Thanks, but I think my gray hairs and crows feet are here to stay. I had gray hair back when I was carded, but not enough to notice at a glance. I did a little computer research when I first started getting these comments, and I don't look old for my age. Most men start getting gray hair at age 30 and are 50/50, pigmented/gray, by age 50. I still have mostly hair with pigment and don't have any bald or thinned out spots, but the clumps of gray can dominate if there's bright ceiling lighting because my gray hairs are really white.

But apparently many people don't realize there's this period of one's life called middle age. Even a senior lady about age 70 or 80 asked if I was qualified for the senior discount for tickets at a movie theater. I was dressed much more casually than any seniors in the room (most seniors around here wear the standard Dockers and knit golf polo shirt), so I was fairly taken aback by the query.

Another thought is that maybe most men from age 30 to 55 are dying their hair to cover their gray nowadays, such as my brother-in-laws do, so men who have some gray hair are perceived as older.

The lady who asked me about the senior discount at the thrift store yesterday appeared to be middle aged herself. When I told her I was getting carded a decade ago, she said "so all of a sudden your hair turned gray?" Well, no, my hair isn't all, or even mostly, gray.