How old were you when you started getting gray hair?...

[Tammy]

I started getting it last year....at 44 years of age.....geeze. LOL

Tammy

[Tracey in TX]

Found first gray hair this year and was mortified (42y/o). Quick reminder it's time to maintain the hair coloring :)

BFF started getting gray hair as freshman in high school! LOL Nothing like picking hair during a football game.

[Tammyla]

I had a few at 38. Now....:svengo:

Oh, and for the record you look way younger than that.

[Perry]

I found the first one at 22, but they were very sporadic until I was about 40. Then they started taking over.

[elegantlion]

The first came in right before my 37th birthday. I promptly plucked them, put them in a baggie and put them in my baby book along with my first haircut clippings. Why not?

Now at 41, they are more resistant and have since recruited more hair to revolt against my natural brown. I am losing the battle with hair coloring, but will continue to fight.

[Melinda TX]

I'm with Perry. 22 I found my first gray. I'm 42 now, and a happy customer of Preference by Loreal!

[Jackie in AR]

I was around 42, also.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I'm 44 and would look very distinguished as a man! I have a lot of white/grey hair at my temples. (I don't think it's fair that it looks good on a man but tends to make a woman look washed out!)

[Diann]

Tammy, I got my first gray hair at about the same age as you did; I'm 46 now. I don't color my hair, but that's because my hair is blond and the gray doesn't show. My dh, on the other hand, has silver hair at 50.

Diann

[Tammyla]

Too sweet and funny:D.

The first came in right before my 37th birthday. I promptly plucked them, put them in a baggie and put them in my baby book along with my first haircut clippings. Why not?

Now at 41, they are more resistant and have since recruited more hair to revolt against my natural brown. I am losing the battle with hair coloring, but will continue to fight.

[Karen sn]

I was 19 when I found my first very long strand of what I thought of as white.
It was not not grey.
Luckily for me the sun gives me highlights and it all blends well.
You have to really look hard - some people don't believe me until I make them take a closer look.

My best friend thinks that my hair is different....it's not grey or white - it's the absence of color.

Maybe that's why it blends in so well.
And I don't even really know what color the other hair is. I think of myself as being brown with major sunkissed highlights. It looks that way in pictures.

But my db thought I had blond hair the first time he saw it in the morning sunlight. And recently he reported back to me some neighborhood gossip from his old hood......he's dating some hot blonde.

If they only knew it was absence of color........

I used to use red henna - it covered it well.
Don't ever use it on hair that's been chemically treated. You can only use it on your virgin hair.

[Jann in TX]

I had a few here and there since I was 35 or so.

By the time I was 41 some one asked me if I had been painting...
Loreal is also my good friend now.

I would leave it be--if it were evenly distributed--but right now it would look like a SKUNK stripe right down the center. I do have a bit near my ears--but not much yet.

Since I'm not ready to imitate a skunk, I choose to rebel and color. I only 'need' to do it every 8 weeks and so far my hair is still soft and silky (no visible damage). I use a color VERY close to my natural one. It took a while to find it (pink/orange hair was not my intentions).

[Geo]

I noticed a few strays around 17 or 18. It seems to run in the family...2 of my children had them by their late teens-early 20's. I am not exceptionally gray at 50, though I do still color my hair. My big question is:
When in good taste should I stop coloring?

Geo

[KAR120C]

I had a few in my teens, more in my twenties (that's when I started dyeing my hair...) and now in my 30s they're in a STRIPE. Which could look dramatic if only it wasn't quite so, well, skunk-like.

I wouldn't mind going grey if it was all over, or at the temples, or something normal, but it just looks dumb the way it is... so I'll be "Navaho Bronze" for a bit longer. Fortunately the grocery store has me figured out and about every six weeks the register printer spits out a $3 off coupon. Imagine that. Of all the "big brother" freaky data collection schemes... it's better than the Oil of Olay coupon I got for my 30th birthday. :glare:

[dirty ethel rackham]

I noticed my first one at around 40 or 41. I just plucked them because they stuck out (literally.) However, in the past few months, I have noticed a lot more. I am almost 45. My sisters, however, started coloring for covering gray in their mid thirties. My mom was significantly gray by 30 (but I never new because she colored it.)

[crazycoffeechic]

I was in highschool.
My aunt found mine when she was cutting my hair.

[Little Debbie]

I noticed a few at 27...funny, that's how old I was when ds was born! Coincidence? Probably not! :001_smile:
Deb

(reminder to self: re-read what you've typed before hitting enter!)

[Crissy]

I've noticed a rapid mulitiplication of grays in this past year. I am 37.

