Calling all people who have white hairs!

[Bedhead]

Hello, and thank you for looking! :)

This seems to be my year for getting white hairs, so it's fairly new to me. I was wondering if any of you noticed the white hairs taking forever to grow? I have baby hairs that came in at the same time as some of the whites and they are twice, if not three times as long as the white hairs. Is this normal? :brains:

[Amarante]

That's how some of mine are! I have some that are just about 1" long, wavy, and never grow any longer than that. But then I have some others that do grow out, without the wavy texture. Weird. :/

[spidermom]

I haven't paid much attention. I did just look at my length and discovered that I don't have any of the wirey white hairs in the bottom half of my length, but I've got plenty of the fine silvery ones.

[Madora]

Yes, mine are relatively short and they seem to be taking their sweet time growing longer.

Strangely, the silver sparklies I have have fared much better and are past my waist.

I wonder...does white hair grow more slowly...or is it attributable to your genes, nutrition, activity level?

[gazelle]

I noticed the same thing. Some of the white hairs are too coarse, don't grow and curlier, I did not understand why. But the thin white hairs grow normally and they can be blended in with henna

[Seeshami]

I have black, blond and white hairs that do this. The little annoying curly never going any where hairs generally get pulled out when I am frustrated.

[MissHair]

Yep, I got white hairs early. I got a few, maybe 5 and they are all no longer than 5 inches and very very thin, baby hair thin. Odd.

[spidermom]

I wonder if my coarse, wirey white hairs have a short terminal length. I don't have any that are as long as shoulder length -- they all seem to be maybe 4-5 inches long at most.

[terylenerose]

I don't know anything about why white hairs wouldn't grow very long. My 3 white ones were always the same length as my regular brown ones, although I believe they were thicker. I am writing in the past tense because I have only one half inch of virgin hair at the moment due to growing out dye and the whites are nowhere to be seen. I hope they come back.

[Amazinggrace]

My white hairs at thicker, wavy, and grow faster than my regular hair, but they are also begining to outnumber my regular hairs.

[Bedhead]

Interesting.... Yeah, the ones I have are thicker than the rest of my hair, a bit corse, and straighter and don't seem to grow more than 2 inches, some appear (not really sure) to have stopped after just 1 inch. I haven't got any thin white or silver hairs. I was hoping it meant my hair would go bright white, as opposed to the yellowy colour some reds go, but if they're not growing....



I wonder...does white hair grow more slowly...or is it attributable to your genes, nutrition, activity level?

I wonder? I'm fairly active and eat quite healthily, and neither of my parents are fully grey yet in their early 70's, and neither are red in any way (skipped a generation). Would you care to elaborate on what you were thinking here, Madora?

[darklyndsea]

Except for one that's still a baby hair, I have 4 or 5 white hairs...which all somehow made it to ~waist before I noticed them. It kind of makes me feel like those hairs turned white after they'd already grown out that far, but I don't think that's possible...

[Madora]

Interesting.... Yeah, the ones I have are thicker than the rest of my hair, a bit corse, and straighter and don't seem to grow more than 2 inches, some appear (not really sure) to have stopped after just 1 inch. I haven't got any thin white or silver hairs. I was hoping it meant my hair would go bright white, as opposed to the yellowy colour some reds go, but if they're not growing....



I wonder? I'm fairly active and eat quite healthily, and neither of my parents are fully grey yet in their early 70's, and neither are red in any way (skipped a generation). Would you care to elaborate on what you were thinking here, Madora?

Bedhead, I don't know if it is due to my age, genes, or lack of activity but my white hairs don't seem to do much in the way of growing. However, my brown short hairs seem to continue growing longer and longer.

I wonder if the absence of pigment could have something to do with it.

While I've seen plenty of beautiful mid back and waist length hair, I've never seen anyone with full white hip or knee length.

Which lengths prompts the question...how soon did their hair start changing from its original color and how long did it take for ALL their hair to become white/silver? Does silver/gray hair take longer to grow than solid colored hair?

Genetics play a part in how soon you start greying...but I haven't a clue as to why the pure white (not silver) hairs don't seem to grow as fast as solid color hairs (or even my sparklies). My white hairs stay relatively short (under 4 inches and they seem to be concentrated along my hairline).

[amanda_the_tall]

yep, i've had silver hairs since i was 16, they don't seem to have grown much, they get to around 4 inches long then stop, its weird.

[silverpiper]

my white hairs are very fine and fragile- they do seem to grow slowly

[Bedhead]

Thanks for answering, everyone :flower:

I'm going to do a little research, and if I find anything wil report back.


Bedhead, I don't know if it is due to my age, genes, or lack of activity but my white hairs don't seem to do much in the way of growing. However, my brown short hairs seem to continue growing longer and longer.

