# My hair grows darker and darker with age... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 18, 2005, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hair-grows-darker-and-darker-with-age/331692 "2005-11-18T19:52:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hair-grows-darker-and-darker-with-age/331692/1 "2005-11-18T19:52:17Z")
and it makes me sad. ☹ When I was little, it was _auburn_. A dark auburn, true, but auburn nonetheless. Now I just glanced at it in the mirror on the way out of the bathroom, and I see it’s black. Still not jet black, but a very very dark brown indeed. Dark ebough to look black. Or if it’s gotta turn black, why can’t it be the nice glossy black of Easterners? Nope, mine’s curly, so it’s decided it’s gotta be different. Where are all the curly-haired people of the Dope? I know \*\*Brown Sugar \*\* is one. Do you guys all have the same situation - growing darker and darker? I’ll try to post pics of the difference tonight. ---
**Author:** ![Godfrey\_Daniels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Godfrey\_Daniels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Godfrey_Daniels)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hair-grows-darker-and-darker-with-age/331692/2 "2005-11-18T20:12:11Z")
Some close friends recently had a 25th anniversary party, and had all the albums from their wedding day open. I was absolutely shocked to see how blond my hair used to be. Now it’s just kind of medium brown, with lots of gray. ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hair-grows-darker-and-darker-with-age/331692/3 "2005-11-18T20:14:24Z")
My Mom’s hair did that. It was auburn up until her late 20s. When she was 40 it was almost black, then started turning white. ---
**Author:** ![Avarie537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/48db29/32.png) [@Avarie537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avarie537)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hair-grows-darker-and-darker-with-age/331692/4 "2005-11-18T20:20:16Z")
I feel your pain. I was a towhead blonde child and now the best description is “dark ash blonde,” which means “crappy bland hair with no real color to it.” Oddly enough, you can buy dye this color [here](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.goodnessdirect.co.uk/detail/882209b.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.goodnessdirect.co.uk/cgi-local/frameset/detail/882209.html&h=300&w=300&sz=6&tbnid=-t1WAQqQXxAJ:&tbnh=111&tbnw=111&hl=en&start=2&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dash%2Bblonde%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG). My hair is actually quite a bit darker than that. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hair-grows-darker-and-darker-with-age/331692/5 "2005-11-18T20:39:13Z")
Ah, so _YOU’RE_ the one stealing the color from my hair! Give it back! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hair-grows-darker-and-darker-with-age/331692/6 "2005-11-18T20:40:07Z")
Haha! _runs off with more color_ Seriously, you can have some of it back, dude. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hair-grows-darker-and-darker-with-age/331692/7 "2005-11-18T20:45:09Z")
Mine has gradually grown darker over the years too. I remember in college, (mumble-mumble) years ago, there were bits that were the exact shade of my gold bracelet. Now it’s all a dark, nondescript brown. Oh, except for that one bit up front that is getting lighter. I’m going blonde that’s my story and I’m sticking to it again. Platinum blonde. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hair-grows-darker-and-darker-with-age/331692/8 "2005-11-18T20:45:44Z")
could be worse…you could be _losing_ color in your hair, or losing your hair itself… ain’t genetics _fun_? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hair-grows-darker-and-darker-with-age/331692/9 "2005-11-18T20:47:50Z")
My sister and I were platinum blonde when I was little; my father was as well. He ended up with the bland ash-blond result, while I got a weird mix of every hair color imaginable that looks like a brown-auburn muddle. (My sis ended up with less of a mix and an ash-blonde/brown combo.) Seriously, I have black, brown, red, blonde, you name it, and in differing thicknesses as well. I end up getting a red-auburn dye job every 6 weeks to smooth it out into a more normal-looking auburn. My sister had been dyeing it back to a brighter blonde, and decided to just give in and dye it close to her “natural” color (ash-blonde/brown) to let it go back to normal without the whole roots issue. She took one look in the mirror and just about gagged. Back to blonde, and it looks more natural on her than her attempt at “natural,” I have to say. ---
