Going silver/white: who do you take after?

[gossamer]

Those of you who are going or have gone silver/white, do you take after a particular parent? Or grandparent?

I'm curious because my father has had this marvelous silver/white mix since he was about 40, but my mother at nearly sixty has whites at her temples and scattered a bit over the rest of her hair. I really hope to take after my father. :)

Thanks in advance for your replies!

[Anje]

I'm totally taking after my mother. My dad got gray at his temples, just above his ears first. My mom developed a gray patch on the top of her head that formed a bit of a streak. I've got that same patch starting to come in. If I've got to go gray, I hope I get a nice racing stripe.

[Slinks]

my hair colour is the same as my Dad's was, only problem is that he started going grey very early in his life 20's and it started as half and half, very nice .. I'm 46 and barely have any greys about 20, that I can see, there is more of course, this is just a figure .. my Mum has very dark hair, I've never seen her natural colour, she started going grey in her teens as with my sister and my aunty .. my Dad has absolutely gorgeous soft white hair, my fingers are crossed .. my grandfather from my Mum's side had gorgeous soft white hair too and I think my hair is the same colour as that too .. thanks for this thread, now I'll have to see when he started going grey, early or late !! lol ..

ETA: I'm sure I can see some silvers in my siggy :-) bring it on !!

[RitaPG]

I take after myself. My dad started going gray around 40, and my mom around 50. I was barely 16 when I found my first gray strands. My mom thinks it's weird and unnatural. To be honest, so do I, but I'm ok with it.

[jojo]

My mum has only a sprinkling of silvers, her hair completely different to mine its coarse and curly.

My dad hair was curly when he was younger but when he started going silver at 40 his hair got straighter. His hair was baby fine just like mine is.

Thought id share this photo of my lovely dad who sadly passed away on the 6th July 2009, this photo was taken the evening before. His silvers never went coarse either!
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l283/joanna_eglin/15333_208324020782_549665782_4505916_5896392_n-1.jpg

[dulce]

my late mom told me when 1 was younger , both she and her mom never grayed evenly and mainly only at the front leaving the back dark-and that 1'd probably be the same-now that 1 am at 59 she was right..

[spidermom]

I take after nobody I've ever seen in my family, but there are a lot of people I never saw. My golden-blonde hair is going silver and white; I love it.

[jojo]

I take after nobody I've ever seen in my family, but there are a lot of people I never saw. My golden-blonde hair is going silver and white; I love it.

you mean none of your folks had purple hair???? your one in a million I have to say:D

[Slinks]

yeah, Spidermom I'm embracing my silvers too .. I tell eveyone who touches my hair to treat it like silver lining !!! lol .. too funny but I'm serious .. :-)

[Mesmerise]

Hmm I'm not sure! I don't have a large family for much comparison though. I always remember my grandmothers as having grey hair, but one I hardly ever saw (umm twice by the time I was 12 I think) and the other (my mum's mother) actually did go grey really young according to my mum (mid 30s she was totally grey).

On the other hand, neither of my parents is completely grey, and my mum's now 66 and dad's 71 (although they have gone a lot greyer in recent years).

I, on the other hand, seem to have quite a lot of grey/silver especially at the sides. I have no idea how I'd look natural, but I imagine a significant proportion of my hair is grey (not sure how significant though). However, my sister - who's 4 years younger, has never had a single grey hair on her head!!!

[Slinks]

you mean none of your folks had purple hair???? your one in a million I have to say:D

lolololol :lol: :D

[Eden75]

I am taking after my mom's side in the greying early, I found my first at 16. Sadly I didn't get my mother and grandmothers beautiful colour and texture. They both have the fox silver, super soft hair. I have the hard, course whites. Those came from my dad's side. He is Metis, and has hardly any greys (whites as the case may be) in his mid 60's. Oh well, I can hide them for now.

[skyblue]

my mom is in her 70's and hardly a grey hair on her head lol my father now has all grey hair my hair has grey streaks at the temples with a few gray hairs here and there in back of my head

[silverjen]

I *think* I'm taking after my dad. But it's a little hard to tell since my mom has been dyeing and highlighting to hide her silvers. :)

[MandyBeth]

The whites are due to damage from PPD, so my fault. The silvers are from Grampy, who started at 12, I started at 13, and Mom in the pattern of scattered, but focus over cowlicks. I like my sparklies!

