How Did You Gray?

[Firefly]

I just found my first silver hair today, under the canopy above my ear as I was putting it up. I know it probably sounds strange but I was excited to find it! It got me thinking about how people gray though... for my sister, who started in her 20s, it was from the roots down. Do others experience it differently? Could I just keep finding more and more random silvers until eventually they outnumber the rest?

Also, any special advice on how to take care of these newcomers as they come in? (I don't plan to cover them). Thank you!

[countryhopper]

Sorry, no advice to you because....

I JUST FOUND MY FIRST GRAY HAIR TODAY, TOO!!!!

I made a small bang pouf, and hiding under a section of hair as a little gray, a couple of inches long, the tail end is (I think) my natural color! I left it there (I was concidering pulling it out!)

I'm in my late 20s, so this is a bit scary... :)

I hope when I gray my hair will be that beautiful pewter gray and then that striking thick blueish white color. I wonder what color you have to be naturally to get it?

I hope you get some responses, because now I have a baby to take care of, too! :D

[gnegirl]

i would be no help...i've been covering them with dye since it started in my early 30's :).

[EdG]

I've had a small number of grays ever since I was a teenager.

They became a lot more numerous when I was in my 30s. The grays appeared around my temples resulting in left and right "silver streaks".

My beard around my chin also turned gray around the same time.

The rest of my hair is still dark. :)
Ed

[Dani]

I found my first in my crown area when I was 19. Since I had my dd4, I've noticed I have like 10 or something in the crown area now. She gave me grays. :D :p I think they are pretty awesome.

[mellie]

Come join us in the Salt & Pepper thread! We've got lots of great tips and we are a really fun bunch!

[akka naeda]

My DD is 12 and has a little clump of about 4-6 white hairs about 2" long at the back of her head. She's also had a few white hairs over the rest of her head, but I removed them to show her. These ones we're leaving to see if she gets a streak, she's not really bothered about them right now.

My aunt was totally white by the time she was 20; some of my white hairs are long enough that they go down to my knees, but because there weren't many of them I hennaed over them. They came in initially as a streak over my left temple, I had to stop hennaing because it made the streak orange. Now they're scattered all over my head, with streaks at the left temple and behind my right ear.

Like Mellie says, you should look at the S&P thread:)

[Hay22]

I don't really have any advice for you - I pull them, which is probably not the best option. I started getting grays when I was 17. At first they were only at the top of my head, in the middle of my side part, but now I occasionally find them elsewhere and have to admit I'm not the biggest fan of their texture. When they get to be too numerous to pull, I'll leave them be.

[rags]

I found my first silvers in my very early 20's. By the time I was 25, I had a streak framing my face on both sides with no other silvers anywhere. Now that I'm in my 40's, I'm getting more elsewhere, though the back is still almost entirely dark, and the front 75 percent silver!

As for care, I find silvers need more moisture, and they can be more fragile than pigmented hairs. So be gentle with the little fellow!

As others have said, the Salt and Pepper thread (home of the Renegrays!) is a great place for tips!

[nycstar]

I found one gray hair last year (was mortified) & haven't seen anymore. I really don't want to think about it but I have considered henna for the future.

[Wind Dragon]

I silvered verrrrry slowly and in random sprinkles from late teens through thirties - probably still had no more than a few dozen white hairs 'til almost age forty. They've been coming in a lot heavier the last several years (I'm 46 now,) but still sprinkled except for what I'm pretty sure would be becoming a lovely streak in front had I not cut bangs. The rest of my hair's original dark chocolate color has faded a bit as well in recent years, so the silvering doesn't look as dramatic as I'd like. Some days (and in most pictures) you can barely tell there's anything going on at all. :silly:

countryhopper, your hair has to start out really dark and then silver evenly to get that pewter look. For most people the individual hairs are actually while, so the overall effect comes from the blend of those and the ones that are still colored. My DH has always had lovely multi-colored hair - started out in shades of browns and reds and now that it's silvering, it still blends really well and just has an overall lighter-colored look to it. In some lighting, the silvers even look more blonde. His beard, on the other hand, has gone almost completely white.


Also, any special advice on how to take care of these newcomers as they come in? (I don't plan to cover them). Thank you!

Like Mellie said, check out the Salt & Pepper thread. Very supportive bunch. :flower:

[SurprisingWoman]

My silvers scattered through my hair. I used to get comments on how "shiny" my hair was. It was actually light refracting off the silver. :)

My canopy is much more silver than the underside of my hair, although they are starting to silver as well.

Enjoy them!

[Purdy Bear]

I have some hair, it comes through like a cats white whiskers and then turns its natural colour afterwards.


I did have a maths teacher many years ago that went gray on her top layer, then her bottom layer and then eventually inbetween. It was very very weird, and it made her very 'cool' in our eyes.

