
A quantitative analysis of the graying of Barack Obama's hair - nkrumm
http://pnis.co/h3.html
======
chton
2015 Ig Nobel award for Politics, right there.

I love this kind of 'research'. It's frivolous, but there is an underlying
point about the stressfulness of presidency.

~~~
robert_tweed
I don't think a parody is elibible for an Ig Nobel.

~~~
dimva
This paper was published in HARD PNIS, which is not a parody and uses real
data.

Source: [http://pnis.co/about.html](http://pnis.co/about.html)

~~~
ninjakeyboard
HARD PNIS is serious business.

------
rhizome
I always figured his handlers were just having it dyed less and less to
enhance the "experience" image.

~~~
jfoster
Looking at the photos, it does seem like it may be dyed. There are several
rather gray-looking images, followed by quite dark-looking ones.

~~~
readerrrr
That is probably the result of different lighting conditions. If you look at
the skin you will notice it is brighter or darker as well.

------
lmg643
I was under the impression that presidents dye their hair regularly.

If a politician is too old - dye out some (or all) of the gray. Reagan being
an extreme example - not a single gray hair.

If a politician is young - Clinton, Bush, Obama - add some gray, until nature
catches up.

Gray hair conveys "gravitas" \- age, and experience - exploits a natural human
bias. I'm sure this is focus-grouped to death. This all being in the age of
Color TV and HDTV of course - I doubt Kennedy stooped to this level. Pretty
punishing, and just imagine a 4K picture or better down the road.

------
mijoharas
> (graph) Gray value of Obama’s hair (expressed as % similar to Morgan
> Freeman’s Hair) over time, with annotations of important events. I think
> this line sums up the study best for me.

------
rbanffy
Well... He probably has the crappiest job on the planet...

------
md2be
It's not the stress of his job that is graying his hair it is the fact that BO
continues to smoke cigarettes. shameful (particulry since his major
accomplishment is ACA.)

