Greying hair weirdness...help

[eresh]

Lately I have been noticing a change in my hair.
At my temples there are silvery babyhairs appearing, no problem.
But on the rest of my hair I noticed discoloring/greying spots down the length.
The ends of those hairs kind of curl outwards since this happened...exactly where the discolored/greying patches are.
Is this a normal process for greying hair??
(I'm 32 now so it's quite possible)

I see no splits...I do have hair at almost every possible length
(due to old layers and old breakage because of dyeing a lot in the past), but it _used to be_ smooth and unnoticable.

Anyone experiences or tips?...

I was this close to hacking it all off this morning, urgh...frustration.

[spidermom]

I'm having a hard time picturing what you mean by "discoloring/greying spots down the length". I've been going silver for about a decade and can't say as I've seen anything like that. I have noticed that a single hair will be silver then gold then silver again in bands down the length.

[eresh]

I think that's what I mean...
When I take a single hair and hold it in the light, I'll see normal brown, lighter brown, normal brown, white/grey (or almost seethru blond/goldish), normal brown. The hair is now kind of striped so to speak.

[spidermom]

Thanks for clearing that up! I hope it's normal since both of us have it.

[eresh]

LOL
Me too!
Does the structure seen a bit more coarse in those areas?
They seem to be very obstinate and unwilling to cooperate!

Do you do anything in particular to take care of the greying hair?

[Eireann]

I've been dying my grey hair for years now, so I can't answer your questions about the color, but I can say that the texture of my grey hair is different than before I went grey. It is coarser and much wavier, which I like because I have very fine hair and it used to be almost straight. It has much more body now. As far as how to care for it, in my case anyway it seems to have a tendency to be dry, so give it extra moisture in whatever form your hair likes. (I oil with jojoba 2-3x per week.)

[eresh]

Thanks so much for your answers, I was really beginning to doubt my hair... :confused:
I'll start with changing my routine, as it seems to need a different kind of care now. Oil overnight every saturday as a start.
See if that helps with the dry bend ends look.

[feralnature]

I've been dying my grey hair for years now, so I can't answer your questions about the color, but I can say that the texture of my grey hair is different than before I went grey. It is coarser and much wavier, which I like because I have very fine hair and it used to be almost straight. It has much more body now. As far as how to care for it, in my case anyway it seems to have a tendency to be dry, so give it extra moisture in whatever form your hair likes. (I oil with jojoba 2-3x per week.)

I like the texture of my grey, or rather, white hair. My brunette hair is finer and I enjoy having a different type hair now as it comes in.

[teela1978]

Mine go stripey sometimes. They seem to be coarser, and most of them do a perfect little sine wave (maybe it's cosine) which is a bit odd. I've heard theories that the coarser tendencies of silver hairs is just because your coarser hairs go grey faster, but I kinda doubt it. NONE of my brown hairs are that curly.

The longer ones only seem to have the uber curliness towards the end, so maybe as they grow out they'll end up more "normal" (whatever that means with my hair).

[spidermom]

I think I get bent ends from them being scrunched into a tangle. It's especially noticeable after bunning.

Some of my silver hairs are coarse and wirey with an uneven texture that goes thinner/thicker.

I changed my hair care routines when I joined LHC and all my hair has benefitted. I haven't gotten to the point of being predominantly silver yet. I don't know if my hair will need different care when that happens. Odds are good I'll find out some day.

[SurprisingWoman]

My super white hairs are very fine and fragile. I think it's because they have absolutely no pigment and they are just so porous I have to be really careful when combing and conditioning. They are the stripes closest to my face which makes it challenging sometimes.

My gray hair can be a little more coarse than my still auburn hair but honestly there's not that much of a difference.

My halo is all white so I have found myself being much more careful and protective of my hair since going so white. I have to take super care since I want to see if I can get to terminal without my hair ends looking thin and sad. I would love to maintain at knee or so someday. I should be classic by summer's end I hope.

Going gray/silver does bring a whole new set of challenges.

