Well, that didn’t take long. Just 44 days into the job, and President Obama is going gray.

It happens to all of them, of course — Bill Clinton still had about half a head of brown hair when he took office but was a silver fox two years later, and George W. Bush went from salt and pepper to just salt in what seemed like a blink of an eye.

But so soon? “I started noticing it toward the end of the campaign
and leading up to inauguration,” says Deborah Willis, who, as co-author
of “Obama: The Historic Campaign in Photographs,” pored through 5,000
photographs of the first head over the last year.

Mr. Obama’s graying is still of the flecked variety, and appears to
wax and wane depending on when he gets his hair cut, which he does
about every two weeks. His barber, who goes by only one name, Zariff,
takes umbrage with bloggers who alternately claim Mr. Obama, 47, is
dyeing his hair gray (to appear more distinguished) or dyeing it black
(to appear younger). “I can tell you that his hair is 100 percent
natural,” Zariff said. “He wouldn’t get it colored.”

And for all of his 16 years giving Mr. Obama his “quo vadis” haircut
— black parlance from the 1960s for close-cut locks — Zariff said he is
not about to start ribbing Mr. Obama. “We do not tease about the gray
at all,” he said.

For a guy who prides himself on projecting a stress-free demeanor,
the changes above his temples are speckled evidence that perhaps the
psychological and physical strains of the job — never mind the long
process of winning it — are in fact taking something of a toll.
(Experts say stress can contribute to whitening locks.)

Mr. Obama seems to have noticed it at least as far back as last
summer. “I’ve been running for president for about 19 months now,” he
told supporters at a campaign event in Virginia in August. “Folks are
noticing that I’ve got a lot more gray hair now than when I started.”

But with the economy struggling, two wars raging and countless other
pressures facing him, the president is very likely to see additional
signs of wear and tear in the mirror each morning.

Good Lord. The man is 47 years old. I am quite frankly surprised he did not start getting Gray sooner. Hell, I starting seeing my gray hairs when I was in my early 20’s or so. Did I flip out? For about a second, it was more of a sobering realization that my younger days were over and I was becoming a older man; and that I should at least try and act the part. I’m still working on that. 😉 😛 😀