[Wendy In KS]

I started getting gray hairs at 18. Now, at 28, I need to dye my hair if I don't want to be 25% gray. My dad has always been gray as long as I can remember. And my dh (also 28) is very gray, but he keeps his hair really short, so its not that obvious. I like to color and highlight mine, but its been a couple months (okay,maybe since Christmas?) and its looking pretty scary :eek:

[Mosaicmind]

My kids are quick to point out all of my gray hairs. I believe it was a couple of years ago or so, maybe 35 or 36? Not for sure. I am 39 now.

[Kay in Cal]

My ds who is 6 has several silver hairs, all in one spot on top of his head. Is he going grey by the end of elementary?

I have quite a few, but you'd never know it... I've dyed my hair since high school.

[kpupg]

I started getting it last year....at 44 years of age.....

In my 20's. Count yourself lucky.
Karen

[abbeyej]

I'm not sure exactly. Very early 20s, certainly. Now, at 30, I'd still only have a few dozen, I think, but they're definitely noticeable in my dark, curly hair.

I'll grow old gracefully... Later. But for now... Medium brown, here I come.

[abbeyej]

My ds who is 6 has several silver hairs, all in one spot on top of his head. Is he going grey by the end of elementary?

I have a friend who is two years younger than I. She had dark hair with a small shock of white at the top of her head from age 4 or 5 at the latest. It's still there, but she's not going gray yet by any means.

(BTW, I haven't seen her mother in many years, but I believe she had the same pattern.)

[Pencil Pusher]

Does white count? I'm 28, & I've been getting those around my temples for at least a year now.

But if you count eyebrows, I've had a couple since I was in highschool. :glare:

[dragons in the flower bed]

I noticed several white hairs when I was 20. Every year there's another one or two. I have no plans to dye. I think women with silvery hair are beautiful.

[sclisa]

16. They aren't gray, but more white, I suppose, although white doesn't accurately describe them either. Anyway, they began as a couple, but by the time I was 25, I had a streak. Everyone thought it was very cool -- most thought that I'd had it professionally done to "make a statement." :lol:
Now, I dye it because I'm not ready to be as gray as I am. Vain, yes -- but also honest. Dh has gone almost completely gray at 40, but keeps his hair very close to his head, so it looks nice, imo. However, I wonder about our children. They're getting the gene from both sides of the family, poor babies! :D

Lisa

[skimerinkydo]

23. They came here and there until age 34 when my last child was born and the pace picked up quite a bit. My dh does not want me to dye my hair and I'm reluctant to start something I'd have to keep up with.

[E_Edgerton]

I was about thirteen!:glare: It runs in my mother's side of the family...all the women have it and had it early! I have been dying it for years now. No fun.

[Tonia]

I'll be 31 this year -I've got between 5-10 that I pull regularly! :glare:

[LisaK in VA]

I have about a dozen or so (okay, maybe more than a dozen... I have a lot of hair), but they aren't noticeable unless you really look. I started finding more during my pg with my 4th (37 years). Not enough to worry coloring my hair over (even the salon said it wasn't worth it). If I find one that bothers me, I just pull it.

In my 39 years, I've had highlights once... I'm terrified of doing something horrible to my hair!

[Philothea]

I was 25 when I found my first gray, I have had 2 or 3 since then that I know of. I don't know if others are or were hiding in my mop!

[Apiphobic]

I think I was around 33 or 34? The highlights really helped hide them, and I only really noticed the grey when the full weave I'd gotten started growing out. Yikes! I wrote about it in the curly girl thread.

Now I prefer using partial weaves so that it isn't such a shock when it starts growing out. One day I'll be brave and just nix the coloring completely like my mom. Hers looks nice, but her hair isn't as dark as mine. Or maybe it's the grey that makes her hair look lighter ... hmmm.

[emzhengjiu]

I was 20 and in college when a fellow student pointed out that I had some noticeably gray hair. Highlighting took care of the problem for many years but now ... I guess I'm just too gray. I use a semi-permanent color these days but will likely move to a permanent one soon. When I don't color my hair, I get asked way too many times if I'm my daughters' grandmother!

Judy

[Cafelattee]

Worked night shift at the hospital, attending college, and pregnant. I can see why I got white hair.

[Quiver0f10]

After my C section, when I was 34, I got a ton of them, I assume from the meds and since then I have been messing with them and it drives me nuts!

[nancypants]

I'm 31 and don't have any yet. I'm hopeful since my Mom and I have very similar hair colors and you couldn't really see a whole lot of grey in her hair until she was nearing her mid-fifties. I'm hangin' on to that... :D

[Robin in Tx]

You're lucky. By 44 I was at least 50% gray. Probably more. I started graying in my 20s.