[Pixna]

My hair grayed first around the temples. That is still where I have the most silver. When my hair is down, it looks like I still have quite a lot of pigment (brown with silvers through it). When it is up (in a bun), the silver is mostly what stands out (silver with brown through it).

I started graying when I was in my midforties, but it was very gradual. After I hit fifty, the grays started coming in more strongly. When you let your hair gray naturally (without coloring it), the graying happens gradually and, I think, blends in very attractively. I also think skin tone changes a bit when hair pigment changes naturally. It all sort of matches, but in a good way. :)

[Nae]

My gray is coming in on the very top of my head in the middle, right where my hair usually parts. There is about a 1 inch diameter patch of white there, makes quite the interesting streak. I have noticed some scattered throughout with quite a few at my temples. Other than that it is all my regular dark, dark color. I have been growing it out since the end of last summer and I quite like the effect!!

[princessp]

I have hair that is lighter (light brown). I was able to get away with simply highlighting my hair (to integrate the grey). Now I seem to have more than I am comfortable with. I don't think I'm going to mind being all grey, but I don't like this weird transition. So I am dying my whole head for the first time in my life.

[pinchbeck]

Gray hair started to appear at age 37 and now they are coming in at a faster rate. They are noticeable at my hair line and temples and are scattered sporadically throughout the rest of my hair. It is very noticeable if a person is close where it is most dense. I will admit that I don't like them as I prefer the colour I was born with.

I am not going to colour my hair with chemicals, but as they continue to monopolize my head I may consider using cassia providing it doesn't give my hair a red hue. I will have to look further into that when the time comes. I just know that in a few years from now I will be looking at a new me. It will be an adjustment.....

[gmdiaz]

My 80 year old mother in law moved in with us. . . *snark*yeahseriouslyitsawful*ack*

Actually my silvers came in on both temples in my early thirties. . .which was very cool with dark hair.

Then I started taking vitamins and oiling my hair and it darkened up, considerably.

Over the past year, they're coming in all over but in a more muted pewter form. lol

[Liss]

I have a question and it's something that I've always been curious about so I'm hoping I don't sound stupid, but as they say - there's no stupid questions, only stupid answers... Anyway, does hair grow out grey (white), or does it just magically change colour?

I went through some stress when I was 22 and found a white hair in my eyebrow. I'm pretty sure it just changed colour overnight, but I'm not too sure. I pulled it out and it never came back, so I'm left wondering how hair actually goes grey.

[lapushka]

Could I just keep finding more and more random silvers until eventually they outnumber the rest?

I think that's the way it's happening to me too.

It started with a few F white hairs here and there a few years ago. Slowly they're getting more and more plentiful. They are sprinkled in between my F hair, so they are generally still quite unnoticeable, from afar at least. They're about an inch apart. I coped quite well with this, but in the last year they've kind of crept in more and more. It's been making me feel old, lately. They are starting to stick out from the rest of my hair (like wires) as they're now shorter and have a different texture than the rest of my hair: N, more wavy.

I don't know if I'll be able to handle noticeable white hair but at least I'm glad for now that it's not happening in chunks and streaks.

[melusine]

I've got quite a few whites for 22 year old and I've been getting them since my late teens. It hasn't started to change the overall look of my hair if one doesn't look closely but if I look at any clump of hair there will be several white hairs. I think about 2% of my hair is white. They seem to have just 'turned' white overnight rather than grown in :confused: but that's probably an illusion.

I've noticed them mainly behind my ears and the top of my head but they might be at the back too since I can't really see there easily :p

My father went grey young so I think maybe I will too and I also have thyroid issues which might have contributed but I don't mind particularly. I'm a bit worried about how it will look when it is transitioning but I'm quite excited to have white/grey hair, I think it looks very striking and magical :D Also, I look forward to being able to do golden hair experiments with cassia :) I must check out the salt and pepper thread..

[SilvraShadows]

I loved seeing my first silvers, like starlight woven throughout... some may laugh at that but I love the magical! I was not too young in years but I looked very young, so the new color didn't make me feel old at all. I think younger silvered women are very pretty, we all grow old in time but to be young and turn silver is more rare! Truly I didn't realize how much silver I had until a while back (much older now and new here) my daughter took a photo of my braid for me to post for a siggie pic. Having it all pulled back revealed how grey I had gotten, but it shocked me! It was at that moment I realized I was truly a silver lady.

I must join the Renegrays!

[Speckla]

Started noticing a few in my bangs when I was 21. My bang area is mostly grey now and I have streaks appearing over my ears and a lot of grey sprinkled all over my head. I'd say I'm 20-25% grey. I didn't henna for two months and was shocked by how much grey is in my roots. I love the bright red 'highlights' that henna gives me.

