Grey Haired Seniors - A reason to get those passport renewals early

My husband not only has light grey, almost white hair, he also has a definitely white mustache, and is very fair skinned. His global entry and passport photos are very hard to see. Oddly enough, when we renewed our passports a couple of months ago, his photo was accepted. Frankly, we were surprised. And pleased.

Here's hoping your second attempt works.

Sounds like they might try calibrating the new-fangled cameras at the post office’s passport unit.

I wonder what is going to happen when the Artificial Intelligence in the machines at airports goes rogue and tells the officers 👮‍♂️ at the desks the passport cannot possibly belong to the person using it because the hair color has changed?!

I had the same problem renewing my driver's license. I always looked so underexposed. (My hair isn't grey even). Even the one they chose is pretty washed out. I blame the cameras they use.

Well, you have given this senior one more reason to keep coloring her hair. It is almost that time and I do keep putting it off. Do it at home and I hate the mess but love the final results.

I need to have my passport renewed after my next cruise.

Last time, I went to a Passport Renewal Service which took my pictures and helped me fill out my forms.

One more tip. If you state that your hair is whatever color, make certain that it is that color when you travel. I state that it is dark brown on my D.L and passport so when I fly, it is colored dark brown. I never let it grow out but suspect that I am mostly all grey

Between travel, I am more adventurous with color like Feria Violet which gets me lots of compliments.

Wow, I’m sorry this happened to you. I was very worried that my Walgreens photo would be rejected for a similar reason, my gray hair (worn in a low ponytail) totally blended into the background and when they did a little photoshopping to adjust the exposure … my hair turned green! I had several months between my application and next trip so I sent it off with some trepidation but figured there was time to amend the photo if rejected.

Apparently, green hair is acceptable. Now, I have a valid passport, even if I do look like I’m on my way to a punk rave.

Jane, I am guessing it is the luck of the employee draw. Another worker may have approved my photo. Bostonphil, too funny about having to match the passport photo. That is something I have never had to worry about. Started turning grey at 21 and just let nature take its course. Jens, I may choose somewhere that can do some photoshopping if this second attempt fails! Fingers crossed.🤞

You don’t even have to leave home. Take a selfie with appropriate background and go to Wal-Mart on line. They’ll print it out at correct size and you can either pick it up at the store or have it mailed to you. Costs only $7.64. That’s what I did last time I renewed my passport.

Kathy,
Fully white-haired senior here. I renewed my passport last year, as well as my driver's license. I also got an International Driver's Permit which needed a photo. The D/L picture came out fine, even with a white background. I had my passport and IDL photos taken at AAA, and they check it with you to see if you approve. Background was white there as well, and the photo came out fine. I am guessing it is the camera. At one time my Costco card photo was as you describe. It was practically a field of white with dark spots for two eyes and a mouth. When I lost that card a couple years after getting it, and got a new one, the photo was more normal....there was a head in it!
Try AAA next time. The pictures cost about $20.00.
Good luck!

I went to AAA for my photo and because my hair is white the photographer set the background to a greyer white rather than the stark white. My photo was accepted, but it does look weird with so little contrast between me and the background. I think I wore a black turtleneck.

My hair is mostly white Grey.
I used CVS photos, attached them to the completed paperwork which I got from the State Department Website. I paid for expedited service and I mailed them at the Post Office using Priority Mail , just before Thanksgiving and received them in 2 weeks. No fuss. Easy

I see people at my local Post Office standing in line to get their passport renewals . I don't see any advantage for any senior renewing their passports.

My hair is grey but when I received my renewed passport, the scanned image from the one I sent them, showed my hair as a light shade of blond. LOL! Thank you State Department!

I'm surprised the agents can see me in my passport photo. I basically fade into the background. But it's been acceptable when traveling.

I fully embraced my gray hair in my mid-50's and now it's past gray to white. That is interesting what they said about the blue shirts! I almost always wear blue for my photos. I renewed my DL this summer but they have a blue background. I just looked at my passport which I did in Jan of 2020 and wore a blue shirt with a gray quarter zip on over it. My hair does blend into the background. I always make sure I put on eyebrows and lips for my pictures. I normally wear glasses so you can't see my eyebrows and I never wear lipstick any more so that I have to think about.

FYI it’s not true that your hair color you currently have has to match the color on your passport. In my passport photo I have dark brown hair. I quit coloring at the beginning of covid and it’s essentially white now, except some natural dark hair that is underneath in the back, so no one would see it unless my hair was up. I have had 3 trips to Europe between 2022 & 2023 and no one has batted an eye when my passport photo doesn’t match my current color. The same with my drivers license.

Thanks, Phillip. I am taking the photo at home next time. MA Traveler, I live in a small rural community. There is no line at the Post Office. I would wait longer at CVS 😄.

The popular look for men nowadays seems to be from watching episodes of Vikings. You know, shaved head and a beard for the macho, bad-azz look?

At some point the comb-over just looks really bad. Then again, like cowboy hats, not everyone looks good with a shaved head. You don't want the Uncle Fester or Mini-Me look.

That sounds like a big glitch for an AI or facial recognition security system. Perhaps an exploitable one for terrorists and other criminals. Here’s hoping someone in those fields has noticed.

I'm with LizLynwood - to me, I'm hardly there but I've had no problems with it. OTOH, my new driver's license photo is great - I look 10 years younger than four years ago - go figure!

Thanks for the heads up and for the laugh! Straight out of Bombeck!

I've had photos rejected for wearing a white sweatshirt.