[Sena]

Unfortunatly, at 33, I have lots of gray hair. I started graying in my mid-twenties. Like many of you highlighting took care of it for a long time, but now I do a second all over color. I'm just not ready to be gray yet! On that note, I saw a lady with beautiful gray-silver hair cut in a classy bob- it looked great! I like to think I will do that one day, just not yet!

[JESSICAinMD]

I was 20 when I noticed a couple of them. When my husband was deployed they multiplied more rapidly. If I stopped dying my hair I would probably be 25% gray. I wouldn't dare stop now. I have to dye it every 3 weeks. I lighted my color to light brown. I was very dark brown and it was very noticeable when I skipped one week of dying.

[PiCO]

Mid-20s for me. Just a couple clusters. I kind of like them... but I think women look distinguished in gray also. I think prematurely gray hair is beautiful.

[Diane in CO]

I had a few gray hairs in fifth grade (my best friend pointed them out to me) :glare:

I didn't see an increase until my 30's hit and now that I am 37 I get my hair professionally colored every 6-8 weeks.

Diane

[lynn]

40just a few strays. Mother is 63 and hardly has any grey. I am hoping it's heriditary.

[Elaine]

I started getting it last year....at 44 years of age.....geeze. LOL

Tammy

Bah! I was 22 and I have been highlighting ever since!:001_smile:

[Lisa4917]

38 (last year) and they seem to be coming in fast and furious lately. Is there any truth to the old "stress will give you gray hair" theory? Cause it's been a very strange year around here.

My mom, who is 80, has been gray for at least the last 25 years. But a few years ago, one of her kids mentioned her gray hair and she looked totally aghast and exclaimed, "I'm BLOND! What are you talking about?!" It was hilarious. She's not senile but apparently deep in denial about her gray! I plan to follow her example.:001_smile:

[Andie]

I had a few in my teens, more in my twenties (that's when I started dyeing my hair...) and now in my 30s they're in a STRIPE. Which could look dramatic if only it wasn't quite so, well, skunk-like.

I wouldn't mind going grey if it was all over, or at the temples, or something normal, but it just looks dumb the way it is... so I'll be "Navaho Bronze" for a bit longer. Fortunately the grocery store has me figured out and about every six weeks the register printer spits out a $3 off coupon. Imagine that. Of all the "big brother" freaky data collection schemes... it's better than the Oil of Olay coupon I got for my 30th birthday. :glare:


Me too! I was in my teens, and started out with a Bonnie Raitt swirl in the front, but now I've a lovely, WHITE skunk stripe. Ptttht.

I'm coloring for a good while longer.

[NewHomeSchoolMarm]

By age 30 my hair started to gray, ugggg.....Now, I'm 39 and coloring is a way of life for me.

NHSM

[sandyr]

Can't remember exactly, but early 30s

[MeganP]

By my mid-20's I had plenty of white hairs, but they sort of blended with my natural highlights so they weren't too obvious. Now, at 38, the white is obvious. I had my hair colored for a couple of years, but couldn't afford to keep it up so now I'm just embracing my sign of maturity. :)

My mom has been white haired for as long as I can remember, so I always expected to go white really early.

[TraciWA]

I was 16 when I first discoverd mine. It hid for awhile, but not any more!:glare: Yet I am too chicken to start coloring it.

[Jenny in Atl]

About 40. It's only been this last year that I have noticed a bunch more. I wish they would all come at once in a cool way... not spread out and standing straight up! :001_huh:

[Lisa at Home]

Dd pulls them out regularly.

I used to find them on ds as he slept in my lap during church. Now that he's 8, I rarely look, but I'm sure they're there.

Dh was going gray when I met him at age 17. Like Ree recently posted of Marlboro Man, it's one of the things I found attractive. :blush:

~Lisa

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

I started getting it last year....at 44 years of age.....geeze. LOL

Tammy

Seventeen. I am 42 now and significantly grey.

[Mrs Mungo]

I got my first gray (actually, white, not gray) hair the first time my hubby was deployed. I was 30. I'm now 35 and have quite a few peppered in there. My hair is curly so they are hard to see but they are there.

[runningirl71]

I think around 30 y/o as well. I really can't remember now that I am 36! I just remember feeling way too young to have grey hair! Actually, I think mine is white. I am one of these "natural" girls and won't color it, so I call them my natural highlights! :) If I wear my hair down, you can't really tell, but if I wear it up (which I do mostly) you can definitely tell!

