Feminist Philosophers

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Men and Hair Dye October 16, 2007

Filed under: ageing, aging, appearance, class, gender, sex — Jender @ 8:39 am

Apparently, hair dye companies are now targeting men with gray hair.  But they’re finding it very important to insist that their products are different from women’s hair dye, because they’re designed to be natural-looking and discreet, while women’s are designed to get them noticed.  My impression is that that this is how women’s hair dying started out.  One thing I wonder about is generational and class differences.   Plenty of male students (at least around here) dye their hair (not in subtle ways), and that seems acceptable.  But when Mr Jender was in a working-class, non-university part of town he was called a “fucking poof” for his dyed hair.  men-hair-color.jpg

And no, that is not a photo of Mr Jender. (Thanks, S, for the link.)

 

7 Responses to “Men and Hair Dye”

  1. Mr Jender Says:

    > And no, that is not a photo of Mr Jender.

    Agh! It certainly is not!

  2. helenesch Says:

    I agree that it’s a generational thing. Just a few years ago I was at the Bar Mitzvah of my cousin’s son, and I noticed that quite a few 12-13 year old boys had a blond highlight (usually in one spot) in their otherwise dark hair. And certainly lots of college men dye their hair (and I’m at a big midwestern school in the U.S., hardly a bastion of rebelliousness or radical trends).

    When I was growing up in the 70’s and early 80’s, dyeing your hair (even for women) seemed like a big deal. Now that it’s not, it seems there’s even more of an expectation that graying women will do it (I find this irritating, but I suspect I’d feel a lot more pressure if I lived and worked in a more traditional or corporate work culture).

  3. JJ Says:

    We’re thinking of decorative dying, as opposed to the ancient Grecian formula? I don’t see much of it at the American Philosophical Association meetings (or any other philosophy meetings, for that matter). And not that much in my southern/southwestern city.

    There are notable exceptions in the philosophy profession; e.g.,
    http://www.gwu.edu/~philosop/JP_&_Coquerel’s_Sifaka_lil.jpg

  4. JJ Says:

    PS

    If you want to get to the pic of Jesse Prinz I linked to above, you’ll have to copy the whole thing; somehow the auto editor has not created a link including “’s” and the following letters.

  5. JJ Says:

    An alternative to the failed link above:
    http://www.gwu.edu/~philosop/Events_06-07.html

    You’ll need to scroll a ways down the page.

  6. Sarah Says:

    Lovin THE Side Burns Mate!

    Jokes!!

    x

    Ha….x

  7. Anonymous Says:

    if the red was black i would of mistaken you for a skunk

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