The Darker Side of Zac Efron

While many people, celebs included, wait until after the New

Year to get a new hairstyle or change their look, OK! has learned that High

School Musical hunk Zac Efron, without on-off-on girlfriend and co-star Vanessa

Hudgens, was at the Neil George Salon in Beverly Hills

on Monday, getting a jump on his New Year's resolution with a cut and color.

Except, from what salon insiders tell OK!, the new hairstyle wasn't exactly the

Hairspray star's idea.

"He was getting his hair cut for a production," one witness reveals

to OK!. "And the producers were making him color it. Someone from the

production was with Zac, guiding the stylists through it." According to

the witness, they even brought a color sample — a darker brown than fans are

used to seeing on the young star's adorable head — that they're trying to

match.

With the addition of a last-minute low-light job, the 20-year-old spent nearly

four hours in the salon getting color happy and, during his time in the chair,

bumped into famous patrons Michelle Trachtenberg, telling her he can’t wait for

the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie, and Melanie Griffith, with whom he had a

brief and seemingly vocab-challenged exchange.

“She said, ‘You're sooo cute.’ and Zac responded, ‘You're

cute too!’” a witness tells OK!. “And Melanie said, ‘No, but you're so

entertaining!’ and Zac said, ‘You're so entertaining too.’ After Melanie walked

away Zac said, ‘Wow! That was so cool!’”

Not cool was the dearth of guy-friendly reads, forcing Zac to ask, “Don’t you

have any magazines for guys to read?” The answer was “no” and the triple threat

passed time thumbing through women magazines, but don’t read too much into

that.

"He was really cute, nice and not pretentious at

all," the source adds. "I don't think he's gay either."

As of Monday night, Zac hadn't gone public with the new, darker 'do, but OK! is just dyeing for a peek!