[Kimberly Ann]

My hair started going gray in my 20's. I Started using hair color in my late 20's. Now that I'm in my 40's I'm afraid not to use hair color, I don't want to know how gray I am. I would look like a skunk in the transition.

[strider]

I first noticed a streak of gray hair when I was in fifth grade (age 10). It wasn't very noticeable because it was not on the top (it was under other hair).

By college, that streak was quite noticeable, and folks thought I dyed it that way purposely. It was in the front of my head. When I french-braided my hair (pulling the streaked hair back into the braid) it looked really cool.

Everyone expected me to dye my hair for my wedding, but dh wouldn't hear of it. He loves me just the way I am and said he woulnd't know who on earth he was marrying if the streak was gone.

Pregnancy rapidly accelerated the transition from dark hair to white. After dd was born I was heavily salt-and-pepper. My pregnancy with ds pushed my hair color all the way over to white.

I actually prefer the white hair to my former dark brown and have been complimented by many on the color.

I have never dyed my hair, though these days I use a shampoo that helps silver it up a bit.

[Lisa in Jax]

I started getting gray hair about ten years ago, so 32(ish)?

I *LOVE* my gray hair. It turned my dark ash blonde hair lighter and gave me natural highlights. ;-)

Lisa

[Lolly]

He is taking it in stride. Dh started graying in his teens as did his mother. Ds seems to have won the family youngest gray award though. He just grins and tells people that he has the gray hair gene, and that means he won't go bald! (Those in dh's family with extremely early gray keep their hair.) I told him if it ever bothers him we can have it colored like mine.

[LaMere Academy]

About 30.

[nakitty]

I'm 33 and none yet....however, I haven't even seen my natural hair color in close to 20 years...so who knows???? LOL

[Mesa]

My first gray, I was 22 yrs old.... I'm 29 now and I dye my hair regularly! I do have a few gray's in my eyebrows now too..... it really sucks.

[Staci in MO]

Ever since then I've always been able to find a few.

I'm thirty-six, now, and they're really ramping up. It's starting to become noticeable at my bangs and temples.

[FlockOfSillies]

I was pregnant with my oldest (:svengo:). I blame her, LOL.

[Plaid Dad]

I was in my early 20s. One side of my family goes gray very early; one aunt was almost completely gray by the time she turned 21. I keep my head shaved, though, so only my beard is "distinguished." ;)

[gardenschooler]

Late twenties, although I did have a few strays in my mid-twenties.

[BamaTanya]

but they didn't start bothering me until last year (when I was 41).

I don't know why exactly. It was gradual. But one day I looked in the mirror and thought, "That doesn't look like me."

Maybe it was when I had the last baby and the guy peeking into the nursery window beside me asked if my "grandbaby" was in there. (I was wearing a robe and slippers in a hospital at 2 in the morning, for crying out loud!)

Maybe it was when my dc asked me what color my hair used to be. (They were trying to figure out where their hair colors came from.)

Maybe it was when I went on job interviews and the people interviewing me were OLDER but looked YOUNGER than I.

Maybe it was looking at family videos and thinking, "Who is that old lady with the big behind?" Ouch.

Oh, well. Now it's light brown again. :001_tt2:

[Kate CA]

I started getting it last year....at 44 years of age.....geeze. LOL

Tammy

That's pretty late, Tammy! LOL I started mine at 36 and many of my friends in their early thirties. :)

[Julie in CA]

...I'm just noticing them here and there. What's a bummer is that I don't really mind the color, just how "contrary" they are! They stick out every which way, and they are dramatically coarser than the rest of my hair. :eek:

[scubamama]

Man! Some of you girls are late bloomers - I had my first gray at 16. It runs in the family, unfortunately. Now I'm 32 and it's really taken over...so much that folks point it out to me like they're doing me a favor - or maybe theyr're getting kickbacks from Miss Clairol? :glare:

[Virginia Dawn]

The first couple at 40. I'm 43 now and they are increasing in frequency.

[angela in ohio]

My first few were at age 18. By my mid-20's, I was 25% gray. Now, I'm 34, and I would be almost totally gray if I didn't color my hair.

[cricket1178]

I'm not sure. I've colored my hair since I was 14, but I think I was around 40 when I saw my first gray hair. My eyebrows have had gray in them that long. I'm 45.

[nmoira]

Between 30 and 35.

[Christi/NC]

But now, at 39, I'm nearly all white. I'm naturally white but lovingly Clairol's Nutmeg Brown. My father was white by 40. Sigh---gotta love genetics (and Clairol!)

Christi

[Doran]

I'm 44 and would look very distinguished as a man! I have a lot of white/grey hair at my temples. (I don't think it's fair that it looks good on a man but tends to make a woman look washed out!)


