Better Call Lochte With the Gray Hair

Charles Hartley, a free-lance writer based in New Jersey, has written more than a thousand published sports articles. He earned Master’s degrees in Business Administration and Journalism. In addition, he was awarded his Bachelor’s degree from Wake Forest University where he majored in English and Communications.

Psychoanalysis: Why Lochte Dyed His Hair Silver

What was swimming through Ryan Lochte’s mind when he decided to dye his hair silver just days before the Olympic Swimming events begin? What were his motives? Is this a publicity stunt? What mental edge was he seeking? What reaction does he want? How calculated was this? Are we reading too much into it?

Probably, but let’s explore these possible reasons anyway.

He’s playing a psychological game with himself and us.

It could be, though we’re unlikely to ever get a straight answer from him, that dying his hair silver is a psychological ploy. He’s worried that he may only get a Silver Medal in the 200 individual medley. The last thing he wants is Michael Phelps beating him again as he has so often does, including in this event at the London Olympics in 2012.

Each time he looks in the mirror between now and that race he will be reminded of how much he doesn’t want the Silver Medal. Gold is his goal. It’s a reminder to him of what could happen if he doesn’t swim his best 200 IM ever. If you’re into jinxes, think of this as a reverse jinx he’s putting on himself. Had he dyed his hair Gold, he would have more likely finished with the Silver. By dying his hair silver, he thinks he has a better chance of jinxing himself out of a Silver and winning Gold. Seems plausible. It’s logical and speaks to the psyche of an athlete.

Let’s not put it past him to just have done this unusual act to make us wonder why he did, to get more people talking about him this week rather than Phelps, whom he’s tired of hearing about. He is seeking a reaction. He wants people talking about him – not Phelps. This move, he theorizes, builds on the considerable mystique he’s been fine-tuning since he became an international swimming sensation.

He’s whimsical.

If Lochte is anything, in addition to being a great swimmer, he is whimsical. Could this just be Ryan being Ryan? There is a very good chance he dyed his hair just because he woke up one morning last week and, while eating pancakes, the thought entered his mind to dye his gray. So he went and had it done. It may be as simple as that. Maybe he didn’t have a reason. It’s possible he didn’t’ think this through much at all. He just felt like it.

He likes colors.

Remember at a previous Olympics Ryan Silver Hair broke out his new line of lime green shoes? No one loved the color more than he did. He called them limes or something like that. It seemed he was promoting the color of the shoes more than the shoes. Did anyone buy a pair?

Like lime green, he may just like the color gray. A lot of people like colors and he may just be another one. He’s colorful so there’s that to factor in. But in his case his passion for colors may be acute because he breaks out colors right before the biggest swimming events of his life. As color conscious as he is, we will never really know if this is all about his color preoccupation because Ryan won’t break this down for us. Don’t expect him to add any color for us to understand this better.

He wants to be an actor.

One day between morning and afternoon swimming workouts he saw the movie “Pretty Woman” and noticed that Richard Gere has silver hair. If Gere could make it to the big-time as a Hollywood star of the screen having silver hair, Lochte figures he can. He has heard that men with silver hair are perceived as older, more distinguished, and rise higher and faster in their chosen professions. Lochte figures by dying his hair gray he can kick start his acting career and land a leading role with actress Julia Roberts.

This article is courtesy of Charles Hartley.