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View Full Version : When hair starts turning gray or white....



Chrissy
July 31st, 2009, 06:45 AM
I'm sure this question has been asked before but I haven't seen it so......Right now I'm just seeing a few whites in my hair. Fortunately my hair is a lighter color so it's not that noticeable. What do you do as your hair starts changing a lot. Isn't there a big demarcation line?

Do people just have two different color hair? Or should you get the original color dyed to match the white or gray? I would think that would be damaging. So enlighten me you all. Thanks!!!

embee
July 31st, 2009, 07:07 AM
I've got a few white hairs and I'm letting them be. I want to see what it will turn into. I don't see a demarcation line, just a scattering of white/silver here and there. Also, some of them are rather different texture which I'm finding a plus. Maybe by the time I'm *very* old I'll have a halo???? :)

Madame J
July 31st, 2009, 07:15 AM
There's a guy in my department with a long ponytail (at least waist-length), who obviously went grey in the middle of growing his hair, as it is brown at the bottom of the tail and blends into grey at the roots. It's kinda a cool look, I think. I'm going to try to leave mine natural (I already have a couple dozen silvers, at 26, but they stand out against my almost-black hair) while I grow it, and when I'm at my goal length, decide what to do from there.

I don't think you'll have a demarcation line, and I think it will look really interesting with your strawberry color -- like what Finoriel calls "salt and paprika." You may notice that your silvers grow in a little wirey or coarse compared to your other hair, but I find keeping my hair moist and well-tended helps them lay smoother.

....wait, why am I giving advice about gray hair; I'm still a kid!

LaurelSpring
July 31st, 2009, 07:34 AM
The eternal question! Its really up to you. Check out the Going gray and looking great website for ideas or just check out the salt and pepper thread. People do different things depending on what suits them the best. I feel like I have been transitioning to leaving it alone forever. I have most recently been doing a Cassia/Catnip to make the silver more blonde and I always think its going to be the last time I do it.

Savvyhorsez
July 31st, 2009, 08:16 AM
I've had grey/white hairs showing up since I was 14. I just pretty much left them.:)

pradabacon
July 31st, 2009, 08:35 AM
I am embracing my sparklers! It's better to just let them happen, imo. That way, you avoid the big line of demarcation that comes from trying to cover them up for years. Most people go gray gradually (I also started getting silver hairs as a teen), so if you don't ever cover them, they will blend as your color changes.

I've occasionally dyed to cover mine, but I used a semi-permanent dye that would eventually wash out so I wouldn't be left with a horizontal stripe. I'm totally looking forward to being all silver one day.

LadyLongLocks
July 31st, 2009, 08:48 AM
I just leave mine alone now. I was pulling them a couple years ago, but then I read that pulling them damages the folicle and makes the new hair grow in all kinky, so I stopped!
I'm not crazy about having them, but I won't dye my hair.

spidermom
July 31st, 2009, 09:13 AM
I think you're only going to have a demarcation line if you've been dyeing your hair.

punky
July 31st, 2009, 11:17 AM
I colored my hair from the time I was 14 years old. Just to be different lol. My hair started turning gray in my late twenties and I kept it dyed up until May of 08, then I had all the dye chopped off (into a pixie):(. There was 3 inches of grey and the rest was a ugly orange looking color.Couldn't stand it another day. I started all over with new fresh gray/charcoal hair. I like my gray hair now and plan on letting it grow to my waist. :)

Deborah
July 31st, 2009, 11:29 AM
I don't have much grey hair yet, but what I have came in hair by hair and very slowly, so there is no line of any sort. I agree with Spidermom that the demarcation lines seem to occur only on folks who have been dying for a long while, then suddenly stopped. If the hair has in those years of dye gone significantly grey, then a line is inevitable.

Just don't color at all. Your hair will thank you, and the addition of greys will be very, very subtle. :)

Rohele
July 31st, 2009, 11:33 AM
lol, Chrissy, you're just starting to notice the grays now? I very envious! Mine started to grow in when I was in my mid 20s.

You'll get a more obvious demarcation line with permanent dye growing out, especially if it's over hair with lots and lots of gray (think skunk stripe) than with grays growing in, so if you choose to colour, and your aim is to eventually have long gray/silver hair, go with something that's very temporary. Sometimes, if it's just a small patch of gray, you can hide them for a while by changing how you part or style your hair.

I've never seen anyone with a demarcation line from grays growing in, but I have seen a few people with longer hair where it's whiter on the top and it gradually fades to a darker colour on the bottom - it looks really nice and natural.

I dyed for years to cover gray, but I'm letting it grow out now since I didn't want to deal with growing it out when my hair was longer and I didn't want that obvious gray hair/dyed hair demarcation line. Right now my dyed colour is fairly close to my natural colour, and there's still only a few grays so it's not as obvious.