If graying temples makes woman look washed out, then I must look positively drowned!

I was 28 when my gray hairs were becoming noticable (maybe just to me). At around 30, I decided I wanted to use natural henna. I have very thick, very curly hair, so henna was kind of like spreading peanut butter and mown hay into my hair. Not a pretty sight, but I continued to use it for many years until switching to permanent vegatable based dye. Used that until 18 months ago at which time I decided I was sick of having to color my hair and pretend it was not actually gray. The longest ends are still a blondish red, but the rest of me is silver/gray with some of my original dark red/brown underneath. People tell me they like it. I've come to terms with it. If I was 44 and only just starting to go gray, I would NEVER start coloring. Never.

Why are men thought to be distinguished and woman washed out?! It's nuts, completely nuts!! (But, I'm not mad at you, Jean...;))

[sweetbaby]

I did not like grey hairs and spam.
I do not like them, Sam I Am!
No, I will not look at them on a plane.
I will not look at them on a train.
I will not look at them, you see.
I will not look at them. You let me be!:D

[Jean in Newcastle]

If graying temples makes woman look washed out, then I must look positively drowned!

Why are men thought to be distinguished and woman washed out?! It's nuts, completely nuts!! (But, I'm not mad at you, Jean...;))

LOL! BTW I like your picture in your profile. You look very distinguished!

I don't color my hair. My scalp is very sensitive and I break out with most shampoos. So I am not brave enough to try to color it!

[Jenny in Florida]

I actually thought it was funny at first.

It's not so amusing now.

[KIN]

but a month or so ago I decided I was going to just let it go. Then I saw a friend from school at a ball game, and she was gray. My dh said she looked 10 years older than me and we were in the same grade- so I'm gonna keep coloring for now! I'm 34 and don't want to look older than I am. :)

[Reesegirl]

Why is it that men look so distingished when they start to gray and women don't? My hair started to gray about 44 but i just pulled them out. I am coloring now to cover them. Reese

[Jennifer in SC]

I was 19/20 when I first noticed a few. Now, at 32, I have a TON of gray. Apparently, one of my great grandmothers was totally gray by the time she was 40. I have no doubt I'm headed in that direction. I die it now because it's so random, but I think if it were all over I would just let it be natural.

[mcconnellboys]

Yeah, I'd say it was about that time that I started getting enough of 'em to notice....

[LynnG in Hawaii]

I'm 39 and starting to notice quite a few, just in the past year or two. :glare:

I have a baby less than a year old and really do not want to be taken as his grandmother. ;)

I'm realizing that it's time to start coloring.

For those of you who have BTDT, what do you recommend? I've never colored my own hair before. I sometimes get professional highlights done, but don't really have the time for that anymore with 2 small babies at home.

I'm willing to spend a little bit more for a really nice product. What do you recommend?

Oh, and my hair is light brown with a few natural dark blonde highlights.

Thanks in advance!

Lynn

[mcconnellboys]

I know nothing about this, really, but have been using Loreal's Preference Creme.

[sabrina]

I was 27 when I got my first grey hair. I was teaching school at the time and one of my lovely 8th grade students pointed it out to me. I really think that he gave me that grey hair now that I think about it. Just don't pluck them - they will multiply - I learned that the hard way. Or it could be that I have two of my own children now and on is very strong willed!

[Jennifer on Earth]

I was 24 when I started to get comments! There weren't that many gray hairs, but still, some people noticed. It was around the age of 25 when I started coloring my hair (I'm 38 now).

BTW, I remember seeing something on the news one time that said the same gene for premature graying was linked somehow to the gene for osteoporosis. Apparently women of European descent with small (or fine) bone structure are lumped in with this too. I qualify for all of this - which means I better start taking some calcium!

[missplacedalaskan]

I think I was 33 when I first found a gray...it was a LONG hair so it had been there a while!
I have tried coloring with the temp color a few times, but I am too afraid that I'd be too lazy/cheap to keep up the permanent color. So far I notice the grays, but no one else has said anything. I pray it stays that way!

[Bells]

My first ones came in around 43, 44, I'd say. I'm nearly 50 now and have a handful - enough to notice at point blank range, but not enough to add interest to this dark dishwater mop 'o mine.

Bells

[Amy in MS]

Sigh,
I'm 32 and seeing plenty of white/grey around my temples. Whined to my mother about this, and she informed me that all of my paternal great-aunts were snowy-white in their 40s! (I'm NOT going gracefully! I will invest in hair products! Much against what I once insisted. sigh)
Amy