[Angela_Rose]

Looks like I'm taking after Mom, but I can't be sure. Dad had leukemia 16 years ago & when he came out on the other side of the chemotherapy, his once coarse, thick, black, curly hair had grown back in fine, medium-thickness, greyish in color, and straight as a pin.

In any case, Mom's greys are lovely. She has a halo of silvers 'round her face and some a bit deeper at her temples. There is a smattering of silver through most of her lovely, auburn hair. I'm starting to see silver at the temples and hairline, with a few strays here and there throughout my canopy.

Yay!

[frizzinator]

I get my white hair from my Dad, who started turning grey in his thirties, and had all white hair by by the time he was fifty years old. My Mom still has blonde hair at 90 years old, but it looks kind-of dull, so I think there must be some grey evenly mixed-in with the blonde.

Jojo, that's a wonderfully attractive photo of your Dad. I think you look like him.

Here is one of my oldest memories..... When I colored with crayons in kindergarten, I always colored hair blue. My teacher frequently told me that humans do not have blue hair, but I repeatedly told her that my father had blue hair.

His hair was gray and he used to slick his hair back with "Wild Root Oil", which must have made it look blue, at least it looked blue to me. I remembered the name "Wild Root Oil", because he used to sing the advertising jingle every day of my life, and I actually think I saw a very old bottle of it in his bathroom cabinet last week!

[Mesmerise]

The whites are due to damage from PPD, so my fault. The silvers are from Grampy, who started at 12, I started at 13, and Mom in the pattern of scattered, but focus over cowlicks. I like my sparklies!

Wha?? So using dye with PPD can cause white hair? Geez I wonder if some of my hairs are whitenened by my own stupidity then :( My mum never dyed her hair, so maybe that's why she retained colour longer??!

[Jenn of Pence]

Mom had jet black hair but started going grey very young (thirties, maybe?). It's hard to know exactly because 1. I was born when she was in her thirties, and 2. she always colored it. But I assume I'm sort of taking after her, since I've had a handful of greys since my mid-twenties. Dad only started greying significantly a few years ago when he hit his sixties. I guess we'll see how I pan out in the long haul...I'll only be turning the big three-oh this year.

[Firefox7275]

Wha?? So using dye with PPD can cause white hair? Geez I wonder if some of my hairs are whitenened by my own stupidity then :( My mum never dyed her hair, so maybe that's why she retained colour longer??!

Someone on here had a nasty allergic reaction to chemical dye, not sure if it was MandyBeth tho. :(

[torrilin]

Those of you who are going or have gone silver/white, do you take after a particular parent? Or grandparent?

I'm curious because my father has had this marvelous silver/white mix since he was about 40, but my mother at nearly sixty has whites at her temples and scattered a bit over the rest of her hair. I really hope to take after my father. :)

Thanks in advance for your replies!

I'm 33. My hair is still a very nice blondish-brownish-reddish. Since my dad's hair was salt and pepper before I was born (so starting by 20ish, and solidly salt and pepper by 29), I know I don't take after him. And in your case, unless you're in your early teens, if there isn't any grey yet... you probably don't take after your dad either.

My mom did not start greying until long after menopause - sometime around 55, she started having "blonde" highlights growing in when her hair had always been a pretty dark ash brown. Nope, not highlights... she was *finally* going grey. So I know I take after her, and because my hair color is nowhere near as dark as hers, I won't know I'm greying until after she did. Plus, there's a lot of reason to think that she actually went grey *early*, since the grey started showing up when she needed a hip replacement.

[Siava]

My dad was salt and pepper all over. Mom has really cool looking hair - it's white in front and steel gray in the back. I'm getting a lot of steel gray on my crown and a white skunk stripe in front. I'm hoping it turns out like hers. I really dig the color changes and I'm always happy when others embrace their grays/whites, too. :)

[Rini]

Definitely my Mum who started going grey at 16 (me too!) and was completely white by late 30s (yup.....same here).

I'm loving it :inlove:

[gossamer]

Thanks to everyone who replied! I posted this and then got sucked away from the computer for 24 hours by a host of other things, and now there have been too many replies to thank all of you individually.

You've whetted my curiosity and for that I am thankful. :)

I had a couple of whites show up when I was 20 (and I do mean just like 2 or 3) and I haven't seen any since. Drat, I guess I won't be joining you silver haired beauties anytime soon. :P