Going Gray...?

I started getting my first few grays in my mid 20s. I'm about to turn 40 and have a few salties on the side. I have no intention of dying my hair, I'm just happy that it continues to grow from my scalp. My mom's dad had a full head of white hair in his old age, and my dad has a full head of thinning brownish grey hair. We'll see...

 

i started getting greys in my late teens (cheers for the Genes, dad!!)

 

I am 41 now and forst noticed grey hairs when i was 37.

 

My male lover has gotten rid of all his .... (oh, sorry), I thought this thread was saying something different.

 

Mid teens.
You cannot escape from genetics.
After all my last name means "white hair"
Nicely done grandpa!

 

Started seeing some gray in the beard at around 35. Only a few stray gray hairs on my head at 37, but the beard is quite salt and pepper colored now.

 

I've noticed a couple but I'm not worried, at least I'm not going bald.

 

I was a redhead.

In my mid 20's a few white hairs started to show up in beard and temples.
Hair stylist said you will be all white by 40!!!!!!!!!!!!.

She missed by a few, by 45 people were telling me that my boys had blonde hair just like me. I just smile and thank them.

I am going to end up with Santa Claus white hair and beard not grey.
I'll take it. It beats going bald. (Not that there is anything wrong with that!)

 

I'll be 28 in October and I've had a couple (maybe 10)and am gradually gaibning more.....IT'S THE STRESS MAN IT'S THE STRESS!!!!!!!!!!

 

Bring on the gray... it's better than a flesh tone dome!

 

I had one grey hair from age 16 to 19 or 20. I might count it as two because a friend of mine grabbed it and unceremoniously yanked it out in class during our senior year of high school. I guess that she didn't realize that men, more afraid of baldness than greyness, generally do not pluck grey hairs. Over the ensuing 14 years, I've noticed that, all else being equal, the number of gery hairs seems to double about every 3 years, faster in times of stress. The interval may be a bit longer becuase I'm not sure I have 32 grey hairs (although I might).
The reason I can give such precise numbers with some confidence is that I've had long hair since my early teens. This allowed me to make another interesting observation. The hairs do not just turn grey one day and thenceforth grow out of my head grey (colorless). Beginning with that first plucked hair, I noticed that the color fades over a length that would correspond to 4-6months of growth. My hair is dark brown, and the hairs fade through red to a pale sand before they turn white. Surprisingly, some of the hairs will regain their color for a few months a long as a year or more after they initially turn grey. Once a grey hair naturally falls out of the follicle (about 4 years), the hair that grows back to replace it is white. When you look at one of my newly grey hairs, it's brown at the tip, fades to clear, stays clear for a few inches, then returns to brown for a few inches before finally becoming permenantly clear. I've also noticed that my ordinarly dead straight hairs become a bit corse and wavy when they first turn grey. They seem to return to their normal texture after they have been grey for six months to a year.
HESSIAN

 

you sound worried lol

 

All I ever wanted to learn about grey hair, I learned in one post folks.

I am suprised with all this technology and medical science that we have yet to develop a cure for grey hair.
I don't have any yet but I do know its comming soon, as my family gets the greys early. I dont really want grey hair but if thats what fate has in store for me than so be it. Its better than going bald in my opinion but even so I don't view baldness as such a big deal. If your hair falls out, it falls out. Then agian my viewpoint is a bit limited- my hair hasn't started to fall out.

 

I think you get the genes from your mom, right? (I'm not trying to make a your mama joke)

 

I haven't looked into the genetics of hair loss and hair greying in any great depth, but some years ago my dermatologist (prof. at GW) said that the old idea that baldness comes from your mom's father is a bit of a myth. You can get it from both sides, so if your dad still has a full head of hair at an advanced age, but your mom's father was a cueball at age 25, then you may well have inherited a propensity for baldness through your mom.

 

I have a lock of gray hair from when I was electrocuted.

 

From the little that I know about genetics. The guy's Y chromosome, from the XY sex chromosomes, really don't have any genes expressed (except a few like sex characteristic of SRY). So I heard that baldness was on the X, which comes from the mother. She could've gotten it from her dad or from her mom (either her dad or mom, etc!). So I am uncertain, too.

 

If male pattern baldness is simply one sex linked gene, then you are exactly correct. I meant to add that the baldness of your mother's father is not entirely dispositive with regard to the future foliage of you own pate. As you pointed out your mom may have gotten the gene from her mom, and she in turn from hers. You need to look at all of the male members of your mom's family to see how prevalent and severe the baldness is. Male pattern baldness is triggered by the conversion of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone (DHT). So there are several factors in play (amount of testosterone, quantity of the enzyme 5-alpha reductase that converts testosterone to DHT, and the sensitivity of the hair folicles), which are governed by several genes. Here is a link with some basic information:

www.bernsteinmedical.com/hair-loss/men-cause.php

it's a commercial hair restoration clinic, but their little tutorial seems decent enough.
HESSIAN

 

i laugh everytime you say that.

 

I was more afraid of noticing long ear hair...

 

i've just turned 20, and i'm already starting to bald. my scalp, on top, is quite noticeable. pretty frustrating. i was expecting to start losing my hair in my 40s. not 20.

 

Do you find that you have quite a bit of hair on your hands after applying shampoo in the shower?

 

Excellent website.