Texture of gray hair strands different from regular hair strands

[april17]

When I was younger, my hair was fine and thick and smooth and shiny. Since around age 40, when the grays started really coming in, the texture of my hair is still fine and thick, but now it has much more flyaways and the strands are lighter (in weight) and wavier.

My health is pretty good, and I don't think I have excessively damaged my hair in any way. I have been wondering what is the main cause of the texture change. Graying hair being a different texture? Or maybe just the way aging works?

Any similar experiences? Or other threads on this subject?

[Obsidian]

Yep, same thing here. I started getting silvers in my 30's and noticed the different textures right away.
Silvers on the top and back of my head are coarser but the ones around my face and hairline are finer.
Some are smooth but many are just chaotic in their wave/curl pattern.

[pili]

Sparklies are different textures from the rest of my hair.

[Mimha]

Sparklies are different textures from the rest of my hair.

Lol. I love the word "sparklies" ! It is so true : look how mine pop out and catch light in a funny way ! :silly:

http://i1374.photobucket.com/albums/ag408/Mimha/My%20hair/Whities_zpsjbr8u1ia.jpg (http://s1374.photobucket.com/user/Mimha/media/My%20hair/Whities_zpsjbr8u1ia.jpg.html)

I had read somewhere that this funny texture was due to the fact that the white hair is "empty", kind of containing air instead of melanin pigments. I don't know if it's true but the white strands do feel "lighter", weight-wise. I thing personnally that the aging follicule also gets somewhat "crazy" and doesn't build the hair with the same regular shape as it used to do. So it gets weird and crooked... like we do ! :( :lol: :lol: ... Lol : Mimha's theory !^^

[vampyyri]

I had read somewhere that this funny texture was due to the fact that the white hair is "empty", kind of containing air instead of melanin pigments. I don't know if it's true but the white strands do feel "lighter", weight-wise. I thing personnally that the aging follicule also gets somewhat "crazy" and doesn't build the hair with the same regular shape as it used to do. So it gets weird and crooked... like we do ! :( :lol: :lol: ... Lol : Mimha's theory !^^

This is what I've heard as well, that silvers tend to be finer because they're not jam-packed with pigment and are more fragile. They're just a thinner cortex with cuticles on top... but of course I could totally be talking out my bum because I don't have any yet :lol:

PS- Mimha, your sparklies are very pretty!

[lapushka]

I have F hair, and my whites are even finer. If they shed they barely show up in the sink - I hate that. My goodness, what will that be when I get to be more white. I seem to have skipped "gray", and I'm going straight to white.

[Mimha]

This is what I've heard as well, that silvers tend to be finer because they're not jam-packed with pigment and are more fragile. They're just a thinner cortex with cuticles on top... but of course I could totally be talking out my bum because I don't have any yet :lol:

PS- Mimha, your sparklies are very pretty!

Thanks vampyyri ! I find them more funny than pretty, actually. They are not numerous enough to really look like anything yet ! :lol: :lol:



I have F hair, and my whites are even finer. If they shed they barely show up in the sink - I hate that. My goodness, what will that be when I get to be more white. I seem to have skipped "gray", and I'm going straight to white.

Actually, my whites are not finer : on the contrary, they seem coarser, almost wiry. So are my Mom's, whose hair has much more texture now that it is 3/4 white than before (she used to be a F with ultra slippery hair, and now her hair has much more body since it tends to evolve to a M coarsness). When I give a closer look at them, the strands are not cylindrical but have long, curved "flat" zones in them that reflect the ligth like tiny mirrors. So weird !... :D

[pili]

Lol. I love the word "sparklies" ! It is so true : look how mine pop out and catch light in a funny way ! :silly:

http://i1374.photobucket.com/albums/ag408/Mimha/My%20hair/Whities_zpsjbr8u1ia.jpg (http://s1374.photobucket.com/user/Mimha/media/My%20hair/Whities_zpsjbr8u1ia.jpg.html)

I had read somewhere that this funny texture was due to the fact that the white hair is "empty", kind of containing air instead of melanin pigments. I don't know if it's true but the white strands do feel "lighter", weight-wise. I thing personnally that the aging follicule also gets somewhat "crazy" and doesn't build the hair with the same regular shape as it used to do. So it gets weird and crooked... like we do ! :( :lol: :lol: ... Lol : Mimha's theory !^^
Yours really do sparkle!