I wonder if the absence of pigment could have something to do with it.

While I've seen plenty of beautiful mid back and waist length hair, I've never seen anyone with full white hip or knee length.

Which lengths prompts the question...how soon did their hair start changing from its original color and how long did it take for ALL their hair to become white/silver? Does silver/gray hair take longer to grow than solid colored hair?

Genetics play a part in how soon you start greying...but I haven't a clue as to why the pure white (not silver) hairs don't seem to grow as fast as solid color hairs (or even my sparklies). My white hairs stay relatively short (under 4 inches and they seem to be concentrated along my hairline).

There's a woman in the NW/SO thread who was an amazing source of both support and motivation for everyone else, and a couple times I saw a picture of her with her hair down. It was about waist length and only the bottom 6-8" was dark with some grey streaking though, but there was a distinct line (not as strong as if she dyed it, at least I'm pretty sure it wasn't dyed) where everything went all grey, which leads me to believe even a hair that already has colour can lose its pigment. Maybe I'll PM her and ask if she wouldn't mind telling us.

There are people with a full head of bright white hair (usually Asian haired or Carrot top haired people), so what's the difference? Why does there white hairs grow and not ours?

I have some work cut out for me.

Have a wonderful day! :)

[Madora]

Thanks for answering, everyone :flower:

I'm going to do a little research, and if I find anything wil report back.



There's a woman in the NW/SO thread who was an amazing source of both support and motivation for everyone else, and a couple times I saw a picture of her with her hair down. It was about waist length and only the bottom 6-8" was dark with some grey streaking though, but there was a distinct line (not as strong as if she dyed it, at least I'm pretty sure it wasn't dyed) where everything went all grey, which leads me to believe even a hair that already has colour can lose its pigment. Maybe I'll PM her and ask if she wouldn't mind telling us.

There are people with a full head of bright white hair (usually Asian haired or Carrot top haired people), so what's the difference? Why does there white hairs grow and not ours?

I have some work cut out for me.

Have a wonderful day! :)

Thank you, Bedhead, for investigating further. I'll look forward to reading if you learned anything further about this issue.

Usually the graying begins at the top and works it way down..but not always in a nice, even way.

I was really surprised last month when one of my shed hairs was pure dark brown all the way down until the final 1/8th inch at the tip..which was pure white, with no gradual gradation in color from the brown to the white. I've never seen virgin hair (albeit just a single strand) with such coloring! Should have saved it!

[newbeginning]

My white hairs are coarser than my regularly coarse hair and short and wiry as well.

[Darkhorse1]

Hello fellow Canadian!!
Yep--my grays seem to take way longer to grow--though I've been proud to find much longer grays lately :D Sad to be proud of it, but I want to be an old lady with a nice, long thick white braid. :)

[mira-chan]

I've had white hairs that shifted from brown to white and back a couple of times before they settled on white.

I've had some white hairs since early teens and now have a streak of whites. I noticed that they drew slowly at first but now are growing the same as the rest of the hairs.

[Bedhead]

Okay, so far this is what I've found to answer some of our questions:

This site has laid it out quite simply for us (maybe because it's for kids :P), and many other sites concur http://kidshealth.org/kid/grownup/getting_older/gray_hair.html

As we get older, the pigment cells in our hair follicles gradually die. When there are fewer pigment cells in a hair follicle, that strand of hair will no longer contain as much melanin and will become a more transparent color — like gray, silver, or white — as it grows.

I also read somewhere else (forgot to copy the url) that depending on the diet, this can potentially be reversed and the pigment cells will start producing melanin again and the hair will go back to its original colour.

And

From the time a person notices a few gray hairs, it may take more than 10 years for all of that person's hair to turn gray.

I'm still searching for the growth rate factor of those white hairs though.

[Bedhead]

Hello fellow Canadian!!
Yep--my grays seem to take way longer to grow--though I've been proud to find much longer grays lately :D Sad to be proud of it, but I want to be an old lady with a nice, long thick white braid. :)

Hey there Darkhorse1! :)

I too had a similar dream only mine was in a bun and I had a million lines all over my beautiful face with sparkling eyes. :p


I've had white hairs that shifted from brown to white and back a couple of times before they settled on white.
Ah ha! This goes with what I found above! Good to know someone had experienced it. Was there any factors you noticed that seemed to trigger the changes?


I've had some white hairs since early teens and now have a streak of whites. I noticed that they drew slowly at first but now are growing the same as the rest of the hairs.
Hmmm. Are these the thicker white hairs or ones that are of the same thickness as your other hair?