[cmnt831]

Mine started on my temples when I was about 19. Left side is a rather large streak and right side is much weaker. Now that I've gotten a bit older, the grays are more evenly scattered on the crown of my head giving me the start of the pewter color. I have very dark hair and the white hairs mixed in give it that color, I think. Interestingly enough, my streaks are covered when I wear my hair down and there really aren't any grays on the back of my head - just the front and crown. I've never really tried to hide them, just highlighted for a couple of years and then gave that up, as well.

[JaclynBailey]

A week before my 18th birthday my mom informed me that one of two things was gonna happen on my 18th birthday. I would either brush my hair and a SUBSTANTIAL amount would fall out or I would wake up with grey hairs. See the women in her family all do one of two things. They either go mostly bald or they grey at a very young age.

Guess how relieved I was when I woke up and found my first grey hair!

Over the next couple of years I added a few more here and there. I never really thought much about them cause I was dying my hair black all the time. Then around the time I conceived my fourth and final child I stopped dying my hair. I just got tired of the maintenance. Which is funny since my hair is naturally black anyways.

I noticed that I had quite a bit more grey hair than I thought! Then I went in and gave birth and had a SUPER traumatic birth experience and when I got home I realized that I had a dominant streak of grey at the front of my hair up near the "bang" area. I would say that it is filling in kinda quickly now, which is kinda scary and kinda cool since I am only 27 (28 in April).

I personally don't do anything different for my greys. They are only a slightly different texture from the rest of my hair and I have to use super moisturizing conditioners anyways.

[blackhound]

I started to go silver in my 20's. The first place it went was at the temples on both sides. I looked like the Bride of Frankenstein. XD

[going gray]

I'm no help at all. Started "going gray" around my temples at age 40 & thus began having my hair colored every 2 months. I tried living with the gray strands for about 5 months, it simply doesn't suit my skin color.

Through my 23 years of hair coloring, that sounds really awful, I have had my dark brunette hair lightened to better compliment my skin.

Have to say you sliver haired ladies out there look wonderful.

[Firefly]

So many replies! Thanks everyone; I really enjoyed reading your experiences. :) And I had forgotten about the S&P thread-- I took a peek in there a few minutes ago... wow! Guess I know what I'm going to be doing the next couple of weeks. Better stock up on tea. :D

[AmericanWoman]

On ly new hairs come in gray. You won't have one brown hair that starts getting gray at the top. Unless,of course, you dye it. :)

[Pixna]

On ly new hairs come in gray. You won't have one brown hair that starts getting gray at the top. Unless,of course, you dye it. :)

That's a valuable point to make, AmericanWoman. I think some people believe individual hairs that are already full grown just turn gray, which, of course, is not true.

[prettydark]

I have a few random silvers and whites, but I am silvering at the temples, mostly on my left temple. It's still minimal enough that I have to point them out (proudly) to my friends.

[skay]

Mine started coming in on the top part of the crown (and towards the front). Then, the white sprinkled around from there.


That's a valuable point to make, AmericanWoman. I think some people believe individual hairs that are already full grown just turn gray, which, of course, is not true.


On ly new hairs come in gray. You won't have one brown hair that starts getting gray at the top. Unless,of course, you dye it. :)

I've experienced contradictions to the above.

I have recently seen hairs of mine that start off black and remain black for at least 4 inches and then become white at the roots for at least 3 inches.

I notice this because I wish the opposite would happen: that somehow my white hairs would go back to black. But alas, the opposite happens.

P.S.

FYI - I believe this topic has been touched on before in the past if you'd like to research more responses and experiences in the archives on hair "switching" colors during growth.

[little_cherry]

I believe my greying is part genetic and part mega stress! I found my first silver when I was around 15, actually! I love them-well, I love how they look like highlights with henna. :D

[autumnsdaughter]

I found my first silver strand when I was about 19. I was dreadfully unhappy about it at the time. Now, at age 25, I like my silvers, though I only have a handful, and they aren't noticeable at all. They are such a pretty white-silver color, and they shine like silk! My first henna turned them a strawberry-blond shade, and they are so lovely!

[akka naeda]

On ly new hairs come in gray. You won't have one brown hair that starts getting gray at the top. Unless,of course, you dye it. :)


Not true:)
I'll see if I can pull out a hair and show you. Since at knee length I have longer hair than most people with S&P hair it's very noticeable that hairs can change colour. They start off dark and then later go white. I've had a very few that go back to being dark later, but most of them just have the one colour change and stick with it. The new hairs don't all come in white either some do, some don't.

[Wind Dragon]

I've had a very few that go back to being dark later, but most of them just have the one colour change and stick with it.

I've had some of those, too. I meant to save the one that was about two feet long, dark at both ends and white in the middle, but alas . . . .

I did manage to hold onto it long enough to show DH, just to prove I wasn't nuts. Well, about that anyway. :o

[Pixna]

Not true:)
I'll see if I can pull out a hair and show you. Since at knee length I have longer hair than most people with S&P hair it's very noticeable that hairs can change colour. They start off dark and then later go white. I've had a very few that go back to being dark later, but most of them just have the one colour change and stick with it. The new hairs don't all come in white either some do, some don't.

