My dad is close to 70, and most of his hair is still black. His beard is mostly white, though, and there is more gray and white hairs in his head than there used to be 5 years ago, but mostly black still. Dull black instead of shiny black.
Mom didn’t start getting gray hair until her 50s. She used to have blonde hair when she was younger, so it seems her hair regressed to that. It’s a beautiful combo of light brown, blonde, gray, and white. I wouldn’t want her to dye it, and dad has expressed he likes it just as it is too. I’m afraid if she tries to dye it, it will end in one of the popular around here orange/red shades, which I abhor.
I put over 60, but that’s mostly guessing on how it looks… For women, and part of the reason I don’t like changing colours, it’s because they change gray with a color completely foreign and not even natural. Nothing says “I’m trying to hide that I have white/gray hair” than a carrot top on someone who wasn’t/isn’t a ginger. So if I see hints of orangy/reddish hair on people who otherwise wouldn’t have it, I get they dyed their hair.
Early 30s, still no white hair. Knocking on wood I inherit my parents’ genes.
My mother in law is in her late 70s, wheelchair bound and living in a care home. You better bet she dies her hair. Just because you’re old, doesn’t mean you stop caring about your appearance.
That’s not true. My dad and I both started to get white hair in our 20s. He was fully white by the time he was in his mid-forties and I’d say I’m 60-70% there now, at the same age. (I’ve been coloring mine since I saw the first white strand)
Same here. I am simple minded man. I am aware that in theory people (mostly women) dye their hair natural colors, but it never occurs to me that any particular person do so.
This is the most surprising answer in the Thread for me. Sure, some people are greying by the time they hit 40 …but that you’d assume hair dye of a 40 year old who isn’t showing any grey. I really thought 45 would be the absolute low end for assuming dye.
What I’ve learned from the Thread is that if it looks natural enough that you’d have to guess …then there’s really no point guessing. Seems there are plenty (even though far from most) people who keep their color long into grandparent years.
Yes, I’ve noticed this also, especially with women and grey. I know several jockettes that went grey in their 20s or early 30s. And most of the men that I’ve known that were either alcoholics or very overweight kept their hair, although it might be greying.
The rule of the thumb for men is 50% gray by age 50, so most men would have some visible gray by age 40-45. I voted 45 for men because most men show some visible gray by age 45, but I’d reconsider for a particular man if his family history provides some contraindication.
Both alcohol and obesity can alter a person’s hormone balance, and since male hormones do affect male pattern hair loss in men prone to that there may, in fact, be a connection there. So far as I know, however, neither alcoholism or obesity affects hair color.
I honestly have no personal frame of reference here, so I can’t say I’d be making the assumption at any point. My mom went gray in her early 40s and has been dyeing her hair since then. My dad is about to turn 70, and while his beard is gray and his hair is thinning, his hair color is still the same shade of brown that it was when he was much younger.
I’ve been accused by both my mom and sister of dyeing my hair (hmmph), which I’ll never do. I’m quick to point out the 30-40 gray hairs I do have around my temples when face with such an accusation.
I started getting some gray hairs in my 20’s. I colored my hair and made no bones about it. I experimented with every shade of red you could find. Then blonde. Then brown. Whatever. I wasn’t being discreet, I was having fun with hair color. Then about age 42, I noticed that I was coloring more often and STILL having this streak of white in front. Then all the roots were almost glittery after a couple of weeks. Hair with little or no pigment won’t hold artificial pigment for long. It was torturous, but I grew out my hair dye and went natural gray since my mid 40’s. Bluing once a week, and a head of hair so shiny, you need glasses. Seriously, if you do have gray hair and it has a yellowish tinge, find Mrs. Stewart’s bluing in the laundry aisle. Dilute* in warm water and rinse your hair with it. Just like grandmother did. It makes a difference.
*Failure to dilute will result in all the gray or white being bright blue for a day or so. Great temporary punk dye.
Is the hair a “good” color job? Is it a shade that is appropriate to the person’s coloration? What color are the eyebrows? Anyone much past forty with blonde, red or very dark hair is automatically suspected of coloring, even if it’s a good color job.
Of course you care about your appearance… when you are young, you die your hair so that people know that you are young. When you are old, you have grey hair so that people respect your age and wisdom.
I’ve had bright, glittery platinum hairs throughout my head since I was 30. Nothing like seeing that in the bathroom mirror at work on a bad day. :mad:
Now I also have a white-and-platinum wing of hair on my right temple. If I were melodramatic, I could say it “appeared overnight” when my fiance’ died because of “shock”, but really, his death happened when my age = my mom’s age when she got her wing of white hair. So I think genetics had more to do with it than shock.
Anyway, I blend it in with a light honey/reddish blonde color because I have a young face. If I ever decide to let the grey show, I’ll just have grey/white highlights put in to blend the color in while the hair grows out. But I have a few more years before I need to look like a grown-up.
Actually, when my hair looks like my dad’s, I’ll let the silver/white/platimum show. He has a gorgeous head of hair. Just gorgeous.
I am 59, and am graying somewhat at the temples, and my moustache is pretty silver. Once or twice my daughter said I should dye the moustache and leave the temples alone, because graying hair on the head is distinguished. I haven’t bothered, and probably won’t.
I’m 45 and have a fair amount of grey. No idea about the genetics of it (adopted), but I joke that I found my first grey hair the day TheKid turned 13. Before I had grey hair, I always dyed my hair, now I don’t care too much. I earned the grey, in my opinion.
I recently saw TheKid’s dad - I used to call him a calico. The hair on top of his head was a lovely warm honey blonde, eyebrows dark brown, beard a bright auburn. What hair he has left had faded to a dull ashy blonde with grey and his beard is streaked with white. He looks at least a dozen years older than he actually is. His father was calico-y, also, but started to shave his head when he started going grey.
My grandma didn’t have a grey hair on her head when she hit 70. It was compellingly obvious that she wasn’t dyeing it because as she approached 80 she finally started getting grey hairs. She was 70% salt and 30% pepper on her 90th birthday.
At 56 I have a few greys if you look carefully, and my beard is substantially greyed up.
I was a freshman in High School when people first told me, “do you know you have grey hair?”
I’m a guy, and I’ve never dyed my hair (despite years of harassment by my mom). I’m 37 now, and solidly salt and pepper; it’s never really bothered me, and I’ve always figured that dying would be a huge pain in the ass, since you’d have to keep it up.
I have flirted with the idea of “blending” my hair when I get a haircut (the person cutting the hair almost always suggests that I get a non-permanent dye which would just darken the color, without removing all of the grey. I’ve never taken the plunge, though).
I figure the color is genetic (since my mom’s uncle went grey early). I was very health-conscious and into working out throughout my teens and early twenties, so I don’t think my lifestyle contributed to my hair color. Although, I did have a barber once tell me that smoking would make the grey turn yellowish, so there’s that.
