Black or Gray?

A cute reality show that's available for streaming is The Village Barber. Korean Celebrity and movie star, Park Bo-gum, got his barber's license while performing mandatory miitary service. For reasons beyond my understanding he and 2 of his close friends (also Korean Actors) decide to open a Barber Shop in a small, rural village. One friend got his nail tech license and the other learned how to make Bungeoppang to serve to their prospective clients. (A popular Korean cake snack shaped like a fish.) I suppose it's kind of like 'giving back to your community' but in this case it's filmed and broadcast to the greater world.

Park Bo-gum as a Barber

Kwak Dong-yeon, Bogummy, & Lee Sang-yi

The interactions these three actors have with the locals is fascinating. They are uniformly friendly, courteous, and accommodating. They have great rapport with the seniors as well as the young kids in this community. And all three diligently try to do their 'best' when cutting hair, doing nails, or making food.

Can you imagine having a movie star shampoo your hair? Well, sign me up!

However, (you knew that was coming, didn't you?) the thing I noticed is the hair dying. Almost No One in Korea lets their hair go gray naturally. Even 90+ year old women get their hair dyed black to avoid looking too old! Really? At 90 you care about that? In contrast to Korea everyone I know in the US has stopped dying their hair & seem pretty happy about it.

Do we look older than Koreans? Well, I suppose we might; but who cares? I'm perfectly okay having gray hair - well actually, I prefer the term silver - it's kind of a badge of honor. I've made it this far and don't intend to stop so why bother with dye? ~ Judy

To defend my Asian friends who still color their hair, I get it. Totally. Going from black to grey/white can be a shock. You kind of look like the Olympic gold medal winner, Alyssa Liu, but you’ve got FIFTY years on her! Judy, you went from mousy brown (ooh, I’m going to hear about this!) to grey, and no one really noticed. When I started to sprout grey hair, it came in like a man, just around the temples. My good buddies who are Asian start putting in highlights that are more red than their natural hair color, and they look great. More power to them for keeping it on the down low! ~ Pat

Pat, I said I prefer the term silver...