**Author:** ![Martha\_Medea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@Martha\_Medea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha_Medea)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hair-grows-darker-and-darker-with-age/331692/10 "2005-11-18T21:00:37Z")
Mine was auburn when I was a child, as my mother never tires of reminding me. I had put down the change to dark brown/almost black, to living in a colder climate with less exposure to the sun. Now I’m in the Caribbean and it’s still almost black, with more and more white hairs springing up, which I put down to marriage. 😉 Add me to the curly-haired person list, **Anaamika**. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hair-grows-darker-and-darker-with-age/331692/11 "2005-11-18T21:43:50Z")
Not curly, but my hair has also gone darker over the years – from a really distinctive _orange_ color as a kid to the current rusty sorta-red that I have ☹ Well, except for the part (in my beard) that is growing lighter again. And it’s _not_ becoming orange, either :mad: And my son has gone from a dirty yet still distinctive (for this part of the world) blond to just-another-relatively-fair-haired-kid (and would probably be considered “brown” in the US or Europe by now) IOW – as long as your hair keeps getting darker, count your blessings. You’ll be even angrier with life when it starts getting lighter again! ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hair-grows-darker-and-darker-with-age/331692/12 "2005-11-18T21:51:35Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > and it makes me sad. ☹ > When I was little, it was _auburn_. A dark auburn, true, but auburn nonetheless. When you grow old, it will turn white and that should make you glad. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hair-grows-darker-and-darker-with-age/331692/13 "2005-11-18T22:07:58Z")
My brother and I both started off with fairly dark brown hair – he got the curls, lucky kid – and in our teens, it got darker for both of us. His is about black now (he’s 21) and mine isn’t as dark. But it’s definitely darker than when I was a kid. I wish I had naturally auburn hair. Dang. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hair-grows-darker-and-darker-with-age/331692/14 "2005-11-18T22:10:17Z")
My husband’s hair is doing this, his hair was almost white when he was a toddler. Now it’s a dark golden blonde. Maybe part of it is that you’re not getting as much sunlight to bleach your hair as you did when you were a child? ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hair-grows-darker-and-darker-with-age/331692/15 "2005-11-18T22:10:24Z")
Nope-long, natural spiral curls (medium-fine hair). It actually lightened from when I was a baby. My parents claim when I was a baby it was a beautiful jet black but nowadays it’s brown-black with brown and red highlights. My sister has straight jet black hair, though. And mine is dark enough that on cheap cameras it comes up blue-black. Anyway, I’m getting my hair lightened to some shade of brown this weekend. I’m bored. ---
**Author:** ![Godfrey\_Daniels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Godfrey\_Daniels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Godfrey_Daniels)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hair-grows-darker-and-darker-with-age/331692/16 "2005-11-18T22:18:56Z")
As a friend of mine once pointed out, “better gray than nay” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ms.deanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@ms.deanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ms.deanna)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hair-grows-darker-and-darker-with-age/331692/17 "2005-11-19T05:04:47Z")
Why would that make you sad? My hair is very ,very dark brown (almost black) , its kinda long(the middle of my back) and it’s curly. Dark hair is beautiful . You should be proud of what you have. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hair-grows-darker-and-darker-with-age/331692/18 "2005-11-19T05:15:04Z")
I’m opposite. I started off with dark chocolate hair when I was a kid, and now it’s a reddish medium brown. Dammit I want my darker hair back! ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hair-grows-darker-and-darker-with-age/331692/19 "2005-11-19T05:25:42Z")
I didn’t say I wasn’t proud of what I had, just sad about what I lost…I really liked that auburn hair. ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hair-grows-darker-and-darker-with-age/331692/20 "2005-11-19T05:39:34Z")
My hair is wavy, curly with a bit of stern handling, and it started off strawberry blonde, then darkened to brown. It’s a rather non-descript light-medium brown now, with blonde and red highlights if I stay in the sun much longer than I care to. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hair-grows-darker-and-darker-with-age/331692.md?page=2)