Black with blond hair

[ClassicAim]

Hello everyone,
So the strangest thing happened today, I was playing with my naturally black hair and I found one blond hair. I dyed my hair ends red a while ago so I thought it must be that but on closer inspection it really is blond looking the entire way. I showed my boyfriend and my friend and their verdict is that I'm going gray. I don't think so because my parents both have a little bit of grey and my grandma was fully gray and it was gray not blondish, plus I'm 19. I'm curious as to what you guys think :)

I cant figure out how to upload pictures from my computer so I put them on my pinterest:
https://www.pinterest.com/asantsewa/lhc/

So sorry for the bad quality of the pictures but they were the best I could do

[StellaKatherine]

My aunt started to get gray at age of 16. So it can happen at any age really. As I know grays can be blond.

[ClassicAim]

StellaKatherine - It may be a gray then, I didn't know it could be blond until today!

[MINAKO]

I had single grey hairs at 14 and also a few blonde and copper ones in my otherwise black hair. Its really just lack of pigment by coincidence sometimes. That doesnt mean your haircolor will change anytime soon. Im 26 now and still have those hairs growing in the same spots of my head although they must have been shedding multiple times, the number however did not increase.

[Larki]

Interesting, it does look blonde! I wonder how I'm supposed to know when I start getting grey hairs. ;) Seems like they'd all blend in.

[ClassicAim]

MINAKO - I'm glad to know its fine :), Do you think the rest of the hair will eventually go gray instead of blond? :)

[ClassicAim]

Larki - hehehe :) I was very shocked when I found it because I'm african and I didn't know my hair could be blond in any way. I haven't got this genetically tested but on my mums side a few generations back there was a european man so that may have something to do with it

[MINAKO]

Nobody can tell you at this point what your exact shade of grey will look like along with aging. Somepeoples hair looses all the pigment while other peoples hair always stays in the salt and pepper range with alot of variation between individual hairs. However i dont see this as the same thing as this doesnt have to be age related at all. Think of how freckles or scars can be differently pigmented then the rest of the skin, it also happens to hair in rare cases i think.

[ClassicAim]

MINAKO - Ahh, I understand now :) I wonder if i'll find more in the rest of my hair over time (I'm too lazy to look now, plus its so tangled)

[Nique1202]

I can say that my (med-dark brown) hair is definitely going blonde with age instead of grey or white. It's not buildup, it's not the products I'm using after washing, and the hairs aren't just blonde natural highlights because they're MUCH coarser than the rest of my hair. I noticed the first one when I was 22, I think? But I've definitely known people who got their first age-hair much younger than that. There's no telling if they'll ALL come in blonde, or if they'll just start blonde and go white or grey after, or if they'll come in in a mixture of colours, unfortunately. You'll just have to wait and see.

There's also the tiny possibility that someone way back in your ancestry carried a gene for blonde hair (or there was a random mutation somewhere along the way) and that a couple of strands on your head are expressing that instead of the black hair gene. A lot of lighter haired folk have a few black hairs interspersed, so it must surely work the opposite way, too, sometimes.

[Hairkay]

I've got a cousin who has what appears to be jet black hair. You'd be surprised to know that he was born with blonde hair. His mother's blonde so he got that from her.

I have a few greys. When I tried my first henna gloss they turned blonde and two strawberry blonde. I found that very amusing. Now I've done henna glosses 6 times so they're copper in the midst of my supposedly jet black hair.

Bro keeps his hair cut very short 1-2mm. It looks funny if he lets it get a bit longer. He's got a mix of 4a curls and what looks like 2-3 type curls that appear as straight ones that stick right up amongst the curls. 4s come from mother, 2-3s from father.

[endlessly]

Honestly, I think that's very normal. Starting at 16, I had one hair that grew in completely white and no matter what I've done - plucking it (ouch!) or coloring it - it will either grow back just as white or not take any color. Plus, it's one of those super ridiculously thick hairs that hurts like hell if you try to pull it out.

As I've gotten older, I haven't noticed any other strands becoming white, just in that one spot and I think it has something to do with that particular hair follicle not producing pigment anymore...or something more scientific sounding! All in all, don't worry about it. I've also heard that changes in medication, diet, even stress can cause this to happen to hair, so it could be caused by something like that, too.

[DweamGoiL]

A lot of teens get a handful of greys/light blonde hairs scattered about, but since they are so few, they blend in unless you really look for them. It's perfectly normal and it does not mean you will start immediately going grey...that won't most likely happen until your late 30's-40's.

[ClassicAim]

Nique1202 - thats very interesting that your hair is going blond, It would be kind of cool if my hair went fully blond but I think gray would be more natural. Its really nice to know a similar thing may be happening to us. However, there is a chance that a few generations back on my mum's side there's probably a European ancestor so that may be it.

[ClassicAim]

Hairkay - my brother was born VERY pale but got darker as he got older. And at the front of my head I have maybe 3/4 strands of 2a almost straight hairs. It's nice to know that this isn't totally unusual. But I don't think it came from very recent family though, there may have been a European on my mums side a few generations back.

