Men Step Out Of 'Hair-Colour Closet' In Quest For Eternal Youth

• 61% of men and women surveyed want to stay youthful-looking as long as possible
• 66% of women said men should spend as much on grooming as they do
• 73% of men said they would not be embarrassed if their partner bought them a home hair colourant for them to try
• Only 4% of men would be embarrassed to admit they coloured their hair

Men are no longer willing to grow old gracefully according to a recent survey by MORI for Daniel Galvin, the hair colour specialists. Instead they are taking a few leaves out of their partners' books and are reaching for the hair colour bottle.

Until now, grooming has been the sole province of women. But this survey, in which almost 2,000 men and women were interviewed, demonstrates that men want to do something positive about their looks. Looking younger as a result of colouring away their grey hair appears to boost men's confidence and improves their image at work.

For years women have been working on the principle that looking good makes you feel good. Women want to sharpen up the image of their men and believe that men should invest as much in looking good as they do (66% were in favour of this). But women, it seems, are pushing on an open door because the obsessive grooming habits of today's men mean that they are even prepared to consider that hitherto most taboo of options - colouring their hair in the battle against ageing. One in five men are already hooked into self grooming - the most highly groomed being the young and single and those living in the North-East.

These days buying a home hair colourant is unlikely to cause a household row as this survey shows. Almost three quarters of the men interviewed revealed they would not be in the least bit embarrassed if their partner came home with a hair colourant for them to try. Because the majority of women still tend to do the household shopping they are clearly in a strong position to influence the men in their lives on the grooming products that they use.

Overall, three in five men in the survey emerge as serious self groomers. Whether it be hair gel, designer clothes or the use of cosmetics, the modern man is confident about looking good and no longer fears the ridicule of his partner by revealing that he colours his hair. In the past men might have been tempted to do nothing about their grey hair because they feared being regarded as less than 100% masculine. But this has clearly changed because over half of the men and women interviewed agreed with the statement that dying your hair makes a man no less sexy than those who don't (54%).

Although a lot of men still have a problem with using make-up (seven in ten men who would or do colour their hair would be embarrassed to say they wore make-up), only one in 25 would be embarrassed to admit that they coloured their hair - the same proportion as those who would be embarrassed to say they were in love.

Daniel Galvin, the hair colour specialists, have an interest in discovering more about the men's hair colourant market. A brand new men's home hair colourant - Totally Natural - has just been launched as part of the Daniel Galvin hair colour range. Smartly packaged in modern, chrome-coloured tubes that men will be proud to display on the bathroom shelf, Totally Natural is quick and easy to use.

This revolutionary new product is specially formulated to disguise grey without altering the hair's natural colour. With exclusive distribution through larger Boots the Chemists nation-wide from early April, Totally Natural joins the rapidly growing UK men's grooming market - estimated to be worth £557 million in 1998*.

*Source: Mintel Report into Men's Grooming Habits, June 1998

Technical details

The survey was conducted by MORI on behalf of Daniel Galvin among a representative sample of 1,978 adults aged 15+ in Great Britain. Interviews were conducted face-to-face from 5-8 February 1999. The data were weighted to the known population profile.