That's really interesting. I never heard of hairs changing color (turning gray) after they had already grown in. Fascinating!

[gmdiaz]

I've got older hairs that are fading to gray, too.

Oiling does darken them somewhat.

[Xandergrammy]

I started getting whites in the cowlick in the middle of my forehead in my 30's. I plucked them out. I started dyeing in my 40's when the hair around my face started turning white. I stopped dyeing almost 4 years ago because I'm looking forward to having my real colors. Come on over to the Salt and Pepper thread. There's lots of advice there and LOTS of stuff to read! (plus we're a pretty chatty bunch!) :flowers:

[lapushka]

I've got older hairs that are fading to gray, too.

Same here. I discovered a few strands that had just gone white. (undyed hair).

[Kimberlee]

I am 40 with naturally medium dark brown hair. I started finding a few grays here and there in my early 20's. Now I am more then 50% gray. I think... LOL! I am currently henna-ing. My gray started as a few here and there and then really started coming in strong around my temples. If you divide my hair into thirds, my front is almost entirely gray, the middle is salt and pepper and the back third just has a few grays. My "grays" are also a pretty cool white. I actually really like it. I had been chemically coloring and prior to starting my henna journey I toyed with letting it go. My aunts all have this color hair and it really is gorgeous - fine and not really very wiry. My issue right now is just the pattern I have - it's not super attractive and since I have such a STARK contrast between my natural dark brown and my white I am going to hold out on going natural until I am closer to being totally white. I suspect it will not take that long. In the interim I LOVE the color variations my white and grays show up as with the henna. LOVELY!

Good luck on your journey!

[Nae]

I thought I would add an action shot as to how I am graying on top. Just took this today, My grays are probably 4-5 inches long. I have been growing them out since the end of last summer.

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=5058&pictureid=67997

[Akiko]

Not true:)
Since at knee length I have longer hair than most people with S&P hair it's very noticeable that hairs can change colour. They start off dark and then later go white. I've had a very few that go back to being dark later, but most of them just have the one colour change and stick with it.

I, too, have weird hairs that change colors! Black-white-black. Or white-black. I think some of my follicles are in the process of deciding which color to produce. :D

[little_cherry]

I think I must have been mega stressed at some point. I had quite a few strands that were brown-silver-brown-silver all down the strand...I guess my head was starting to run out of ink... ;)

[Johanna]

I got my first white hair around the age of 16-17. At first I pulled them out. Even my ex thought they were hideous and pulled them whenever he saw one.
I'm embracing my hair now. I havent dyed for a year and a half and I'm letting my hair go natural. At the moment it clashes a little with the old coppering dye, but I have patience. I will prevail!

[mamaherrera]

I feel a bit sad about my whites, because this last year they've gone from 13 to 26. Is 26 white hairs considered a few yet, or is that now called a handful or a lot??? I feel like it's my fault because I've been so stressed about the first 13 white hairs I had and because I was losing lots of hair, I feel like it is my fault that I have these tons of new ones. if I could go back to having 13 white hairs I would stress no more. Plus these new ones are so close to being right on the hair line that regrowth is obvious quickly!

[dulce]

I had a white streak in the center of my bangs in my mid 30's and hated it so I started colouring.I quit colouring in my mid 50's and grew my long hair back and was shocked that most of my whites/silvers are underneath and only show the most if hair is in a high half up.Loose, I have a side streak of white but am still light brown basically all over at 61,was sure I'd be solid white by this age!

[Mountaingrrl]

I started getting silvers scattered through my hair in my mid-20s. Now in my 40s, my white hairs are mostly at my crown and mixed in with brown hairs along the top.

[browneyedsusan]

My temples are pretty white. At least I think they are! I only let a teensy bit creep out before I slap some henna on it!

[chen bao jun]

I got my first gray hair in my twenties.
I got my second gray hair in my thirties.
I got my third gray hair in my forties and then by my late forties I started to see one or two more. They are always on the crown of my head, in the middle.
Now I am 55 going on 56. I told my husband the other day that I was maybe 5 or 10 percent gray. He says, more like one percent. But nowadays people do notice that I have some gray sometimes without me telling them. I used to tell them I had gray hair and they didn't believe me.
Anyway, finding one gray in your twenties doesn't mean much. You might just have that one gray alone for the next ten years, like I did (eventually it disappeared. I didn't pull it out or anything, but probably it just shed). I think family members can be a clue. My family doesn't gray early. My dad actually never went visibly gray and he died at age 70. He had one or two here and there, but really they were not noticeable unless he pointed them out (one by one). After a while everyone assumed he was dyeing his hair, but he was not. His sister, my 92 year old aunt is mostly gray now, but never had noticeable gray hair until she was 65. She was not salt and pepper until her eighties and even now she still has quite a lot of black hair. Their mother also never went gray really until her 80's when she died in her 90's was not completely gray. There is no one in my paternal family who was really gray before 75/80. My mother's family gets gray sooner, but not young. My mom had a white streak down the middle of her head by age 60 but no other gray hair for a long time. I don't know yet if I'm going to get the white streak ,since absolutely all of what there is of my gray is in the middle of my head or if I will be 80 before I get salt and pepper.
I'm fine with either scenario--I have no intention of ever dyeing my hair, or touching it up or doing anything to the color. I think people look nice with gray hair. I have a friend my same age who is all silver now and it is gorgeous--she started graying in her thirties and she's all done now at fifty five. People vary.
I don't think it has the stigma it once did, which is a good thing.

