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I have noticed a number of frum guys who appear to be coloring their hair. I don’t recall if it is mutar or assur, In any case, anyone out there who colors his hair, and if so, why, and how do you get it done? I know there is a product called Grecian Formula, which doesn’t color the hair but is a clear liquidt contains an ingredient that restores the hair to its natural color; it is not a dye.
Do you mean color their hair the normal color it was before it was grey or coloring it a crazy color like bleeching it.
No comment.
Just checking in to wonder-
Might there be a correlation between the name of the OP and the observation of the OP?
You have to ask a Shailah. I heard it’s Mutter in some instances.
golfer- I am assuming that you are not from Flatbush. That comment was uncalled for.
I am pretty sure the Rambam says that it is asur but it depends on societal norms. Ask a shailah halacha l’maysah.
just my two cents. people notice too many things about other people.
I am not a Posek, but if he is dyeing his hair to look younger in order to get a wife or for business purposes it may be permissible otherwise not. But ask a posek, he is better informed as to how to answer this question
apushatayid: “just my two cents. people notice too many things about other people.”
Yea, like noticing how other people notice too many things.
Ive seen a lot of brightly colored hair recently, green, orange, red, purple, but never on a frum man.
Was it on a frum person?
Is a woman allowed to color her hair?
Matan 1
A woman can dye her hair.
Flatbusher
If the product is not a dye but just rejuvenates the hair to it’s original color it would be permitted. But since people will THINK that he dyed his hair it maybe prohibited. A posek is needed to decide this matter
Reb Yid
Yes the question is referring to a Frum Male Jew
Considering the fact that the issue is beged isha, yes, a woman is permitted.
I don’t think restoring the original color is any better.
Sorry to disappoint all of you MO mekillim who think this issue is debatable.
The Shulchan Aruch explicitly prohibits this action, see YD:182:6
In addition, Reb Moshe zt”l prohibits even oral medication to achieve the same effect.
See Igros Moshe,YD:82
I was once told by my Rosh Yeshiva, R’ Bender shlita, that what is considered beged ish/isha can change based on societal norms. For example, he told me that pants are no longer considered beged ish. It would seem that since it’s normal for men to dye their hair nowadays, it would be allowed.
“Yea, like noticing how other people notice too many things.”
Sometimes you cant help but notice certain things, like the statement “I have noticed a number of frum guys…”. Personally, I’d be hard pressed to say with 100% certainty the hair color of my Rav, those who sit near me in shul or the yid who owns the local grocery. Sure, if he showed up next shabbos with fire truck red hair, I would notice, but only because his choice of color is screaming out loud “look here!”.
Why? Is there a mitzvah to have gray hair?
No, but that doesn’t mean there’s no issur of beged isha to dye it black.
DaMoshe, that’s true in some cases, not all.
Newbee, if noticing what someone writes on the CR is a problem, we’re all guilty.
If someone is trying to defraud someone whether in business or looking for a shidduch, by dyeing the hair to appear younger, it would seem to be assur. But many young men go gray prematurely. Why should a 30 year old man feel uncomfortable around people, just by virtue of having gone gray 20 years sooner than most? And if he is not married, it can be a real hindrance. And why should someone in the workforce have to compete with younger-looking men, in a place where youth and vitality are prized, and age is devalued?
These are issues that were not as prevalent centuries ago. If someone dyed his hair, it often was for arayos of some type, or Avoda Zara. Not so, today. People just do not want to feel old. A more youthful appearance helps.
oomis, it is muttar for bachelors to dye their white hairs.
and it’s muttar to dye black hairs white.
to dye black hairs white. “
Why would anyone WANT to???????? I knew about the bachelors, 🙂 .
“Newbee, if noticing what someone writes on the CR is a problem, we’re all guilty.”
Yes, but I am not the one who was critical of someone specifically for being critical of others. (Thats how I took the comment)
“just my two cents. people notice too many things about other people.”
I took this to mean the OP was wrong for noticing these things
Old Man
Rav Moshe wrote that answer over 60 years ago. Do you use deodorant, because back then it was prohibited as perfume, for the same reason.
