Men are taking to the bottle like never before. Natural redhead Davin O'Dwyer says it's a sign of vanity. Occasional blond Gerry Mahon thinks it's individualism
SEEING RED
Many people would rather dye their hair than be a redhead. We get a lot of grief, and not all of it can be blamed on Mick Hucknall and Chris Evans. We're the minority it's acceptable to mock. But there's possibly another hair type that invites even more ridicule, and I can't say I'm completely blameless. The victims? Guys with highlights.
They bring it on themselves, don't they? They decide to get all manner of streaks and stripes through their elaborately sculpted hair. They sit in hair studios - barber is a quaint phrase now, like apothecary - and wait up to an hour for the colours to take hold. (I'm more used to waiting for the guy with the scissors to get through the line, reading a week-old Star to pass the time.)
I know I probably sound like a whinger who misses the old days, when wives chose their husbands' clothes and a short back and sides was a religion, but I'm not. Being interested in one's appearance is no bad thing. It's natural to want to make the best of what you've got. But highlighted hair on a guy indicates that he has a more than healthy interest in his appearance. It often screams of vanity, that most unattractive of traits.
It's cocky rather than confident. Worse, it's a vanity informed by the vacuousness of Heat magazine and Celebrity Love Island. It's an attempt to be different that is actually the opposite of original: it's imitation passed off as individuality.
A lot of the blame for the prevalence of highlighted hair must lie at the feet of David Beckham, that most shallow of cultural icons. He is the perfect embodiment of self-obsessed stylishness. His changing hairstyles and "daring" fashion choices all say only one thing: "My God, I'm hot." As a mission statement it's slim on the details, but it says all we really need to know.
Now we have Gavin Henson with his fake tan and vertical hair. More recently, and incongruously, we have Bertie Ahern with his make-up, although I have a hunch it will be a while before that catches on with the readers of FHM.
Davin O'Dwyer
BLOND AMBITION
I don't quite understand the bad press men with highlighted hair get. Whenever I get colour in my hair I prepare for the usual round of jokes. "Fine," I say, "whatever helps them cope."
It reminds me of the scene in Easy Rider when Hopper and Fonda are in the diner and all the rednecks start kicking up a stink about the "longhairs" in the corner. It's the same mentality at work. Back then, longhaired men were thought of as weird and feminine. Nowadays long hair might mark you out as not being a banker or solicitor, but otherwise it's pretty common.
It's all a matter of degrees. Putting gel or wax in your hair isn't considered too vain a habit, and putting colour in is only a few rungs higher up the ladder of hair care, in my opinion. I mean, why is it acceptable for older men to hide their grey hair with dye but not for younger guys who want some variety? At least we are trying to do something a bit different rather than desperately trying to stay the same.
Highlights are certainly attention grabbing, but people who slag off highlights are probably not so comfortable drawing any sort of attention to themselves. They suffer from the Irish syndrome that means they hate having their photographs taken and clam up in front of video cameras. Good for them, but don't resent my lack of insecurity.
I don't always have highlights in my hair. I get them done occasionally. I enjoy being a bit adventurous and believe that change is good.
I can understand those guys who are comfortable with the same haircut and wear the same clothes all the time, but I believe their conservatism is born of a lack of belief in their ability to carry off different styles.
My redheaded friend might consider this point: we actually have a lot more in common than he imagines. When people mock "gingers" or guys with highlights, they are doing it for basically the same reason: it's different. It's not what they're used to. It marks someone out as being more of an individual, whether by birth or choice. And I'm all in favour of more individuality.
Gerry Mahon