[SleepyTangles]

I got my first silver when sixteen. A little white sparklie in my bangs. And I wasn't annoyed with it at all, but a friend just made fun of me so much and often, I ended up buying a chocolate brown deposit dye (so similar to my colour that said friend didn't even notice it).
It was the only time I actually changed something of myself just to stop others commenting :confused:.
It was a very soft spot, because my grandma started to lose her hair early, due to my same anemia, and I was very worried it could happen to me, too. I was always found clumps of shedded hair in the shower and I was very self conscious on how bad they looked (all my fault, I brushed them wet, kept them in layers and didn't use conditioner, but who knew?).

Now I henna, but I never spotted anything on roots and stuff.
A full head of silver hair, or even better a nice neat streak of silver in my bangs, are the only things that would persuade me to leave my beloved henna red...:inlove:

[yogagirl]

Bumping this thread becaaaaause... I found a "gray" hair today and I'm so bummed about it. I have been worried about finding them since I turned 30 a year ago. I had one verrrry light brown hair near my part that looked white-ish in my hair, but after I cut it definitely looked light/medium brown when holding it against anything white. (I have dark brown hair btw.)

Well, today I found a "gray" that looked silvery and sparkly in my hair. It was in my temple "fuzz" which only ever grows to about 2-3 inches long. I cut it and again it looks light/medium brown when held against white surface. Is this how it starts for brunettes?

I am so upset because I love my natural color and wanted to enjoy it a little longer. I don't want to start coloring and at the same time, am not ready to embrace grays. I know it's not the end of the world and maybe I'm just feeling a bit cranky today. I have to say reading this thread has helped a bit in maybe starting to be more open about eventually embracing the grays... baby steps right ;)

[mamaherrera]

Enjoy yogagirl, the slow pace it usually starts out with. Because I remember me crying about the first ten I had, nicely spaced apart. And now five years later, I've got over 100 at least and some are very close to others, pore to pore, small streaks, so enjoy the fact that at thirty you're just starting. Looking at others, they've gone very very slow. MY honeymoon period lasted like five years and now it's picked up the pace. So who knows what I'll look like in a few years!! Henna red!

[yogagirl]

Yes, henna to the rescue! I can see myself starting henna too.

[mamaherrera]

I enjoy henna because since it's natural I can do it weekly to hide those temple hairs right at the hairline!

[Charybdis]

I found my first silver hair nearly 20 years ago and I still don't have many. It's impossible to know for sure how quickly they'll progress, only time will tell. Don't worry, you will have plenty of time to adjust to the "new normal"!

[yogagirl]

I found my first silver hair nearly 20 years ago and I still don't have many. It's impossible to know for sure how quickly they'll progress, only time will tell. Don't worry, you will have plenty of time to adjust to the "new normal"!
Thank you for this. I got all freaked out the other day when I found it. Slowly getting used to the idea now...

[nakima]

I havent colored my hair for abt 8 months and I'm not sure when or if I will do it again. I have sort of an ash blonde where theres no color and the front of my hair has white streaks down the sides (bangs) and I have streaks of white that run down the middle of each side of my head. they have been there since I was abt 34. I get a lot of compliments on my hair color but I do freak out from time to time under floresent lighting because it all looks gray then :)

[AZDesertRose]

I found my first silver hair when I was about fifteen. My natural color is a dark chestnut brown so it stood out rather a lot. Now, at almost 39, they are mostly scattered throughout my hair with a concentration around my right temple, about due north of the arch of my right eyebrow.

I've taken to henna because I always wanted to be a redhead and I disliked how my silvers were making me look older than I otherwise would. I've been blessed with skin that isn't aging much (I have the very beginnings of crow's feet around my eyes and smile lines around my mouth, but just the very beginnings), and that seems to be a family trait. People often think my mother is my older sister because her skin does not look like she could have a kid pushing forty, LOL, and I stood there one time when I was about 19 or 20 and my grandmother was still living while someone told her no way could I be her granddaughter because she wasn't old enough to have grown grandchildren. (She was plenty old enough; she was well over 50 by the time I was born; she just didn't look it.)

