration, at 46 and 47 respectively. Even Bush II didn’t have much grey (at 54) and people marveled at how he was “aged” by the Presidency. However the truth is 46 isn’t young. Obama isn’t a young man and wasn’t a young man when he was elected, neither was Clinton. They are all right at the age where it is entirely common to show signs of aging, included increased skin wrinkling and graying of hair. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-obamas-hair-be-totally-grey-by-november/627754/6 "2012-07-10T16:57:12Z")
Good point, but still, part of me wonders if we shouldn’t check the White House for signs of lead paint or radon or some other evironmental horror. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-obamas-hair-be-totally-grey-by-november/627754/7 "2012-07-10T20:23:02Z")
Another conspiracy for the right wing to tackle! ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-obamas-hair-be-totally-grey-by-november/627754/8 "2012-07-10T21:05:46Z")
The President himself alluded to this during this year’s White House Correspondent’s dinner. > [@](#): > > “Four years ago, I looked like this,” he said, gesturing to a photo of his fresh and sprightly self circa 2008. “Today, I look like this,” he said, as an image of his notably wearier (and grayer) self flashed on the screen. “And four years from now, I will look like this.” Cue photo of [Morgan Freeman](http://www.celebritypicnic.com/celebrities/morgan-freeman/mainimage.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-obamas-hair-be-totally-grey-by-november/627754/9 "2012-07-11T01:01:25Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > Do we know for sure it wasn’t already gray and he’s just letting the dye fade? I’m with this interpretation. Most presidents want people to find them active and virile while on the campaign trail, but, once in office they want people to see them as distinguished, and as people who sacrificed their youthful robustness for their nation (a job, the pundits who make a religion of the Oval Office, that nobody-in-their-right-mind-would-want, etc, ad nauseum). For one box of Just for Men a week, the youth factor is quite cost efficient. For stopping the JfM after the election…it’s all profit! IIRC, when Reagan was president, somebody in the press asked him if he dyed his hair. He responded ‘no’ and that was end of story. ??? Of course, in his defense, somebody with an inside in Reagan’s camp did say that he ‘rinsed’ it. In this instance, Reagan wanted to youth factor to last forever, since he was so old going in to the job. ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-obamas-hair-be-totally-grey-by-november/627754/10 "2012-07-11T01:03:07Z")
He could be a spokesman for Touch of Gray. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-obamas-hair-be-totally-grey-by-november/627754/11 "2012-07-11T06:31:38Z")
I don’t know why he shouldn’t have grey hair. It adds gravitas. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-obamas-hair-be-totally-grey-by-november/627754/12 "2012-07-11T07:24:42Z")
> [@gatorslap](#): > > [This](http://i.imgur.com/useEw.jpg) looks totally gray to me. No, it’s silver. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-obamas-hair-be-totally-grey-by-november/627754/13 "2012-07-12T03:43:37Z")
Previous thread on topic: [Is presidential aging an urban myth?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=502703) ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-obamas-hair-be-totally-grey-by-november/627754/14 "2012-07-12T05:40:16Z")
In my memory, all POTUSes experience extreme aging while in office. Who can blame them? It’s an impossible job. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-obamas-hair-be-totally-grey-by-november/627754/15 "2012-07-14T15:10:15Z")
What do you mean by “extreme aging”? do they all die shortly after leaving office? suffer strokes? have their health permanently impaired? or do you just mean their hair goes grey, which is not all that uncommon for men of that age? if you check out the thread I linked to, you’ll see that we concluded that former Presidents actually tend to exceed the life expectations for the average US male of their age. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-obamas-hair-be-totally-grey-by-november/627754/16 "2012-07-14T15:16:01Z")
No. And I tend to think that presidents gray because of their age when elected to office, not because of the stresses of the job. ---
**Author:** ![Enuma\_Elish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5e9695/32.png) [@Enuma\_Elish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enuma_Elish)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-obamas-hair-be-totally-grey-by-november/627754/17 "2012-07-14T23:00:17Z")
If he is like every other president in that the pressures of office tend to bring gray hair, then yes. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-obamas-hair-be-totally-grey-by-november/627754/18 "2012-07-14T23:21:06Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > IIRC, when Reagan was president, somebody in the press asked him if he dyed his hair. He responded ‘no’ and that was end of story. Which prompted somebody to say “No, President Reagan doesn’t dye his hair. His hair is prematurely orange.” Wish I could remember who said it. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-obamas-hair-be-totally-grey-by-november/627754/19 "2012-07-15T06:10:08Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Which prompted somebody to say “No, President Reagan doesn’t dye his hair. His hair is prematurely orange.” Wish I could remember who said it. Ha! Until you find the cite, I’ll take the credit! ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-obamas-hair-be-totally-grey-by-november/627754/20 "2012-07-15T16:50:01Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > Ha! > > Until you find the cite, I’ll take the credit! Found it. It was Gerald Ford, while running against RR for the presidency. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-obamas-hair-be-totally-grey-by-november/627754.md?page=2)