I don't pay any attention to what is or isn't on TV or happening with showbiz people, but a male trend I've seen creeping into popularity is that it seems to be popular and maybe even stylish for a man to have 2 or 3 or 4 days of Five O'Clock Shadow. I don't think it's attractive but I also dislike facial hair of any kind except moustaches. I strongly dislike the look of beards.

Come to your own decisions about what you like.

Blue or green or purple hair also used to be a no-no....ditto with hair with pink tips!! Things change :-) And not always to our personal liking or preference.

I have noticed the dark roots and shaveless faces also. Neither is a look that appeals to me.

The dark roots have been in style for a long time. In the '80's, I travelled a lot with a friend from New Mexico, to the waterlily symposiums every year. She was about 8 years older than me...55 at the time, I think, and a very attractive woman with blond hair that she always wore up and she had brown roots. She told me that was on purpose. I can't remember if she said it was dyed brown before bleaching. I don't know how it was done....I am not a "hair person"....anything more than washing and a haircut is too much for me. I have noticed it all the time since, though. You never see a blond any more without the darker roots.

I agree about the 5 o'clock shadow though. And men who have hair that looks like they just got out of bed and never comb it. I don't get it.

We were just talking yesterday, about it being time for men to start shaving

again. The bearded (or scruffy) look isn't doing anything for them. IMHO, anyway. Haven't noticed much of the "dark roots" stuff...but do agree.

Not only are dark roots a trend, I have a friend with white hair who has her roots dyed dark and ends died blonde. Seems like a lot of upkeep to me.

I like the 5 o’clock shadow/short beard on dark haired men. The lighter, light brown, blonde, gray, just look scruffy.

Look for many females on TV with hair on one side tucked behind an ear. And lots of very long hair (extensions?).

That coloring in the photo is a smidge off - it's brown at the roots and more dirty blonde at the ends. But yes, I swear to you my hair is 100% natural, I don't color it at all.

I never really thought about it before but now I'm feeling pretty bad. :(

patriceny, your hair probably looks just fine and not at all what is being referred to here. Most people with blond hair I have noticed have new growth a bit darker/duller that gets more golden when it grows.

I color my hair and despise when my roots start to grow out! I do spray them brown which blends better than the gray does. I don't care for the blond hair/dark brown roots but it's been around a long time it seems.

As for men's facial hair, big full bushy beards are in here. I'd rather see a scruffy face than the big beards.

I don't think you should feel bad...it seems to be the trend today to have dark roots. My friend that I traveled with was a very pretty woman. Probably her hair color was naturally gray, like mine, but she went to the trouble to keep it up and it looked very nice. It certainly didn't detract from her looks. I haven't seen her in years....she would be around 80 now, if she is even still living. I can't imagine her any other way. She was very tall and well dressed. Great personality, and gorgeous golden hair.

I'm taking my pnoto down and going for a walk.

To think I was feeling pretty good this morning too.

((((((Patriceny)))))). Your hair is fine and that is such a small part of who you are. You are not your hair.

Yeonasky, I love what you said! We forget about that kind of focus sometimes. Yesterday, we had to go out and vote for our provincial election. I hadn’t been feeling well after my zoledronic IV injection and hadn’t styled m,y hair for a couple of days. I was so afraid of running into somebody I know. Of course, we were barely through the door, when we ran into our neighbours! All I could think of was how awful I looked and I bet they could care less.

Thank you Yeonassky, that was very kind. I appreciate it.

As a youngster my hair was light blonde. As I've gotten older it's gotten darker - I'm more of a light or medium brown now. However sunlight lightens it up a lot, and I'm outside a fair bit in the summer. We're coming out of winter here in the Northeast, so the last few months of new hair is brown.

I just grabbed the first photo I could find to illustrate my point that this look that some find so hideous is (or can be) natural - and the first comment basically said wow, your hair is black and red and you expect us to believe that's natural? It even got 1 like before I could get back here to respond. (Someone has since deleted that comment, by the way.....)

You know what I don't understand? Why some women have to be so catty towards other women. I guess that's why I tend to prefer dogs over people. When you treat a dog with kindness, they never roll their eyes at what you look like.

I deleted my comment that offended patriceny. I also deleted my apology. She posted a photo of her hair which appeared bright orange with nearly black roots. I said that I did not understand how that happened from being in the sun. Period. I never said it was hideous or used the word WOW. She later explained that the color in the photo was not accurate. I DID apologize as she took a simple inquiry as a catty remark. She seemed so very upset, I deleted it to end the subject.

I think it all depends on who is wearing that 5 o'clock shadow. I am willing to make exceptions.

Oh oh Marilyn.....what did the mule do?

Oh, she wanted in the pasture with the two fillies, so I decided to let her go in there, because she gets along with all of them and if she was in with them, they would probably go out in the back of the pasture and graze, instead of hanging around the gate. So I opened the gate and tried 3 times to entice her in. She is hard to catch and very much a mule in her manners. Very independent.

So I am trying to get her in, without letting the fillies out, and instead Frosty, the yearling donkey went in there....so the mule never did go in, but now Mama donkey ang big brother donkey, Tramp, are walking the fence wanting in too. It's no big deal, but I need to go out there and entice Frosty back out...if I can do it without the fillies getting out or Mama and Tramp getting in.