I've been thinking about letting the henna grow out because I want to put in a purple streak (just for fun) and I don't think that purple will take well over dark-henna-auburn, but I'm still feeling vain about showing my age too much, LOL. So I'm torn between being a Renegray with a purple streak or just keeping up the henna.

[AmethystLily]

When my mom used to do my hair, she'd sometimes point out a silver hair that I had. I could never see it because it was in the back, but she told me I had it as a baby. Matter of fact, she told me I was born with it. Several days ago, as I styled my hair in a crown twist, I noticed a gray hair somewhere in the front of the twist (my hair is brown-black). I thought, "so this is what my mom was talking about!" I plucked it out for a closer look (the hair itself was growing somewhere from the middle of my head). Turns out it was pale brown at the end and silver near the root. This actually wasn't the first time I've seen a hair like this, but the first time I saw one, it was a shed hair that I'd taken out of my comb several years ago.

I'm 22 and haven't noticed multiple strands of gray or silver coming in yet. I guess I haven't officially "grayed" yet. I have no idea how it'll happen for me. My dad started graying in his teens, but my mom started graying in her forties. I mostly take after my dad looks wise so I could end up like my grandma (dad's side) and have almost all my hair go silver.

[Tussi]

The first grey hairs appeared at 27, in my right eyebrow!

Now I also have five-ish grey hairs on the canopy.

[yogagirl]

The first grey hairs appeared at 27, in my right eyebrow!

Now I also have five-ish grey hairs on the canopy.
Sounds like it's a pretty slow process for you then!

I asked my mom how it went for her and she doesn't remember. She said she thought it was cool to find her first one. I wish I could say the same! I guess I'm just a little slow to accept change sometimes :)

[Tussi]

I hope so, I'm not quite ready for more grays yet ...

My mum was also happy to find greys, but then she has true silvers. Her hair was so light blond it was difficult to tell what was greys and what was just blonde :)

[yogagirl]

I hope so, I'm not quite ready for more grays yet ...

My mum was also happy to find greys, but then she has true silvers. Her hair was so light blond it was difficult to tell what was greys and what was just blonde :)
I understand, I also don't feel ready. I hope mine progress slowly like yours! My hair is dark too. I'm jealous that blondes don't show grey as much!

[Komao]

I just found my first silver hair today, under the canopy above my ear as I was putting it up. I know it probably sounds strange but I was excited to find it! It got me thinking about how people gray though... for my sister, who started in her 20s, it was from the roots down. Do others experience it differently? Could I just keep finding more and more random silvers until eventually they outnumber the rest?

Also, any special advice on how to take care of these newcomers as they come in? (I don't plan to cover them). Thank you!

Everyone can gray, differently. Some people who freak out start to dye hair. That can be a mistake. Sometimes you can see one or a couple but that doesn't mean overnight or in the next 6 months you'll have a gray head.
It could literally take decades. Some will only get a section or maybe a sprinkling throughout hair.
Others, it can be like an overnight kind of thing. For those, I think stress and sickness can contribute, possibly medications. Still others, just genetics.

You won't have any problems since you were excited to find your first silver, unless ofcourse it doesn't gray fast enough for you. :)

[Crystawni]

I'm a streaker. :p It's taken 21 years since my first white hair appeared somewhere around my ear to get to where I am now. My temples went first, along with a fairly even smattering underneath, so I only dyed the temple hairs with a Grecian 2000 type colourant for a while to blend since the underlayer wasn't all that noticeable. Then the ombre look came in, so, with a few long layers to reveal the whites, I actually looked fashionable without trying. I haven't blended the sides in many years, so now it's all virgin with some more streaks starting at the front over my right eye where my part is.

Part of my reason for growing my hair long is to see how it transforms with the white stuff. :D

[yogagirl]

Crystawni, your avatar and the picture on the right in your signature, is that your current hair? It's awesome!!! I love the coloring!

[MissMoppet]

I started to get random white hairs a couple years ago. I think a hairdresser found one and immediately cut it, which kind of made me sad, because I did not mind it at all. I think white/grey hair looks awesome! We have this negative association with grey hair, but it is just a color, and things are starting to change. To me it's silver, and I think silver hair is so cool. It is taking off big time with celebrities. Google it - so many people are dying their hair "silver" now and it looks fantastic. It is the new it color.

The part I don't like is the random hair colours springing up on my head. I only have a few white hairs around my temples, but I wish my hair would be either solid brown or solid grey. I think I am going to be one of those people who's grey hairs just keep increasing slowly, over a long stretch of time. :( Sucks because I already have a big pinterest file full of cool things to do with white/silver hair. One person did this amazing ombre look and dyed her tips black, then a dark grey, and then moved up to her natural white color. Fun, fun! I am definitely going to rock it. I like to use a darker temporary dye over my current shade of brown, so I might wait until I have enough grey to make an impact and then let it do its thing.

