- Going gray is a natural part of life – even for your favorite celebrities.
- While many people, famous or not, opt to dye their hair, these 23 celebs prove that going gray can look amazing.
- Harrison Ford, for example, has embraced his silver fox status for years.
- Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.
For some, finding that first gray hair can trigger mild existential dread, but these famous figures might have you embracing the new hue.
In fact, many of them look better with this more distinguished hair color – which isn’t even that different from the current trends of going platinum blonde or even “grombre.”
These before and after transformations might convince you to put down the hair dye for good.
Tom Hanks has recently been seen sporting a silver beard.
On the press tour for “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” Hanks has been making the rounds with a brand new silver beard.
Harrison Ford has been showing us what it means to be a silver fox for decades now.
Clearly, age is just a number. Ford reprised his role as Han Solo in 2015's "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," appeared as Rick Deckard again in 2017's "Blade Runner 2049," and is set to once more don his fedora and whip for a new "Indiana Jones" movie sometime soon.
Jamie Lee Curtis has slowly been embracing her natural hair, but she debuted an icy white shade at the 2019 Golden Globes.
For the first few decades of her career, Curtis rocked a reddish-brown hue. But starting in the 2000s, she began embracing her graying hair, and has kept it that way.
"The epiphany came when I was sitting in a hair salon thinking, 'What the eff am I doing putting a chemical on my head that burns?'," she told Everyday Health.
Jon Bon Jovi has switched from brown to gray, and we're into it.
"Yup, I'm the guy who embraced going gray! There are a lot of gentlemen out there whose names I won't mention - and none of them have embraced the real them, have they," Bon Jovi told the Telegraph in 2018. "I'll embrace the gray hair - but I won't become fat Elvis," he continued.
Two decades after leaving behind "Cheers" and a hairpiece, Ted Danson is now everyone's favorite silver-haired demon on "The Good Place."
Before "The Good Place" cemented his silver fox status, arguably Danson's most famous hair moment came during an episode during the 11th and final season of "Cheers," in which his character Sam Malone whipped off his toupee to cheer up Carla (played by Rhea Perlman).
It's almost impossible to believe that Rita Moreno is almost 90 — and dare we say she looks better with gray hair than black.
The EGOT winner says she's lucky she doesn't "look like an old wallet" after all the time she spent in the sun in her youth. "I used to sit in the sun until I looked like a piece of bacon," Moreno told People.
Kyle MacLachlan has been slowly going gray for the past few years, but he is now fully silver.
MacLachlan is mainly known for roles with his trademark jet black hair, but over the last few years, he has embraced the gray.
It's almost impossible to remember a time before George Clooney had gray hair.
Clooney is the prototypical silver fox - handsome, charming, and rocking his natural hair color. In 2014, the Daily Mail reported that he was voted the No. 1 "Man Aging Gracefully" poll.
Bradley Whitford joked that "Donald Trump turned my hair white" during an interview.
Whitford has always been politically outspoken, and during a January 2019 appearance on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," the former "West Wing" star joked that his new 'do was due to stress over the presidency.
Nichelle Nichols has been in the spotlight for almost six decades, and she looks good with both black and silver hair.
Nichols, best known for her role as Uhura in "Star Trek," was 34 years old when the sci-fi show premiered in 1966. She became a huge role model for people of color in both STEM and entertainment, and was even asked by NASA to recruit women and minorities.
Pierce Brosnan has been living the salt and pepper life for a few years.
The former James Bond has been dyeing his hair on and off for the past few years, but just this April decided to embrace his inner silver fox.
It's no surprise that President Obama has gone gray — the job is stressful — but he's rocking it.
The presidency definitely ages you - even Obama himself has joked about his new hair color. We think it makes him look even more sophisticated.
Read more: Before-and-after photos show how dramatically presidents have aged while in office
Steve Carell's gray hair had fans everywhere pleasantly surprised.
He definitely doesn't look like Michael Scott anymore. When Carell debuted this look back in 2017, the internet immediately took notice and declared him a hottie.
His response? "I am so sick of people just looking at me for my physical attributes," he (jokingly) told ET at the premiere of "Despicable Me 3."
Helen Mirren recently transitioned from blonde to white.
As recently as 2015, Mirren was dyeing her own hair a beige shade of blonde. For the past couple of years though, she started transitioning from blonde to a bright white.
However, she's not totally done with experimenting - she debuted a new pink 'do at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
Jeff Goldblum has completely embraced his new professor aesthetic, complete with glasses and silver hair.
Goldblum's luscious black hair was a part of his identity for years, but he's embracing a new look now.
"My hair used to be dark, and now it's salt-and-pepper. I like the way it looks. Luckily it's still mostly there, so this is easy for me to say, but I would hope that if I lose my hair, I'll just roll with it," he told GQ. "When you try to be youthful, it only makes you look older," he continued.
Watching Jon Stewart's hair go from dark brown to salt and pepper to gray over the course of "The Daily Show" occupied us for 16 years.
To watch this transition in high-speed, look no further than this supercut done by YouTuber Billy Chasen, who assembled footage from every single episode of "The Daily Show" and smashed it together in honor of the host's final episodes in 2015.
While Sam Elliott's hair color may have changed, his mustache remains the same.
During a recent stint on "Justified," Elliott appeared without his mustache and looked almost unrecognizable. "It was fun transforming my look, but I did feel naked without the mustache," he told AARP in 2015.
Anderson Cooper is one of the most famous silver foxes on TV.
Cooper admitted on "Live with Kelly and Ryan" that he's not totally cool with his white hair, going so far as to say "I don't really like my gray hair. I wish I still had brown hair. It's not my thing."
He even compared himself to a White Walker from "Game of Thrones," according to People.
We beg to differ, Mr. Cooper.
Diane Keaton went fully gray in 2014 and has never looked back.
Keaton debuted her gray hair at the 2014 Golden Globes, but she's rocked a few different shades over her decades-long career, including both brown and blonde.
Dermot Mulroney showcased his new hair color in his show "Homecoming."
Mulroney has been a part of our lives since the '80s, but is most famous for his role in 1997's "My Best Friend's Wedding" alongside Julia Roberts, Cameron Diaz, and Rupert Everett. He reunited with Roberts in 2013 for "August: Osage County," and then again in 2018 in "Homecoming."
Matt LeBlanc was dyeing his hair black while he was still on "Friends."
Apparently, LeBlanc was going gray as early as the second season of "Friends," in which he played lovable dummy Joey Tribbiani. He shared on "The Late Late Show with James Corden" that he even attempted to dye it himself, but he accidentally dyed his ears black too.
Patrick Dempsey's hair was a big part of his character on "Grey's Anatomy."
In fact, one might have called his hair dreamy. We think that the salt and pepper suits him, especially with the silver streak in front.
Acting legend Glenn Close slays both blonde and gray hair.
Close is still turning in Oscar-worthy performances decades into her career - just look at "The Wife" - and is also breaking boundaries when it comes to Hollywood, sex, and aging.
"I think people don't realize that you keep your sexuality up until you die," she told the Guardian, "I think it's good for kids to see it."
- Read more:
- The reason people go gray in their 20s, according to a dermatologist
- Salma Hayek posted a photo showing off her gray hair, and said she is 'proud' of not dyeing it
- The '10-Year Challenge' has taken over social media, but these 30 celebs don't seem to have aged at all
- 2 forms of exercise are the best way to stave off the effects of aging. Here's how to incorporate them into your life.