Old Folks Of ILX: How Did You Go Grey?

i have two at least.

But a few months ago, I decided to stop plucking and see how bad it got. My three hairs grew long and wiry and luxurious. And then started breeding. I thought they were just along my parting. But last night I started poking underneath my hair and found LOADS MORE!!! All over the place! Really long ones, not just the short post-plucking crop! Where did they come from?!?!?

(This was also possibly around the time I stopped highlighting my hair - so it's entirely possibly I just noticed them more, as they stand out more amoung light brown hairs than bleach blonde hairs. This is the first time I've had my natural hair colour predominate for any length of time since about 1983.)

I have none yet, I believe, although when I saw my ex on Saturday she tried to claim otherwise. "Look! There's one! Aha!"

(not the same woman, btw)

But she was laughing at me complaining about my grey hairs, saying "Hair comes from your father's side, and he's grey as Gandalf, the old hippie, ha ha!"

God, going grey after a night on the piss sounds just like something else my mum would come up with to try and persuade me not to go to Alkyhell.

So, just to spite him, my hair first developped its grey bits while he was breaking up with me, hah!

I'm not under any stress at the moment! Quite the reverse.

Ah well, it's probably just natural aging.

Bah, stupid double standard.

I disagree - it can look really good

pfft:

http://www.timezones.it/Patti%20Smith%20-%20Leibovitz.jpg

Melanin, a chemical produced by specialized cells within each hair follicle, is responsible for giving hair color. Different types of melanin are responsible for different types of hair color—eumalinin for brown or black hair and pheomelanin for yellow or red hair. The type of melanin an individual has is controlled by pigment cells that are, in turn, determined by genes. As we age, the pigment cells at the base of our hair follicles stop producing melanin; without the chemical, our hair turns white.

The body has no central source for melanin, such as a gland; the chemical is produced for each strand of hair: This is why hairs tend to go gray individually.

Researchers have yet to come up with a definitive reason why our hair follicles stop producing melanin. Tobin has found that gray hair follicles still contain melanin's building blocks, melanocytes and melanosomes, though not melanin itself.

It has been suggested that over time, free radicals damage these pigment-producing cells. Free radicals, which are produced by various metabolic processes within our body (including melanin production), can cause DNA damage. Tobin dismisses this argument, though, claiming that the melanin-producing cells have well-developed methods of purging themselves of free radicals.

According to Tobin, there is no strong evidence that you can do anything to retard the onset of gray hair. The process generally takes place over many years, though an extremely rare disease called telogen effluvium gives the appearance of going gray overnight. Sir Thomas More and Marie Antoinette were both afflicted by this condition. The disease causes all of a person's pigmented hair to fall out, leaving only gray hairs in place.

Though the onset of gray hair differs greatly from individual to individual, it generally happens at around age 30 in males and age 35 in females.

(though that may be why my hair is much more ginger now than it was when it was younger - the eumalinin for brown or black hair producers gave out before the pheomelanin for yellow or red hair.)

but anyway i think grey looks cute on both male and females.

I wish it would sneak up on me :(

xpost - so is the grey actually noticeable in your hair? my dad had sandy blonde/light brown hair, and i never noticed him going grey, it just sort of blended in. all of a sudden it seemed he was completely grey... it was only then i realised he'd been greying for years. i take after my mum who has really dark hair - and started going grey at 20 so has been dyeing it her whole life.

I have no grey hair and am not balding.

Yay me.

I probably only noticed the ones on top because of their texture - they stick up curly rather than lying flat like my well behaved non-sinister hair.

x-post

I'm more concerned about my rogue white eyebrow hair, that seems to have forgotten how to stop growing when it reaches the same length as the rest of my eyebrows. I've had that for a few years.

i'm less psyched myself about the way hair sprouts from my ears and my fricking back, since i turned thirty. this is disgusting!

I tried this morning and lost track! Argh!

That said, there was the most GORGEOUS silver haired man on the train this morning. He was lovely. And wearing this big grey coat all pulled up to his ears with velvet lining. His eyebrows were still dark though, which made him look younger, but still.

Yeah, I met your chalet mates at ATP :-)

Can someone please to explain me why I have full-length grey hairs when I dye my hair? I dye my hair, it's all nice dyed colour, couple of days later = proper grey hairs in the middle of it all? Does hair dye just fall off some random grey hairs or something? Does this happen to other people? Or is my greyness just making a super-determined break for freedom?

i've got tons of white hair. i'd estimate maybe 15%?

This is what I'm afraid of. I honestly can't tell if I have any grey or not. When I taught English comp one of my students asked me out of the blue in front of the whole class "Is your hair grey?" and to my distraught look a nice girl student chimed in: "No, it's not. It's just the way the light is hitting it."

I like mine, too. Noticed the first one when I was 23 or so, and they're still not visible from afar, but they're coming in gradually. I suspect that if I grew my beard back, I'd have quite a few on my chin.

I used to dye my hair, but it is a pain to keep up with, but I suppose in a few years I will start wanting to cover the greys since they seem to be slowly appearing. I'm probably too vain to not.

I've got some in the temples and I'm hoping this is what happens to me.

I'm no longer interested in dyeing my hair for fun or beauty but must regularly dye it my natural color b/c of the gray (which against my very dark hair is basically white.) I like the idea of being fashionably premature gray but until I stop rocking the vans and hoodies I don't think I could pull it off well. boo.

My main problem being that my grey hairs grow straighter than my black ones so they're way more obvious.

Emmylou Harris to thread

Ailsa: Yeah, I met your chalet mates at ATP :-)

Haha, I think if I acquired any grey hairs due to ATP it was most likely your cider that did it!

Ps stone monkey, shouldn’t you be working?

But then a freezing cold blast of wind persuaded me from that idea!

I'm not really sure what I'm going to do about the dyeing issue.

I have grown to really like my natural colour for the first time in my life, so I don't really want to change it. Maybe I could tint the grey hairs a slightly lighter version of my natural colour, in the hopes that it doesn't alter the overall effect too much.

I remember, living with The Dirt Queen, who was very proud of her almost totally grey head of hair, that she was only a couple of years older than me - i.e. in her late 30s, not her early 40s as I'd have guessed. Despite the good condition of her skin and face, her grey hair really aged her.

An ex colleague's girlfriend had a grey streak right across her head. Her family kept asking her why she didn't dye it, but she thought it was cool. She was right.

I should...But I'm not.

The younger brother of my best mate has actually been dyeing his grey since his early 20s. I really can't be bothered with it, I just keep my hair short.

I have just sprouted my first GREY EYEBROW HAIR!!!

That was very quick, as I did not have it last Saturday when I was trying on new glasses.

I dare not pluck it, as I've not got much in the way of eyebrows to start with. My eyebrows are very blonde anyway, so I'm hoping that it doesn't stick out too much. But if any more happen, Something Must Be Done.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/38042000/jpg/_38042095_alistair_darling.jpg

Wheee...

Me, too! The over all effect is that I like my hair color now more than I did when there was no gray. I might dye it eventually, but for now I'm curious as to what it will look like with the gray. Plus I have no faith in my willingness to keep up with my roots. Plus fuck the patriarchy.

I'm pretty sure when I become pregnant the gray will reign. If I can hardly bring myself to cover it up now the chore will fall off my list altogether once other priorities present themselves.

So I think that if you want an excuse not to dye your hair, you've got it. If anybody gives you a hard time you can say that you are doing it because you CARE about your BABY. And then throw your drink in their face.

hahaha!

ah starski, streaks our nice but when it turns to just all over, well, that's usually a different story.