Deborah
July 31st, 2009, 11:37 AM
Punky,

Your grey hair is absolutely beautiful! :thud: Also, welcome to LHC! :)

Bellalalala
July 31st, 2009, 01:35 PM
My greys come in at all different times and lengths. I noticed my first greys at 13, but I still don't have a lot. I'm just letting them be.

My high school teacher had classic length hair and the bottom 12 inches or so were red/dirty blond and faded very gradually into grey. It looked very cool.

spidermom
July 31st, 2009, 02:51 PM
Just wanted to add that your hair doesn't "turn" gray as in it's been (in my case) blonde but one day the newer growth nearer my scalp is white while the rest of that hair is blonde. Not that I haven't seen a few striped-looking hairs. What happens is that the new hair emerging from the scalp is white (or silvery) from the start.

Chrissy
August 1st, 2009, 07:18 AM
Thanks everyone! I'm not coloring just leaving it. I do feel better now though. It will be interesting to see how I "end up". :)

florenonite
August 1st, 2009, 04:14 PM
My aunt's been going grey since she was in her teens (she's now in her early fifties). She's got TB hair that she tends to wear in a braid, and her non-grey hair is very dark, such that the bottom of the braid is a kind of pewter colour whilst the top of the braid is silvery. It's really pretty.

EdG
August 1st, 2009, 04:26 PM
My grays have been coming in since I was a teenager. I first had a few in my teens and twenties, and then gained a lot more in my thirties.

I don't have any apparent demarcation line along the length of my hair, but I do have quite apparent demarcation lines between the strands around my temples and the strands elsewhere. I.e. I have silver streaks.

Based on the comments I received from LHCers at past meets, I view my silver streaks as not a problem at all. :cloud9:
Ed

nowxisxforever
August 1st, 2009, 04:27 PM
I'm 21 and don't have any grey hairs yet, and I currently henna...however I plan on letting my silvers be themselves! I don't intend on covering them up.

Chrissy
August 1st, 2009, 05:31 PM
Ed - I hope to have those silver streaks myself!! I do feel much better after all the comments from everyone. I know it sounds weird but I'm kind of excited to see how it will look as I get more. You really can't see them much except in the sunlight because my hair is a lighter color.

slz
August 1st, 2009, 05:47 PM
Oh the culpability :( :( :( whenever I read great stories of people accepting their greys, going silver smoothly and obtaining a great colour, I feel soooo frustrated with myself - first whites at 15, I just let them be, then at 33 I woke up one day I realized I looked so damn older than my age, so I started dyeing. And everytime my roots are showing now (which is maybe 75 % of the time ...), I feel so ugly and old :( :( I feel I have no choice but to keep on dyeing, my demarcation is so obvious on dark hair with the natural being more white than not.
So my advice would be : don't do the same mistake I did ! Let them be but keep an eye on them and the overall changing of your colour, embrace it and love it as it evolves !

AmericanWoman
August 2nd, 2009, 12:01 PM
Only new hairs come in gray. Already exsisting hairs keep their pigment until they fall out,so you don't have one single hair gray on top and colored on the bottom unless you dye your hair.

teela1978
August 2nd, 2009, 12:15 PM
Only new hairs come in gray. Already exsisting hairs keep their pigment until they fall out,so you don't have one single hair gray on top and colored on the bottom unless you dye your hair.

That's not entirely true. I've seen quite a few shed hairs that sorta flutter between brown and white before turning completely white, or that fade from brown to white near the root. They're a bit rarer than the white-from-the-start variety though :)

From what I've seen, I don't think anyone ends up with a demarcation line from going gray/silver. Mine certainly doesn't, it seems to be slowly taking over my temples, so there's more silvers close to my scalp than in my length... but there's plenty in my length!

Bellalalala
August 2nd, 2009, 12:51 PM
Yep, all sorts of growth patterns are possible.
Some of them unlikely, but definitely possible.

My grandmother had had white/silver hair for 15 years, all of it.
Then suddenly, out of nowhere, a few strips started growing in black. Not gradually at all, just grew in with a clear demarcation line exactly the way roots grow in after bleaching.

Her doctor tested for various forms of cancer since he had never even heard of this happening before, and everything looked fine.
That was 6 years ago, she still has black growing in in those areas.

Weird huh?

Amara
August 2nd, 2009, 01:33 PM
I don't think most people end up with a line unless they've been dying their hair and then quit. If you're just growing naturally, you'll go gray/white here and there and then more and more as time goes on, so it'll blend naturally.

frodolaughs
August 2nd, 2009, 03:15 PM
I have a few gray hairs, and also some zebra ones. I know that's not supposed to happen, but there they are. I don't think I'll end up with a line though, because the change is gradual, a few hairs at a time.

luckypenny
August 2nd, 2009, 05:13 PM
I got a few silver hairs around my temples. I've tried to keep my hair colored but I got really tired of it since it didn't last very long. I have dark brown hair so any white hairs show well. I am growing to like my silvers and I'm glad I stopped coloring because I would rather have a gradual change of color than a new growth line with all gray hairs :)