What to Do When You Find Your First Gray Hair

By Jake Woolf

Last night, I found my first gray hair. Long and placed directly in the middle of my head, it was, essentially, super not cool. Gray hairs are for olds, and I pride myself on being decidedly not old. After discovering this perpetrator against my youth and immediately panicking, I realized there is a multitude of different ways I could react to situation, some of which maybe don’t involve stressing myself out even more (and causing more grays in the process). Instead, I made a list of the different ways to handle this discovery, ranging from completely logical to totally insane, so that if you’re ever in my shoes you’ll deal with it better than I did.

1. Pluck That Sh*t.
Because it’s only one hair, right? Well, then again, what kind of precedent is that setting? What if there’s three, or seven, or fifteen? Do you now always have to be on gray patrol and removal duty?

2. Let It Grow, Let It Grow.
Who cares, right? It’s just a stupid gray hair. Then again, doesn’t just one gray look kinda weird on head of beautiful brown, youthful and silky hairs? Maybe eventually you’ll look like Anderson Cooper, but hopefully that’s, like, fifty or sixty years way.

3. Just For Men.
Okay, now I’m just talking crazy, right? I’m not saying dye your hair jet black if you’re a sixty-year-old silver fox, but a salt and pepper twenty-seven year old? No one would blame you.

4. Freak Out, Declare The Death of Your Youth, and End Up Looking Like Bill Clinton Come Wednesday.
What I did, and what I’ll probably continue to do if I’m honest with myself. Don’t be like me, kids.

5. Thank God That You’re Going Gray, Not Bald.
Preach.

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