# I found my first gray hair. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 7, 2000, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-my-first-gray-hair/32305 "2000-09-07T01:06:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2000, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-my-first-gray-hair/32305/1 "2000-09-07T01:06:13Z")
I can only guess that it’s Brian’s fault. 😉 Yeah, a couple of days ago, I was brushing my hair, and I saw this little, four-inch hair poking out about two inches up from my hairline. And it was WHITE. _No way,_ thought I. So I plucked it out. It was coarse and wiry. And still white. Incredulous, I held it up against something black. Still white. Held it up against something blue. Still white. Held it up against something _white_. Blinding whiteness confronted me. I am officially old now. Hell, I’m only 22. Not even 22 and a half yet! Make me feel better. How old were the rest of you when you found your first? ---
**Author:** ![Hanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b3f665/32.png) [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2000, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-my-first-gray-hair/32305/2 "2000-09-07T01:12:48Z")
I was twenty four. It was very depressing, but I started getting highlights that covered up the grey. I liked the highlights. You’re not old! Bo ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2000, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-my-first-gray-hair/32305/3 "2000-09-07T01:16:19Z")
Could be worse. You could have started going bald at age 22… ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2000, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-my-first-gray-hair/32305/4 "2000-09-07T01:16:24Z")
I was fifteen. My mom got her first one when she was 17 or so. Just remember, for everyone you pluck, two grow back in its place. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![tygre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@tygre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tygre)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2000, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-my-first-gray-hair/32305/5 "2000-09-07T01:26:58Z")
15 or 16, but I started noticing them more after my son was born (I was 22.5 then). –tygre ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Cynical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee59a6/32.png) [@Mr.Cynical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Cynical)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2000, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-my-first-gray-hair/32305/6 "2000-09-07T01:38:06Z")
I’ve been pulling them out since at least 17. Now, of course, I am incredibly sexy. Maybe you’ll get a cool shock of white like Rogue. ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2000, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-my-first-gray-hair/32305/7 "2000-09-07T01:50:32Z")
I sprouted three white ones during my senior year of high school five years ago. No surprise, since I was unbelievably stressed out that year. I haven’t had any white hairs since. ---
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2000, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-my-first-gray-hair/32305/8 "2000-09-07T01:58:27Z")
My first gray hair was at 28, more showed up after I met Roommate. I don’t mind the grey hairs… **Warning! Gross topic diversion ahead, but I gotta say it…** It’s the tough wiry black hairs growing out of my chin that drive me insane. Especially when I cannot immediately find a pair of tweezers to YANK THEM OUT OF EXISTANCE! I am way too young to be looking like my grandmother (who would notpull them out). She had this mass of chin hair that makes me cringe to this day. Hugging her was like hugging a brillo pad, and as a kid you HAD to hug Grandmama. So I don’t mind the gray hairs. At least I am not grossing out any children with chin hairs. ---
**Author:** ![Primaflora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Primaflora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Primaflora)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2000, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-my-first-gray-hair/32305/9 "2000-09-07T02:00:12Z")
35 years old. The day my 5 yo had to be removed from school and all hell was breaking loose with him. Then I pulled it out and it never came back ---
**Author:** ![Amok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f17d59/32.png) [@Amok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amok)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2000, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-my-first-gray-hair/32305/10 "2000-09-07T02:03:54Z")
I don’t remember the exact age, but I’ve had a few grey or white hairs for quite some time (and I’m only 25). I remember having some back in junior high, so at least since I was 12 or 13. The number I have has increased over time, but the vast majority of my hair is still brown currently. ---
**Author:** ![Lazarus7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/67e7ee/32.png) [@Lazarus7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lazarus7)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2000, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-my-first-gray-hair/32305/11 "2000-09-07T02:24:14Z")
Got my first gray hair when I was 16 … on a plus note, not a single case of male pattern baldness in my family (mother and father’s side) going back at least 5 generations. ---
**Author:** ![MysterEcks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@MysterEcks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysterEcks)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2000, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-my-first-gray-hair/32305/12 "2000-09-07T02:31:43Z")
Well, I’ll be 37 shortly, and I have never had a gray hair on my head. Of course, it’s possible that the hair which has fallen out would have been gray–so I like to think, anyway. I did start getting gray and white hairs in my beard and moustache in my mid-20s. Not a lot, not even now, but very noticeable against the brown. Just as an observation…from the people I know, women getting gray and white hairs in their early 20s and even late teens isn’t especially uncommon. Males don’t seem to go gray as early, though we sometimes start losing it completely pretty early. (I was in my mid-20s for that, too, and I used to know a guy who was essentially bald at the age of 19.) ---
**Author:** ![Milossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Milossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milossarian)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2000, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-my-first-gray-hair/32305/13 "2000-09-07T02:36:05Z")
Welcome to the club. Our meetings are Tuesdays at 6. It’s a curse from my mother’s side for me. I will always have a thick, full head of hair, but I am profoundly salt-and-pepper at only age 33. ---
**Author:** ![brachyrhynchos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brachyrhynchos/32/376_2.png) [@brachyrhynchos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brachyrhynchos)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2000, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-my-first-gray-hair/32305/14 "2000-09-07T02:37:54Z")
Are you sure it was a grey hair? I’m a blonde (okay, blonde AND grey) and when I was around 20, I found a coal-black hair on the top of my head. Maybe yours was just a weird, errant hair. ---
**Author:** ![vincenz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/48db29/32.png) [@vincenz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vincenz)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2000, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-my-first-gray-hair/32305/15 "2000-09-07T03:11:41Z")
Don’t pluck them. They never grow back. Dye them with permanent markers. Touch up every day. Then dye your head pink. And pierce your nose. That always makes you look younger, unless you wear rags a lot. ---
**Author:** ![vincenz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/48db29/32.png) [@vincenz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vincenz)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2000, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-my-first-gray-hair/32305/16 "2000-09-07T03:14:13Z")
Wait a minute. You’re 22 going on 22½? What happened to 22¼? Somethings fishy there! Better get a new hair salon right away. ---
**Author:** ![Profane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47774/32.png) [@Profane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Profane)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2000, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-my-first-gray-hair/32305/17 "2000-09-07T03:20:08Z")
I’ve had a few white hairs since I was fifteen, (I’m 26) but the number hasn’t increased. Mr L, OTOH, is grey at the temples and only 28. I told him he looks like George Clooney so he’ll feel better. ---
**Author:** ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2000, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-my-first-gray-hair/32305/18 "2000-09-07T03:59:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Drain Bead \* > > **I am officially old now.** This from the woman who claims I am _not_ old when I say I am, and then tells me not to dye my straggling gray hairs, saying they are “sexy.” Uh huh… * * * Yer pal, Satan _TIME ELAPSED SINCE I QUIT SMOKING: Four months, four weeks, one day, 1 hour, 43 minutes and 23 seconds. 6042 cigarettes not smoked, saving $755.36. Extra time with Drain Bead: 2 weeks, 6 days, 23 hours, 30 minutes._ ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2000, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-my-first-gray-hair/32305/19 "2000-09-07T04:05:32Z")
Well, excuse me if I find salt and pepper hair on a man attractive. Mine is like…salt and dirt. Plus, men almost always look better with gray hair than men do. Double standard? Fuck yeah. But it’s my personal opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2000, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-my-first-gray-hair/32305/20 "2000-09-07T04:06:56Z")
Than _women_ do, that is. It’s late, I’m pissed. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-my-first-gray-hair/32305.md?page=2)