Is This Possible?? (help please)

[chipzahoy]

I've heard that peoples hair can change color over time as they age, but can hair change color very abruptly?

I ask this because today I was idly massaging my scalp and noticed that on more than a few shed hairs, there was a very clear line of demarcation about 1cm up from the root, showing light brown hair. My hair is naturally black and my entire head has about 1.5" of black roots growing out, so this was very surprising.

I can't determine exactly where on my head these hairs with light roots are coming from but it seems like theyre near the back because I can't see any on my crown in the mirror. This is really unusual and I'm kinda weirded out by it! I didn't know exactly what to "search" for so I put up a new thread. Does anybody else have a similar experience or know what's going on?

[Dreams_in_Pink]

My shed hairs always have like an inch or two fine, light brown roots too! As i look down the strand however, it gets coarser and darker.

Unfortunately, my texture and color hasn't changed (i wish it would!) I really wonder why this happens.

[jera]

Sometimes if a hair has reached it's terminal length, the portion near the root will be finer and appear lighter in color whereas a hair that falls out or tears out but has not reached it's terminal length will be thicker and the same color throughout the hairshaft.

[chipzahoy]

Jera, wow! I'd never known that... or noticed these hairs before, for that matter. I'm not ready for all those little hairs to be at terminal length!

At least it's not the other thing that I thought could be happening... that I could be turning into a mutant

[Dreams_in_Pink]

Jera, wow! I'd never known that... or noticed these hairs before, for that matter. I'm not ready for all those little hairs to be at terminal length!

At least it's not the other thing that I thought could be happening... that I could be turning into a mutant

Don't worry, I've been to waist length before and i've had these roots all my life. I don't think we're at terminal (it's APL and SL, come on! )

[Merewen]

Also, those hairs have been trimmed a lot. It's not so much terminal LENGTH as TIME. Those hairs have grown for a few years and have had several inches trimmed off. They are done now and ready to shed out. It doesn't mean short terminal LENGTH.

[pixi_stix]

The change in hair color occurs when melanin ceases to be produced in the hair root and new hairs grow in without pigment. The stem-cells at the base of hair follicles produce melanocytes, the cells that produce and store pigment in hair and skin. Malnutrition is also known to cause hair to become lighter, thinner, and more brittle. Dark hair may turn red-ish or blond-ish due to the decreased production of melanin. The condition is reversible with proper nutrition.

[GRU]

You think that's weird? I've plucked gray hairs before (I KNOW, I KNOW, I DON'T DO IT ANYMORE!!!!) that were white on the ends (which is why I plucked 'em -- they were poking out!) and then partway up they had strawberry blonde color again!

It wasn't even a one-time thing, either.... been happening for the past decade or so, from all different parts of my head. It's like my gray hair has a stutter or something!

[Jammy]

Wow may have just found the answer to this puzzle in a link a kind LHCer posted!!

Dr. Desmond Tobin, professor of cell biology from the University of Bradford in England, suggests that the hair follicle has a “melanogentic clock” which slows down or stops melanocyte activity, thus decreasing the pigment our hair receives. This occurs just before the hair is preparing to fall out or shed, so the roots always look pale.

from:http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/grayhair.html


It just means those particular hairs were getting ready to fall out and the meltonin production stopped!