[hennalonghair]

I'm a streaker. :p It's taken 21 years since my first white hair appeared somewhere around my ear to get to where I am now. My temples went first, along with a fairly even smattering underneath, so I only dyed the temple hairs with a Grecian 2000 type colourant for a while to blend since the underlayer wasn't all that noticeable. Then the ombre look came in, so, with a few long layers to reveal the whites, I actually looked fashionable without trying. I haven't blended the sides in many years, so now it's all virgin with some more streaks starting at the front over my right eye where my part is.

Part of my reason for growing my hair long is to see how it transforms with the white stuff. :D


Crystawni, your avatar and the picture on the right in your signature, is that your current hair? It's awesome!!! I love the coloring!

Yep I'm a streaker too. I'm greying like Arlene on the Dragons Den.
Above my right ear I am almost all grey.... At least 90% so this is certainly streak. The other side above my ear I am about 50% grey . The hair at the top of my head I'm about 50% grey also but the bulk of my hair I don't see much at all. I might have about 3% grey there.
I've decided to grow in my greys. I've been using henna for the last 35 years but have to do a root touch up every 10 days which is just getting to be too much. Before I used henna because I genuinely liked the colour and conditioning effects it offered but lately I've been colourung just to cover grey which sucks.
I've now got about 1/3 inch of virgin hair growing but I'm planning on colouring the bangs still( cherry cola red) to match my length. I'm also going for the ombré look. Sure it's a reverse ombré look but today anything goes.
I've recently come to the realization that greying hair is only as cool as you make it.

and Crystawni ! You're hair is something I inspire to achieve. Its beautiful. Good for you:thumbsup:

[Agnes Hannah]

I am probably about 75% grey now, they are a soft white platinum colour, but I have been colouring it with semi permanent for about 20 years. At [present I am trying to transition, last year I began to colour it lighter shades so the grey could come through and blend in. Now I have been putting darker streaks to help the process, as the bottom section is quite dark. So at the minute I have dark ends, lighter canopy with grey/light brown and dark brown streaks.

[Stormynights]

I started with a thin stripe right down the center of my head when I was in my early 40s or late 30s. I hated the skunk stripe. I can still see my stripe but I am mostly gray all over now so it isn't noticeable anymore.

[Crystawni]

Thank you! :blossom:


Crystawni, your avatar and the picture on the right in your signature, is that your current hair? It's awesome!!! I love the coloring!

The pic on the right is my head flipped over, showing my underlayer which is also curlier. It's like my hair is the reverse of what it should be! I also like the look of that underside stuff with the golden ends. The middle pic is what it looks like normally--the whiter underlayer peaks through the ends, although not so much now that I don't have the thinned-out layers I used to. I said to my hubster the other day I'm kinda like the Suntan (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YROdf6Tr6ts) Tuesday Taylor (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cA2lOTHeqpc) doll I had as a kid; I just need a rotating crown...

MissMoppet, if your silvers/whites take to dyeing well, then the sky's the limit for playing around with the colours. Mine was resistant, plus I have hard-to-match all-colour tawny hair, so that helped me go au-nat. Like hennalonghair, I also got sick of doing touch-ups. It grows old real quick! I love how these days you can set your own fashion statement (YAY for ombre!) as there's no real set trend to "adhere" to. And, I've gotta say, the fantastic people here on the boards have helped me not only accept, but have fun with my greying hair! The big plus is, I've noticed that as my own confidence with it grows, so does acceptance! Or maybe I don't care so much about other opinions any more...

Agnes Hannah, have you got pics? Yours sounds so divine! And Stormynights, I've seen a pic somewhere on here of your gorgeous, long and wavy silver mane! The waves just add so much tone to the colour!

[Groovy Granny]

I started seeing silver at age 50 and it came in across the front (fringe and temples), then in the back from scalp to the top.
When I bunned my hair it was 50/50...white/silver on top when brushed back, and dark brown on the bottom.
Now the back/crown/sides are filling in and the division is much less noticeable.

[DollyDagger]

Just beginning~
Cold turkey..Stopped box dye and am letting them come in as they please. 2" growth so far.

Theyre coming in evenly dispersed looking like fine highlites mostly on the crown. Not much at all in the back,sides or at temples.

[Saldana]

It started at my temples, then across the front. The back is still fairly dark reddish brown. Consequently, when my hair is up, I have mostly silver hair, with a dark reddish gold brown bun in the back. :shrug:

[DollyDagger]

It started at my temples, then across the front. The back is still fairly dark reddish brown. Consequently, when my hair is up, I have mostly silver hair, with a dark reddish gold brown bun in the back. :shrug:

That must look really nice :)

[Groovy Granny]

Just beginning~
Cold turkey..Stopped box dye and am letting them come in as they please. 2" growth so far.