Roots showing, unshaven, torn jeans, athletic shoes with no laces - the “living rough” look. Thank you, no. The Queen is my fashion icon!

Just like a bunch of kids, you have your hands full with those mules, Marilyn. Good luck getting Frosty back out.

Elizabeth, I don't think you said anything wrong. On my screen the roots were black and the rest almost orange.. so probably not the best photo. Anyhow, if someone doesn't like my hair, that is fine because I have it a certain way that pleases me.

I hope you feel better after your walk Patriceny. I got my 10,000 steps today and that always makes me feel better.

It is hard to know what people mean when not seeing their faces. I wish our avatars showed our smiling or enquiring looks.

Well, for anyone who has made the decision to let their grow out to its natural color, roots showing and all, Bravo! It’s not easy for a few months. You have to deal with bi-color hair sometimes, or else color your hair first to sort of ‘go’ with whatever it will grow out to be. But any way you look at it, it’s going to look not quite right for a while if not colored.

I had highlights put in when I was growing out a haircolor. It disguised the rootline as the highlights went right to the scalp. I was still self conscious about it but I don't think anyone else really noticed.

I dyed my hair one time. I grayed early and my hair is really white around my face. In no time at all, my roots were showing. I let it grow out and it looked awful for a long time. Dark roots would have been a blessing, but mine were white.

I don't the the "scruffy" look on men. It makes me wonder if they have also not bothered to bathe.

I have about 5" of new hair growth and it's mostly grey. I don't care. If people don't like that I'm growing out my hair, that's on them, not me. I'm tired of colouring my hair. It's killed my hair. It appear so dry (but it's not) and frizzy. The new growth looks a lot smoother. And grey! And I honestly do not care.

Well am going on with my days in the coming weeks out in public with gray roots showing, a swollen eyelid and rash on my face. I have shingles on the upper left quadrant of my head. Don't judge, I am identifying as a fashion icon. ;-)

You know, this reminds me of one of those lists, you know, the "20 things a woman shouldn't wear after age 30" lists.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, it basically goes something like this:

1-20: other peoples expectations.

I'm so glad that our society has started moving away from the obsession over women's looks and the idea that a woman has to be perfectly made up and coiffured to be seen in public.

While the notion hasn't always been applied as strictly to men as it is to women, they have also had to deal with this societally imposed "dress code."

It's, quite frankly, ridiculous.

As long as a person is clean and reasonably covered, why judge them on appearances? Do I personally find tattoo and piercing covered people attractive?

No, but they aren't hurting me or you, the only thing they are hurting is their own chances at survival among a superficial society that chooses to judge people based on appearances.

Similarly, I don't see a woman with her "roots" showing and judge her on it. Who cares?!?!?

Exactly Texas Gem. Very nicely written

I’m sure what follows will be of no interest to anyone but me.

Threads like this always make me sad.

Growing up, the “ideal woman” was Christie Brinkley. Tall, thin, pin-straight shiny blonde hair.

Me? I was short, chunky, and had frizzy kinky hair that was all over the place. So for decades I tried to make my hair look “ideal.” But because I’m blessed with both frizzy and fine hair, chemicals do quite a number on it. I’ve tried relaxers, colors, straighteners.

Doesn’t matter what I’ve tried, I’ve never looked like Christie Brinkley.

I can remember my mother (may God rest her soul), sitting at the kitchen table clucking with her sister about the state of my hair. Gee, thanks mom. I’m a straight A student in honors classes, but yes please let’s focus on my hair.

As I’ve gotten older and looked around, I’ve come to realize we all too often focus on things which literally do not matter. I am done waging a war with my hair. I do the best I can with what God and my genes gave me and that’s just going to have to suffice for everyone else on the planet. But for some reason, women particularly are often so harsh on other women about how they “look.” If you’re interested in wasting a little bit of time, poke around and see what this white woman’s standard of hair has done to our young black girls.

My one big hope is that this standard does seem to be fading. I don’t have children of my own, but in talking with the children of my friends there seems to be much more emphasis on the things that really do matter. Or maybe I’m just deluding myself because the alternative is too sad to contemplate.

I just tried watching a very popular TV series and just haven't been able to help wondering why the female characters seem to be able to wash their hair but not the males? However, haven't noticed any dark roots showing.

That isn't the only thing I have been wondering about that show though!

Right on, Texas Gem. Why is anyone judging women for growing out their hair to a natural color? I just don’t get it. All the stuff we have done to our hair over the years....color, etc, to make us ‘look good’ when really our natural hair color is fine.

I just gaped at a man on TV who was wearing a toupee with a forward comb and moussed 'peak' over his forehead. Glad we were not meeting in person. Have you noticed that studio lights and high def TV highlight the difference between natural hair and a toupee? I guess you need an excellent hairpiece to avoid that look -- maybe it requires a full head wig.

Why do some balding men 'compensate' with ponytails, man buns, or beards? Adding hair 'elsewhere' actually draws attention to the bare scalp. Just be bald! It's OK!

I think that Goldilocks curls (hair extensions) are as laughable as pinafores on mature women.

Sigh! I wish I still had some hair color. My hair has turned light-grey all the way to the scalp. No root concern for me. When my grand-daughter see me, there is no confusion - She address me as grandpa.

I used to color my hair for fun. Just a different look. It wasn't the basis of my self-esteem.