[Madora]

Okay, so far this is what I've found to answer some of our questions:

This site has laid it out quite simply for us (maybe because it's for kids :P), and many other sites concur http://kidshealth.org/kid/grownup/getting_older/gray_hair.html


I also read somewhere else (forgot to copy the url) that depending on the diet, this can potentially be reversed and the pigment cells will start producing melanin again and the hair will go back to its original colour.

And


I'm still searching for the growth rate factor of those white hairs though.

Thanks for the follow up, Bedhead.

[turtlelover]

Mine seem to grow at the same rate, but I do have some that seem straighter than the rest of my hair, which annoys me greatly.

[Honestwitness]

Most of my hairs are white now, although there are still plenty of brown ones. None of them of either color are anything other than fine. Most of the hairs I shed are white. Every once in a while I will find a really long, brown hair that was shed and it always surprises me. I once found a shed hair that was white on the lower/older half and brown on the upper/newer half. That was really a surprise.

It is possible for hairs to become white in an instant. I know a man who has brown hair normally. But he was in a near-miss accident with a semi truck and the shock of the incident turned all the hair on one spot on the side of his head totally white. It stayed white for a long time, but finally new brown hairs grew in and all the white ones fell out.

[NormaJean]

It seems like when I find the stark white hairs, they are sticking straight out much shorter than the other ones..... so I'm going to assume that they do indeed grow more slowly. They do also seem to be thicker/coarser.

I wish there were more of them, TBH. Is that a weird thing to say at 28 years old? I guess I just like seeing something different about my plain jane dark blonde/mousy brown color. ^_^

[Vasilissa]

In my early twenties I have some white hairs too. Sometimes, when I get upset with it, I search for them and pluck them out. Doing so I have noticed, that a hair can become white for a year period or so and then gain the pigmentation back. Don't know why it is happening like that though, maybe due to some stress or nutrition issues.

Few of my whites were aound 10'' long, few were coarse, mainly they have same texture, just loose the colour.

[ktani]

My white hair is no different to my other hair except in colour. I found while experimenting with getting more catnip colour, that I have long ones that are just as long as my longest hair. With catnip use and no build-up, they are no different in texture or dryness, or in any other way, except lack of pigment. And growth is not an issue either.

[mira-chan]

Hmmm. Are these the thicker white hairs or ones that are of the same thickness as your other hair?
All of my hair has started growing thicker when the thicker whites came in so they are really no different than the rest. Around 20 my hair switched from coase-ish medium to coarse, that's when most of the white streak started coming in.

[Kelikea]

I had a white hair that kept showing up right at the front of my hair line. It was always just under 1 inch long, and kinda stood out, so I just kept pulling it. Its not there any more:)

[Bedhead]

I'm back. It seems these hairs I was talking about has a different growing rate than my other hairs. They stood at 11/2" - 2" for a couple months and then one morning I woke up to find they had not only grown, but caught up to the other hairs they started with, all except one, but the one is a different quality and doesn't know if it's white or red.

There was a study done which suggested the reasoning for this is

Nuclear differentiation in the suprabulbar region of hair shafts revealed an earlier, and more intensive, condensation of chromatin in pigmented hair than in white hair.

I somewhat understand this, but not completely. All it tells me is I wasn't going insane. :P

Have a lovely day!

[CarpeDM]

Oh yes, I have this problem too! They seem to be an inch or two long FOREVER and stick out like a sore thumb, I wish they would hurry up grow and blend already!!

[caadam]

I have white hairs all over the place. The interesting thing is that sometimes when I have a white hair fall out, the part of the hair that grew from the scalp will be almost black! So the hair was white, but after a while was turning back to my normal hair color. o___O

[nobeltonya]

I have 2 or 3, nice THICK healthy looking WHITE [not gray] hairs coming in on the right side of my head... they're a good 6 inches long.. they're under the hair, but sometimes find their way up, especially when I put my hair up.. at least I'm holding out longer than both my mom and Nanny. They got gray young. Mom was about my age, and after 3 kids, and Nanny was like 20 when she started.... :/

[exclusively di]

I have had white hairs around my face since my early 20's. They are the exact same texture as my regular hair and grow just as fast. I am 55 now and over the course of the years have had most of my hair fall out 3 times. results of intense stress. Each time it grew back white, except the 1st, it grew back grey that time. After a while I would see the colour begin to re-appear in the new growth and the old. The hairs actually looked sort of speckled, white, colour, white, colour at varying intervals. Now I am almost pure white in front and the back is a very pale rendition of my former colour. I am told my colour now is platinum, as it really isn't grey. It is baby fine, about 4 inches below my waist and is super shiny. The one difference I have found is that my hair will curl now where that was out of the question when it had more colour. I use syrum in the very bottom and roll it in a rag curl about 5-6 inches. When I take it out it holds. Yay!