My hair changing color

[circlers]

Hey guys!

Alright, so, since I was little, I've always some blonde and red hairs here and there mixed in with my chestnut hair. I remember my hair used to get reddish highlights in the summer, when I was a kid, and it has never seemed strange to me that not all my hairs were the same color.
However, recently, I noticed something that I'd actually never seen before, and I'm wondering whether it's happened to anyone else before.
I was basically in my bathroom when I saw a red hair shining on my head, so I pulled that individual hair, and to my surprise, the bottom half of the hair was brown, and from the middle up to the root, it was red, kinda like the hair used to be brown but changed color and now it's just growing red from the root?
Keep in mind that my hair isn't colored at all. I had henna 5 years ago, and it's all grown out and I cut the part that had henna, so now I have all virgin hair. And now I've been noticing this more and more frequently, it seems like more hairs are getting lighter on my head!
It doesn't bother me at all, I know part of my ancestors were blonde on my mom's side, and redheads on my dad's side, and I absolutely love red hair (I think I'd actually love it if my hair turned all red hahaha :p).

Does anyone have experience with this? Or maybe an idea as to why it might be happening?

[Reyn127]

A lot of my hairs are like this, and I think for me it has something to do with the individual hairs getting close to their terminal length - they’ll be dark near the top and gradually get lighter and lighter close to root, like the follicle is running out of material to work with.

I’ve also heard some people have something similar going on with texture changes, so it’s not entirely uncommon.

[circlers]

What do you mean by "darker near the top" and "lighter close to the root"? I'm a bit confused haha

[lithostoic]

This is pretty common! Some of my hairs are striped with blonde :)

[Reyn127]

I’m so sorry, I meant they are darker near the TIP! That was a miss type.

[Beeboo123]

I have hairs that change colors too. My hair is dark, nearly black, but there are strands that are black at the ends, then turn red. I also have fully red and blonde strands mixed in. All my hair has never been dyed or hennaed

[hayheadsbird]

I found a shed the other day that was henna at the end, then grey and back to my natural colour at the root. I have no idea what was going on and at the time was a bit annoyed I'd shed a grey hair :lol:

Can folicals turn on and off for colour :?:

[Andthetalltrees]

Not exactly a human example like you asked, But my blue Merle border collie. She has a patch of hair on her back that is black on the tips, and light grey at the roots. They've always grown this way and it's fascinating that it seems to switch colours almost exactly half way down the hair.

My hair is the pretty normal darker at the roots and it gets much lighter towards the end, I think having the opposite would be awesome though

[circlers]

Honestly, the grey hair doesn't alarm me at all, I have quite a few white baby hairs on my scalp, and I don't mind it, I think white hair/grey looks beautiful, too haha

It's good to know other people have experienced this, and that I'm not the only one, but it's funny to think about how maybe the color of our hair could be potentially different naturally if we knew how to deal with these kinds of things! It's fascinating to me!

[lapushka]

Maybe it's a sign that the follicle is losing its melanine and is slowly lightening (brown to red is lightening), for the preparation of turning gray in the very end (might be decades away).

I would stop pulling those hairs out, though!

[chomsky]

When my strands are going grey they go blonde first, such a nice golden honey that flatters my skin so well. It's cool seeing the white-blonde-brown transition.

That one hair might just be greying!

[circlers]

Maybe it's a sign that the follicle is losing its melanine and is slowly lightening (brown to red is lightening), for the preparation of turning gray in the very end (might be decades away).


I would stop pulling those hairs out, though!


Oh I never pull them out, I just separated it from the rest to look at it, it's still sitting very safely on the top of my head :)



When my strands are going grey they go blonde first, such a nice golden honey that flatters my skin so well. It's cool seeing the white-blonde-brown transition.

That one hair might just be greying!

Maybe it is! I noticed a few more hairs changing from chestnut to red as well, so we'll see how this goes :)

thanks for all the replies guys!

[lapushka]

Oh I never pull them out, I just separated it from the rest to look at it, it's still sitting very safely on the top of my head :)

Oh I thought when you said you "pulled" that hair that you pulled it out. :)

[circlers]

Oh I thought when you said you "pulled" that hair that you pulled it out. :)

Hahaha no, no. Besides, that hair fascinated me too much, so it HAD to stay on my head hahaha

[jera]

Thinning hair will turn reddish towards the TIP. It's causing by the hair reaching the end of its growth cycle, miniaturization, and thinning of the hair shaft. I don't know what it means is your hair turns reddish at the roots and darker at the tips. Sorry.

[circlers]

Thinning hair will turn reddish towards the TIP. It's causing by the hair reaching the end of its growth cycle, miniaturization, and thinning of the hair shaft. I don't know what it means is your hair turns reddish at the roots and darker at the tips. Sorry.

Yes, that's totally logical and common!

[*Wednesday*]

Maybe it's a sign that the follicle is losing its melanine and is slowly lightening (brown to red is lightening), for the preparation of turning gray in the very end (might be decades away).

I would stop pulling those hairs out, though!

I've noticed this too with a few of my strands. It's lightening up from the dark brown but it's not quite gray yet. I think that has a lot of Merit.