This is what I've heard as well, that silvers tend to be finer because they're not jam-packed with pigment and are more fragile. They're just a thinner cortex with cuticles on top... but of course I could totally be talking out my bum because I don't have any yet :lol:

PS- Mimha, your sparklies are very pretty!


I have F hair, and my whites are even finer. If they shed they barely show up in the sink - I hate that. My goodness, what will that be when I get to be more white. I seem to have skipped "gray", and I'm going straight to white.
Mine are not finer, they are as coarse as the rest of my hair, but they do not curl. They are more...zig-zaggy? Does that make sense? Like an old phone cord that's been stretched out and no longer spirals. Like Mimha's, they seam to float atop the rest of my hair.

[Arctic]

I have multitextured hair ranging from fine to coarse, and my whites reflect this same: they come in all textures. It seems to be very individual whether hair changes in other ways when it goes silver/white: some do experience it getting finer, some coarser, some wirier or kinkier or curlier or staighter :D I guess anything is possible.

I love your sparkly photo Mimha!

[Deborah]

The white hairs I have seem the same very fine texture as all the rest of my hair. I cannot notice any difference at all.

[Mimha]

Yours really do sparkle!
(...) They are more...zig-zaggy? Does that make sense? Like an old phone cord that's been stretched out and no longer spirals. Like Mimha's, they seam to float atop the rest of my hair.

Yes : exactly what you describe ! :D



(...)
I love your sparkly photo Mimha!

Thanks Arctic ! You are always so sweet ! :)

[Hairkay]

Sparklies are different textures from the rest of my hair.

This reminds me of a day when I was on the bus and a woman with black hair had some individual shiny silver sparlking hairs streaking in the jet black hair. It was beautiful and since it was not in clumps it had to be natural.

[littlestarface]

My white hairs are very coarse like fishing wire, they don't have any wave either.

[Anje]

I've seen lots of complaints that grays have a different texture, or are drier than the rest of the hair. Never experienced it personally, though -- mine seem identical other than color.

I honestly wonder whether for some people, UV damage is playing a role. Lacking melanin, gray hair is *much* more susceptible to UV. I typically wear a hat or bandana if I'm going to be out in the sun for more than a short walk, and I was a hennahead till recently, both of which might explain a lack of UV-related gray damage, if that is the key. Being a pale, freckled sort, covering up if I'm going to be in the sun for more than about 10-20 minutes is a pain-enforced habit.

[turtlelover]

I felt like there was a texture difference until I started using henna. Now I honestly can't tell the difference between the gray and non-gray hairs. For me, henna has a smoothing effect on the cuticle and gets rid of the frizz totally.

[Soj]

My white hairs are just as fine as the rest of my hair, but for some odd reason they seem to be stronger. Or at least I find very few short white hairs, compared to my dark hair, which tends to break off and try to escape down the drain.

[april17]

Sparklies are different textures from the rest of my hair.

Ah, yes, that's the word "sparklies"!

When I look at them magnified, they seem almost to have facets along the length, like tinsel.

It's been interesting to hear you all describe them. I do remember that when I used to put full dye on my hair (as opposed to just touchups), they did seem to kind of fill in and lie flatter with the rest of the hair. Aging is interesting. It's kind of like we just start to understand how bodies work and then everything changes on us.

[CindyOfTheOaks]

I've seen lots of complaints that grays have a different texture, or are drier than the rest of the hair. Never experienced it personally, though -- mine seem identical other than color.

I honestly wonder whether for some people, UV damage is playing a role. Lacking melanin, gray hair is *much* more susceptible to UV. I typically wear a hat or bandana if I'm going to be out in the sun for more than a short walk, and I was a hennahead till recently, both of which might explain a lack of UV-related gray damage, if that is the key. Being a pale, freckled sort, covering up if I'm going to be in the sun for more than about 10-20 minutes is a pain-enforced habit.

For me, I don't do outside sun stuffs - haven't for 20 years or so.
I've been somewhat careful of my hair.
This coarse wiry hair on my head is just crazy !
(So is the underside turning dark !)
I do have new white hair at my temples that is just as soft as can be.