In 44 days,flecks of grey begin to show

But so soon? “I started noticing it toward the end of the campaign and leading up to inauguration,” says Deborah Willis,who,as co-author of Obama: The Historic Campaign in Photographs,pored through 5,000 photographs of the first head over the last year.

Obama’s greying is still of the flecked variety,and appears to wax and wane depending on when he gets his hair cut,which he does about every two weeks. His barber,Zariff,takes umbrage with bloggers who claim Obama,47,is dyeing his hair. “I can tell you that his hair is 100 per cent natural,” Zariff said. “He wouldn’t get it coloured.”

For a guy who prides himself on projecting a stress-free demeanor,the changes above his temples are speckled evidence that perhaps the psychological and physical strains of the job are in fact taking something of a toll.

With the economy struggling,two wars raging and countless other pressures facing him,the President is likely to see additional signs of wear and tear in the mirror each morning.

“Presidents age two years for every year that they’re in office,” said Dr Michael F Roizen,co-founder of RealAge,a website that tells you how much older your body really is.

Rapidly lightening locks are just one sign that the job is getting to America’s presidents.