[JadedByEntropy]

The darker hairs tend to turn a brighter gray/white. if maybe its not a blue-black and more brown-black then it should turn blonde because the undertones stick around a lot longer than the main color does.

[ClassicAim]

endlessly - Nice to know its normal :) It was quite a thick hair. I was moderately impressed by its thickness actually

[ClassicAim]

DweamGoiL - I'm quite glad to know I'm not going to go gray immediately :).

[ClassicAim]

JadedByEntropy - Ahhh, so it goes fully gray eventually? :)

[Hairkay]

Hairkay - my brother was born VERY pale but got darker as he got older. And at the front of my head I have maybe 3/4 strands of 2a almost straight hairs. It's nice to know that this isn't totally unusual. But I don't think it came from very recent family though, there may have been a European on my mums side a few generations back.

I was born extremely pale with just one curl. The nurses had difficult time realising that I was my mother's child. Eventually the rest of the curls came and so did my colour gradually over the years. Since that happens a lot in the Caribbean mother was not surprised and knew I may darken with the possibility of more curls. It's just many people in the UK (not just the caucasian ones either) just assumed black people are born exactly one skin tone and remain that way throughout life. The hair also confused them. When big sis was born mother proudly showed her off and a couple asked why she hadn't got an afro. She didn't have even a single curl then. Mother told them that she's new born, give her time. They then showed her their new born who was already sporting an afro. Mother was surprised because she'd thought all afro's needed time to come in. My niece is the only one I've witnessed who is remained exactly the same skin tone from birth (medium brown) and she had this cute little curly fro going. It's great there's so much variety.:)

[Nadine <3]

I found one white hair on my otherwise all black cat once, so I don't think it's all that weird. I found a black hair on my otherwise blonde friend once too.

[ClassicAim]

Hairkay - it is great theirs so much variety :) most of the people I know where born their adult color or close with an afro. I was born with straight hair that got curlier as a grew. It would be interesting to find out why this is so :)

[ClassicAim]

Nadine <3 - glad to know its not strange :D! Maybe one day I'll look at my friends hair (with their permission of course) and see if I fine something similar

[KittyBird]

I think that's pretty awesome! I've found both black and auburn strands in my hair when it was blonette, and nowadays I sometimes re-discover them when I'm too lazy to henna and let my roots grow really long. :D

[omidaverde]

I'm a ginger and at the back of my head underneath I have a small patch of pure blonde... so when I tie my hair up it looks thick on top and thinner underneath haha. So it is definitely possible to have more than one hair colour!

As a side note I think stress can trigger grey hairs - my OH had a serious accident and after he recovered he began getting a few grey hairs, but he hasn't gone grey completely.

It could just be a random stray blonde-grey hair though! :)

[Nanna]

This is very interesting! My overall colour is strawberry blonde, but I've always had hair in all different reds from palest nearly translucent ones to thick strong dark reds, and I have got three black hairs.. ahem.. down there. Despite that, I have always sort of thought that dark brown and black hair is all one colour, and when I've found pale hairs in their heads, I just thought they were going grey. I'll have to start telling them they have interesting variations in their hair colour!

[Sharysa]

Yep, I'm Filipino (born in America) and I've found a couple of really blonde/red hairs amidst my normal pitch-black hair. I have the odd white/gray hair now and then, but the first time I found blonde, it weirded me out.

I figured it was either sun-bleaching or a really unusual gray.

[nakima]

were any of your ancestors blonde? my hair has always been blonde now grey/white but every now and then I find a beautiful thick black hair. I just figure it comes from my grandmother who was part native american and had very pretty black hair :)

[Arctic]

Even if it's not genetics, I think we all have few crazy hair follicles in our heads :D I'd say it's perfectly normal, even expected! These confused follicles are kind of fun!

[ClassicAim]

KittyBird - glad to know it happens on both ends of the spectrum :)

omidaverde - I have been under a lot of stress lately, maybe it does have something to do with it x.

Nanna - interesting :) down there... is blue black while my head hair is red black :)

Sharysa - I think mine is an really unsusal gray rather than sunbleached because its really within my hair and my hair isnt really exposed to sun there (until recently i was the queen of ponytails)

[ClassicAim]

nakima - my family thinks that on my mums side a few generations back there was a European, I haven't gotten it tested genetically but I would like to at some point. Where I come from is coastal west Africa and both my parents towns have had a European influence/ castles/ trading posts for over 300 year so there may be a littler more European ancestor further back but who knows? (until I get that genetic test that is :p )

Arctic - Yeah they are :), this blond hair and my few 2a-c hairs i have in the front of my otherwise 4a hair is also amusing :). Its nice to find something a little interesting and out of the ordinary

[spidermom]

I'm the other end of the spectrum. I have mostly blonde or silver wavy hair, but I've found a few very dark, very tightly curled hairs growing out of my head over the years, along with other colors and textures. It looks like a very different genetic message is informing some of my hair follicles, maybe yours as well.

[sarah.j.xx]

Ha, that's funny! Although, I 've found some very light brown hairs among my nearly black hair, so I think it's pretty normal. :)