Theyre coming in evenly dispersed looking like fine highlites mostly on the crown. Not much at all in the back,sides or at temples.
It must be so pretty :)

It started at my temples, then across the front. The back is still fairly dark reddish brown. Consequently, when my hair is up, I have mostly silver hair, with a dark reddish gold brown bun in the back. :shrug:

I started seeing silver at age 50 and it came in across the front (fringe and temples), then in the back from scalp to the top.
When I bunned my hair it was 50/50...white/silver on top when brushed back, and dark brown on the bottom.
Now the back/crown/sides are filling in and the division is much less noticeable.


That must look really nice

It is unique...and speaking personally....it takes getting used to; at first I wasn't a fan lol
Then I embraced it...it is OUR HAIRPRINT after all :thumbsup:

[DollyDagger]

:) for sure GG all unique and beautiful in their very own way.. hairprint is a great way of looking at it.:hifive:

[Inching Along]

I found my first grays when I was 7 years old, right on top of my head. I used to have my mom cut them, but then they would grow straight up, so I stopped that pretty quickly. :) I used to get the strange questions from kids at school, like "Did you know you have paint in your hair?" LOL! Over time, it became a silver streak and is my signature look. Because of how I part my hair, it is a streak on my left side. Oh, but you wanted to know how I am graying! I noticed silvers coming in in my bangs first, and then interspersed throughout my hair. But now I have more in the front (though still not at my temples, strangely), and I have noticed some more smaller streaks in the back. I sometimes have a demipermanent color (deposit only color) put on at the salon, but I always have the stylist leave my silver streak out so it is not colored. It's my trademark, after all. Not sure yet whether I'll color again; I like that it fades away over the course of a few months so I don't have the line of demarcation as it grows.

[Groovy Granny]

:) for sure GG all unique and beautiful in their very own way.. hairprint is a great way of looking at it.:hifive:
I am sure someone on LHC made that remark in another thread and I'll be darned if I can recall where/who!
So if the OP sees this ...or someone else knows who it was...be my guest and credit them or yourself; I am not the originator of that phrase :wannabe:

I found my first grays when I was 7 years old, right on top of my head. I used to have my mom cut them, but then they would grow straight up, so I stopped that pretty quickly. :) I used to get the strange questions from kids at school, like "Did you know you have paint in your hair?" LOL! Over time, it became a silver streak and is my signature look. Because of how I part my hair, it is a streak on my left side. Oh, but you wanted to know how I am graying! I noticed silvers coming in in my bangs first, and then interspersed throughout my hair. But now I have more in the front (though still not at my temples, strangely), and I have noticed some more smaller streaks in the back. I sometimes have a demipermanent color (deposit only color) put on at the salon, but I always have the stylist leave my silver streak out so it is not colored. It's my trademark, after all. Not sure yet whether I'll color again; I like that it fades away over the course of a few months so I don't have the line of demarcation as it grows.
Wow...age 7 ?! That's incredible!
Your silver pattern is very pretty with your curls! :)

[Inching Along]

I am sure someone on LHC made that remark in another thread and I'll be darned if I can recall where/who!
So if the OP sees this ...or someone else knows who it was...be my guest and credit them or yourself; I am not the originator of that phrase :wannabe:

Wow...age 7 ?! That's incredible!
Your silver pattern is very pretty with your curls! :)

GG, there is also a hair coloring system called Hairprint, so it may be coming into common vernacular, like fingerprint or footprint. :)

Yep, I was 7 years old. But that's just when I noticed it. I wonder how long I had had it. My mom never said anything about it, so maybe I really was 7 when it appeared. I have always said it was some sort of birthmark. An endocrinologist once told me it was a marker for autoimmune disease. I have an autoimmune disease, but as far as I know, I didn't when I was that young.

[DollyDagger]

^inching along
There was a family friends daughter who had the coolest stark white streak against her black hair since she was a baby. I always admired it and wished I had one and thought it was cool. I have heard it is a type of birthmark. My brother-in-law and his brother both have a tuft of white hair at the back of their heads.

[Groovy Granny]

GG, there is also a hair coloring system called Hairprint, so it may be coming into common vernacular, like fingerprint or footprint. :)

Yep, I was 7 years old. But that's just when I noticed it. I wonder how long I had had it. My mom never said anything about it, so maybe I really was 7 when it appeared. I have always said it was some sort of birthmark. An endocrinologist once told me it was a marker for autoimmune disease. I have an autoimmune disease, but as far as I know, I didn't when I was that young.
Come to think of it...they may have used the term FINGERPRINT.
Ugh...my poor old brain some days :rolleyes:

Interesting info :thumbsup:

[Inching Along]

^inching along
There was a family friends daughter who had the coolest stark white streak against her black hair since she was a baby. I always admired it and wished I had one and thought it was cool. I have heard it is a type of birthmark. My brother-in-law and his brother both have a tuft of white hair at the back of their heads.

Oh, so cool! I do love the contrast with darker hair.