Sixty years ago the elderly were respected now a days it’s the youth that are respected. So at least in business, to get a job or make a sale you need to have a youthful appearance, which is why some people dye their hair.
Abba, where does Rav Moshe prohibit deodorant?
How interesting to see that the participants here are performing figure eights in order to throw out a beferush Mechaber, Rama, and Reb Moshe on the grounds that this halachah is outdated, old fashioned and irrelevant in our modern times. Sounds very much like YCT pick and choose thinking that we all love to despise. I would suggest you all look in the mirror to see your hypocrisy, but alas, the Mechaber assurs that too.
Flatbusher, what do you mean my reasoning? it’s a halachah in Shulchan Aruch, and the Igros Moshe which old man quoted (which I linked) says outright that the medication (vitamins?) which he assered restored the original color.
If you want to be dan the individuals you see l’kaf z’chus, you can assume they did it to get a job, which R’ Moshe is mattir if there’s no ona’ah.
Old man- thank you, I was wondering about that too.
A relative of mine was told he could not dye his grey hairs even after it was given more than once as the reason for rejecting the shidduch. (Personally, I think his grey hairs on him weren’t the problem. I think the girls wanted to believe they were still 20 year olds dating other 20 year olds.)
Old man, I don’t think it’s fair to compare lack of knowledge (CR posters) to deliberate twisting of halachah to fit modern sensibilities (YCT).
Sometimes Halcha does change because of new information, Rav Moshe assured heart transplants because he felt it was murder and there was a low survival rate when this tshuva was written (I think it was from the 1960’s when the operation was just in its infancy)
Syag Lchochma -“A relative of mine was told he could not dye his grey hairs even after it was given more than once as the reason for rejecting the shidduch”
Do the girls reject gray hair in the beard or only in the hair?
I wouldn’t really know.i guess it depends how deep their denial runs.
Color of hair??
I know of someone, in his forties, vigorous, energetic, vivacious, with a complete white beard. His older brother, a slouch, has a few white hairs…
I know of someone who had gray hair in his twenties.
I had gray hair in my 30s. I was told that my father had gray hair even earlier.
I’m skeptical of the idea that Grecian Formula restores the original color. That would imply that the composition of gray hair differs depending on the person’s pre-gray color. A little googling reveals that Grecian Formula smells terrible, contains lead, and you’re only supposed to wash your hair once a week when you use it. Ugh.
I know someone whose hair was white at his bar mitzvah.
“what is considered beged ish/isha can change based on societal norms. For example, he told me that pants are no longer considered beged ish.”
Fedora hats were originally beged ishah (and a political statement in favor of licentiousness) but today they are widely accepted in the frum world.
“assured heart transplants because he felt it was murder”
If you hold that halachic death is anything other than brain death, heart transplant does require murdering the donor.
One concern not mentioned so far: Many hair dyes contain coal tars, which cause cancer.
A huge amount of hair dye product contain chemicals linked to cancer. If you get ‘all natural’ and ‘organic’ hair dye (read: expensive) it shouldn’t be a problem.
I’ve used hydrogen peroxide to bleach my hair, it’s great. Highlights look more natural if done this way instead of using a dyeing kit, and it doesn’t have all that toxic stuff.
And about men going grey young, what about losing their hair altogether? Is it muttar for a man to get treatment to regrow his hair, or is that considered a woman-thing?
Just because it says organic does not mean it does not contain coal tar, a natural substance.
old man: throw out a beferush Mechaber, Rama, and Reb Moshe
A beferush Reb Moshe?? What’s that?
Flatbusher
Beged Isha includes all activities normally reserved for women. The poskim include hair coloring. If you wanted to wax your chest it would probably also fall into this category etc.
When I was in yeshiva I knew two guys that had white patches in their hair. Both asked shaylos about coloring for shiddichum. They asked two different poskim. Both said assur
Flatbusher, why do you assume that it must be assur out of concern that it will come to a different issur?
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