# Gents, what started greying first. Head hair or beard? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 9, 2014, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gents-what-started-greying-first-head-hair-or-beard/706749 "2014-12-09T10:33:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gents-what-started-greying-first-head-hair-or-beard/706749/21 "2014-12-09T15:08:35Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > My eyelashes on one side turned white along with a strip of my beard on the same side when I was about 21 or so. My beard is now almost completely white. Couldn’t give an accurate description of what hair I would have on my head, as I have kept that shaved since I was in my late 30s. I am 52. Like…is this all happening outside to inside or left to right? ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gents-what-started-greying-first-head-hair-or-beard/706749/22 "2014-12-09T15:12:15Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Like…is this all happening outside to inside or left to right? The strip of beard was what you would get if you drew a line straight down from the eye on that side. As I aged, the white just kind of generally spread through my beard. The eyelashes on the other eye, and both eyebrows, are still colored. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gents-what-started-greying-first-head-hair-or-beard/706749/23 "2014-12-09T15:14:13Z")
A friend of mine has a naturally bleached-white strip in his mustache, just below his right nostril. For Halloween one year, he dyed it black and bleached the stripe on the other side and went as his evil twin from the Mirror Universe. Nobody noticed. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gents-what-started-greying-first-head-hair-or-beard/706749/24 "2014-12-09T15:26:34Z")
My beard has been gray for several years now, while (most of) the hair on my head is still brown. I’ve had facial hair in the past, but I can’t now, because my face would look 20 years older than the top of my head. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gents-what-started-greying-first-head-hair-or-beard/706749/25 "2014-12-09T15:53:36Z")
I don’t know for sure (been clean shaven for about 12 years now), but I suspect my beard started first- there’s more gray there if I let it get scruffy, than there is on my head, which is basically dark brown with a few white hairs here and there. Few enough to where they can get confused with normal hair shine if you’re not looking carefully. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gents-what-started-greying-first-head-hair-or-beard/706749/26 "2014-12-09T16:06:58Z")
My first grey hair appeared when I was a junior in high school. When I was in my mid-30s, I grew a full beard. It was a little salt and pepper for a while, then suddenly the area around my chin only went solid white in about two months. I shaved it and have never had a beard since. ---
**Author:** ![DoggyDunnit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5fc32e/32.png) [@DoggyDunnit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoggyDunnit)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gents-what-started-greying-first-head-hair-or-beard/706749/27 "2014-12-09T16:22:15Z")
For me, it’s neither. About three months ago, I finally got around to shaving the Jumanji around my junk, and discovered a gray hair. I am but 22. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Fool\_in\_the\_Rain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fool\_in\_the\_Rain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fool_in_the_Rain)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gents-what-started-greying-first-head-hair-or-beard/706749/28 "2014-12-09T16:28:13Z")
Beard first, about five years later, started showing a few greys on the head. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gents-what-started-greying-first-head-hair-or-beard/706749/29 "2014-12-09T16:29:20Z")
I had my first gray hairs before I could grow facial hair. (I still have problems with that) ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gents-what-started-greying-first-head-hair-or-beard/706749/30 "2014-12-09T16:48:40Z")
My beard is weird. My 'stache? It’s trash. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gents-what-started-greying-first-head-hair-or-beard/706749/31 "2014-12-09T16:50:31Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Temples (beard/hair interface) then cheeks, then chin. Same here. Chin is going faster than temples. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gents-what-started-greying-first-head-hair-or-beard/706749/32 "2014-12-09T16:58:40Z")
I don’t know. I’ve never grown a beard. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gents-what-started-greying-first-head-hair-or-beard/706749/33 "2014-12-09T17:39:19Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I don’t know. I’ve never grown a beard. Never shaved? The hair in the foam or inside the shaver. That tells you all you need to know? ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gents-what-started-greying-first-head-hair-or-beard/706749/34 "2014-12-09T17:42:33Z")
Everything from the nose down loses color first. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gents-what-started-greying-first-head-hair-or-beard/706749/35 "2014-12-09T17:45:01Z")
Hair started greying, then falling out. Then the beard started grey. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gents-what-started-greying-first-head-hair-or-beard/706749/36 "2014-12-09T17:46:12Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Never shaved? The hair in the foam or inside the shaver. That tells you all you need to know? No it doesn’t. There’s not a sufficient quantity of it to know for sure. I think 3 or 4 days is the longest I’ve ever gone without shaving, and at 1/8 of an inch I can’t tell for sure. There’s some grey in there, just as there’s some grey on top. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gents-what-started-greying-first-head-hair-or-beard/706749/37 "2014-12-09T17:50:47Z")
Sideburns and beard. For some reason, while the rest of my facial hair starts turning grey, my moustache stays dark. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gents-what-started-greying-first-head-hair-or-beard/706749/38 "2014-12-09T18:17:23Z")
Beard first. Although I’m 69, my head hair is still mostly dark brown. I’ve gotten comments from people who thought my head hair was dyed. ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gents-what-started-greying-first-head-hair-or-beard/706749/39 "2014-12-09T18:22:39Z")
Beard first then head. They’ve caught up with each other. The squeeze’s beard and head did the same thing. We say we caused each other to go gray. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gents-what-started-greying-first-head-hair-or-beard/706749/40 "2014-12-09T18:24:43Z")
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