US President Barack Obama’s reply to a Cambodian student asking for some wise advice was, ‘First of all, don’t call me old’. The President said his rapidly greying hair was less an age-related effect than having to do with the stress of being in the Oval office.

He jokingly took a shot at other world leaders too, saying at least he did not dye his hair. Obama said he wouldn’t take names but he knew some of the leaders coloured their hair. ‘They know’, he said, ‘and their barbers and hairdressers know’, but Obama wasn’t going to spill the beans.

The President had a full black head of hair when he first took office in 2008, but seven years down the line, he’s gone significantly grey.

Former US President Ronald Reagan was spotting a jet-black mane well into his seventies, and Gerhard Schroeder, former German Chancellor, was also rumoured to have a dyed coiffure. Exposure annoyed him so much that he threatened to sue a news agency. These secrets, however, remain with their hairdressers till their ‘dying’ day.