My husband & I drove by the Walgreens today, and I commented that it’s my green hair passport photo spot! JenS, I had the same result! They took so many photos of me that kept getting rejected in their passport rules tester. “Open your eyes more.” “Close your mouth.” “Eyes still aren’t open enough.” …..

Finally she said she had one that passed, and she would “improve the coloring so it would pass”. Yep, green hair!

I did have a completely different hair color from my passport when I traveled last year. I changed my brown hair to a pure white, and there were no issues using my passport either domestically or internationally.

Mailed off my renewal on Thursday. It was the first time I listed my hair color as gray and not brown.

VAP, that is a sobering moment. I remember years ago looking up at the man at the drivers license office and asking him, brown or grey? Definitely grey, he answered. Now I am wondering if I should change from grey to white! 🤔

When I applied for my first passport at 22, my college room mate counseled No makeup and casual pony tail. Her theory was that if you had not slept for 48 hours in transit you didn't want to get flagged for passport fraud because the person in the photo was too polished.

I stopped coloring my hair in the covid era, I'm now maybe 40 percent gray
I got my hair cut Friday and the beautician wanted me to check the length near the end of the cut. She was wearing a black shirt and my glasses were off ....... my hair just completely blended in w her shirt and I couldn't see anything

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”Her theory was that if you had not slept for 48 hours in transit you didn't want to get flagged for passport fraud because the person in the photo was too polished.”

Doric8 - LOL! When my adult daughter & I were waiting in line at SeaTac to show our passports on the way home from Europe, I glanced at both of our passports and said, “One of us looks like our passport!” She had the beautifully polished look in her photo and the “I slept in coach” look in person. ; )

I saw a white-haired lady at Wal Mart yesterday. I told her that her hair was beautiful. No, I wasn't hitting on her or anything.

As often as hair color can change, naturally or chemically, why do they even put it on the PP?
My state does not list hair color on the DL any more.

So if I go thru with getting a bright purple dye job as a retirement present to myself, which will not match my Arctic blonde picture, you're saying the border patrol folks could reject me?

Interesting about the background color. My high school colors were purple and white. Purple was the background color for school IDs. My brother's class (1970s) had 1 black student. Dark complexion. All you could see against the dark purple background was his teeth. He smiled for the picture. Otherwise there would have been nothing.

Neither hair nor eye color is annotated anywhere on the passport. For that matter, my drivers license (PA) only states my eye color and my height, but not my hair color. Facial recognition is the key for passport scanning, which does not involve hair color. But does apparently need the face too be distinguishable from the background, hence the use of blue backgrounds for these photos, hopefully a blue that would not be in one's hair.

Um, a blue background for passport photos?

Use a white or off-white background without shadows, texture, or lines.

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/how-apply/photos.html

VAP, that is a sobering moment. 

Kathy, I'm curious, why is it a sobering moment? I tend to view sobering as being serious or a situation being serious and thoughtful. Going gray is just a part of life. Dad was gray in his 30s along with all the other Navy chiefs I grew up around.

"Um, a blue background for passport photos?"

Passport photo was grabbed at Walgreens, set for passports. Light blue background with somewhat darker blue horizontal wavy lines across, completely distinguishable from hair. My driver's license photo center uses a darker blue background, also for Real I.D.

Concerning hair color (and sorry to hijack this thread)...a friend and I want to travel to Europe later this Spring as a celebration for her finishing chemotherapy. Her hair was red, but she currently has no hair and who knows what color/texture it will come back as. It will be very short nonetheless. She has a passport and I assume she will have no issues traveling internationally. Does anyone have any experience with this?

Passport photo was grabbed at Walgreens, set for passports. Light blue background with somewhat darker blue horizontal wavy lines across, completely distinguishable from hair. My driver's license photo center uses a darker blue background, also for Real I.D.

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/how-apply/photos.html

It's pretty clear that the State Department requires a plain white background without lines/texture. I'd be concerned if my local Walgreens were producing unacceptable passport photos.

My husband and I got our passport pictures taken yesterday at Walgreens. No jewelry could be showing, and my long hair had to be pushed behind by ears and down my back - nothing on my shoulders. My husband's white hair actually showed up fine in this picture, unlike the picture he had taken 10 years ago. He made sure to wear a dark shirt! The background is indeed white, but somehow it worked. The application does ask for height, hair color, and eye color. It was a pretty painless process although I've been told I look like a homeless alien in my picture!

Just another confirmation that having gray or white hair in person and darker hair in your passport photo is not an issue. I’ve had my passport inspected at US airports, Schiphol twice and Spain this month with no issues or hesitations.

My passport is brown hair. My hair is now white.

Thanks Gina

Another consideration is the mandate to not wear anything looking like a uniform. I stopped in walgreens on an impulse and was wearing a red t Shirt from Helvetia, a Swiss village in west Virginia. The front simply has a white cross on one side. Fortunately I was also wearing a zip front sweat shirt and Photo Child did not ask me to take that off, at which point we would have read the part about uniforms together from the paper copy I had picked up at the post office earlier and worked on the story problem "what constitutes a uniform?"

Correcting my poist upthread. The IDL was $20.00 at AAA. The photo wasx about $8.00.

Correcting my poist upthread. The IDL was $20.00 at AAA. The photo wasx about $8.00.

I showed my AAA membership card and was not charged for the photos (I received 2, sent one in with the mail-in renewal). BTW it took four weeks from the time my renewal was reported received until the time I received my new passport!

Spent the afternoon finishing my taxes and completed my passport application
Too much federal paperwork for one rainy afternoon, but wanted to take it all to the post office at once.