[ole gray mare]

I think I understand your question. Sometimes a single hair will take a while to go gray/white. It may go gray suddenly, and you can see that. Or it may go gradually, and you can see the change over a long strand. Or it may turn gray suddenly and then go back to the original color and then go gray again. You can see these things on a single strand of hair.

As for the care and feeding, my silvers are definitely different than my dark hair. They are more fragile and weigh less, like cobwebs. They require more gentle cleaning. CO has become my friend, and only once per week.

I think it's really worth it though. Gray hair can be very luminous.

[Blueglass]

Does it ever. My next experiment is going to be with pine sale shampoo. Report back with I get it.

[eresh]

It does indeed vary in texture, thinner > thicker > thinner > thicker on those places which already have the changing color.
I'm glad to see that others experience this too :)

Same here Teela1978, my brown hair isn't wavy at all, pinstraight.
That's why the "sinewaves" are so noticable when my hair is straight without braidwaves.

[Riot Crrl]

My grey hairs are a lot kinkier than my other hairs. A lot of them also seem to be relatively new growth, so they are 3-4 inches long and like to stick straight up.

[Poolsoflaughter]

I have noticed that mine aren't striped, so much as some parts of the silver are more transparent...and of course they have a weirder/courser texture.

[cuddledumplin]

I had the same problem when I was using this shampoo with Hawaiian white ginger. The hairs were white at the ends, and dark at the roots. I was only in my early 20's at the time, so I pulled them out, and they didn't come back after I quit using the shampoo. Needless to say, I think the shampoo had something to do with it.

[alys]

It seems odd, to have a shaft of hair that is in one area grey and another area, higher up on the shaft closer to the scalp, your natural pre-grey color. I myself am going grey at what I used to think was an unfair early age. However I've only spotted on my own head hairs that are grey at the top closest to my scalp and brown at the bottoms. Also discovred a fair amount of new growth which is also grey. I say grey but what I really mean is white.
I am going white. It's actually kind of cool when I let the grey's grow, I end up having stark white streaks in my hair like I've gone mad. Who knows perhaps I have.
I hate to say it Eresh but it kinda makes me feel good to see some others going grey at what I used to consider an unfair early age...I'm actually starting accept and dare I lament 'enjoy' my whiteness, so I'm glad...

[MemSahib]

Mine will go back and forth like that in color. It's so strange to find grey at the ends and brown at the scalp on any given hair. I don't understand it.

[alys]

ha ha me neither MemSahib - but yours is BEAUTIFUL! Sheesh if I could be so lucky!

[alligatorbaby23]

Just had to /hijack for a brief moment..
OGM your new avatar is amazing. Way to grow!
end hijack/

[bruteforcegrl]

I think the variety of colors on a hair is the pigmentation process sort of sputtering to a halt. My white hairs have a definite sproing to them. I try to be more careful not to drag my comb over my hair so I don't make their shapes even more crazy.
bfg

[eresh]

I hate to say it Eresh but it kinda makes me feel good to see some others going grey at what I used to consider an unfair early age...I'm actually starting accept and dare I lament 'enjoy' my whiteness, so I'm glad...


I'm 32, so I'll have to accept it, just like the appearance of the first wrinkles ;-)
It feels good for me too to hear that I'm not abnormal :)
I asked my mom about it, she also started the greying at 32 and also with those weird spot/stripes.
Hmm. Genetics.
She dyes it a lot now.
I think I'll try to resist dyeing and see what my tone of grey will turn out to be eventually.

[MemSahib]

Thank you, alys!

[Islandgrrl]

I notice the same thing when I look at my silver hairs (the ones I haven't managed to henna into submission). There will be color then no color, then color again. It's like my follicles got confused about what color hair they were supposed to be putting out. But my true silver-all-the-way-down-the-length hairs are decidedly thicker strand for strand than the red ones are. If the trend continues, by the time I'm really all silver I'm going to have a problem on my hands - er- on my head. It'll be ridiculously thick!

[ole gray mare]

Just had to /hijack for a brief moment..
OGM your new avatar is amazing. Way to grow!
end hijack/

Thank you alligatorbaby23!