Silver. Mine.

Long story on the cover of the Advocate about how men are defying convention and not (gasp!) dying their grey, white or silver hair.
http://www.advocate.com/issue_story_ektid56862.asp

I've had increasingly grey hair for a long time (see above, in a picture that Ted took of me on South Beach). I've never thought once of dying it. My grandfather had snow white hair most of his adult life and my uncle Brian has thick beautiful white hair. It's an Irish thing. I truthfully love the color of my hair -- it goes from silver on the top to white on the sides. My haircutter actually asked me if I was coloring it that way. Would I look younger if it was brown? Maybe. It just wouldn't be me.

Hair that is dyed dark on guys looks strange to me. It's usually one solid color, and it looks fake. In general I'm not a big fan of a lot of artificial maintenance. I see guys at the gym with dark dyed hair, and something is going on with the face -- plastic surgery, Botox, acid peels -- you can't tell what exactly what, it just looks strange. To me that much maintenance just draws attention, and not in a good way. It doesn't look younger, it just looks odd.

Better to be comfortable with your hair and your face. I'm stunned by actresses (no names!) who have so much surgery on their faces that they can't emote -- they ruin the very instrument of their art. I say, exercise regularly, get plenty of sleep and drink plenty of water, eat healthily with a lot of vegetables and fruit, drink moderately and don't smoke, maybe get a little sun, and like my grandmother used to say, "Smile a lot!" When a person cracks a smile, they look ten times more attractive.

As Joni Mitchell sang, "A smile is the best face lift."


Silver hair update: My friend Philip Monaghan who also has white hair advises me to "use a blue shampoo once a week to avoid mousy low lights." Who knew!