Want to join silver fox club? Invest in your time, cash

 Idris Elba

This week, one of my girlfriends sent me an image that helped warm up a cold July morning. The image, which has since been widely circulated, was of British actor, Idris Elba on the cover of Essence magazine. Based on his impressive portfolio of work, there is no doubt that Idris Elba is a great actor. He also has other good attributes like his English accent, his good body and a nice sounding name (the kind of name that would sound even better coming after the Mrs initial).

However, the ultimate Pièce de résistance is the fact that he is a good-looking silver fox. At only 44 years of age, Idris is spotting the right amount of grey speckles of hair (on his head and moustache) to qualify to be one of the hottest silver foxes on the planet. For those who may not be in the know, a silver fox is a man who is greying well and who owns his grey.

I know many men this side of the Sahara who, either possessed by some amount of vanity or idiocy, go to great and ridiculous pains to mask the fact that age has caught up with them and they are now grey. They spend lots of money and effort caking and baking their hair with black dye in an attempt to show the world that they are spring chicken.

The result of these efforts is hair that is too black, too shiny and that is usually out of sync with the rest of the men’s bodies. It is somewhat tragic and yet comical to find these men often with super black hair, with necks that have sagging skin and the gait of a pensioner. In this country, many men who hold public office subscribe to the dye-till-I-die philosophy; a philosophy which ends up turning respectable looking men into clowns albeit with super black hair.

Recently, we have seen men increasingly embracing their grey with great results because suddenly silver foxes are in. However, there a few attributes that define the ultimate silver fox. For one to qualify to join the silver fox club, he must be in the right age bracket. Usually men join this club from the ages of mid-40s to at most 60.

Eye candy

It is often assumed that a man who greys at 45 is still youthful enough - only that his hair has chosen to age faster than his heart. The perfect eye candy for most women is a man who has been blessed with a baby face yet has a nice sprinkling of grey hair. Any man over 60 who is greying is not considered a silver fox - he is just a pre-geriatric. To be a true silver fox, a man must also have some other admirable attributes to work with. Grey hair since time immemorial has been known to be synonymous with wisdom and experience.

Therefore any man aspiring to be a silver fox must also ensure that he displays the requisite amounts of wisdom and maturity. There is no use in being grey then having childish habits like getting into bar brawls or making attempts at speaking the latest version of Sheng in an attempt to sound young.

Men who want to join the elite silver fox club must also invest a fair amount of time and energy working on the rest of their bodies.

This means working on their abs and getting rid of any sagging or expanding waistlines. Grey haired men with potbellies are not considered silver foxes-instead they are labelled sugar daddies with all the bad reputation that comes with this title. Silver foxes must be well groomed at all times with all their hairs neat and well-trimmed, and they must invest in the right wardrobe for their bodies. Nothing is sexier to a woman than a lean mean silver fox wearing Bespoke.

Just like in all other situations, brokenness and silver fox do not go hand in hand. A true silver fox who wants to court female attention and command male envy must ensure he has a good wallet to complement his grey hair.

No matter how good your grey looks, no matter how fine your body looks, if you are broke you are nothing but a scrub with grey hair. So if you want to win as a silver fox, take care of your body and your bank balance and the babes will follow.

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