# When'd you find the first white hair on your head? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 29, 2014, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whend-you-find-the-first-white-hair-on-your-head/687256 "2014-04-29T07:05:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![mage-girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@mage-girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mage-girl)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whend-you-find-the-first-white-hair-on-your-head/687256/61 "2014-05-01T02:55:52Z")
I think I had my first gray hair before I was 30. Now, at age 43, I’m at about 30-40% gray. I have dark brown to black hair, so it is extremely noticeable. I’ve tried dyeing my hair, but my gray is extremely dye-resistant. I would have to dye it myself every other week - or get it done properly at a salon, which I can’t afford right now. It’s starting to bug my mom. She was staring at me the other day and I asked her why. “You need to dye your hair,” she told me. “Why? It doesn’t bother me.” “Well, it bothers me,” she replies. “Looking at your gray hair makes me feel old.” Holy crow. And here I thought she didn’t care about me! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whend-you-find-the-first-white-hair-on-your-head/687256/62 "2014-05-01T04:54:54Z")
Back in high school. My mom found it on me and reacted in horror. It’s funny how many women notice it and get so sad for me. I am almost 28 now, and I’m probably about 10-20% grey. I figure by the time I’m 40 I’ll probably be almost entirely white-haired. I’m fine with that though! ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whend-you-find-the-first-white-hair-on-your-head/687256/63 "2014-05-02T21:21:29Z")
I was 12 and my class was taking a spelling test. The whole room was silent. Suddenly the little girl sitting behind me (and whom I was incredibly in love with) stood up, pointed to the back of my head and shouted as if it were some infectious disease, “You’ve got grey hair!!!” All of a sudden I became about two inches tall and ran out of the room. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whend-you-find-the-first-white-hair-on-your-head/687256/64 "2014-05-02T21:39:13Z")
Don’t remember the first one, but I was pretty much grey/white by 50. At 63 I’ve waiting for my first grey pube- according to Bill Cosby _that’s_ the one that shakes you up. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2014, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whend-you-find-the-first-white-hair-on-your-head/687256/65 "2014-05-03T19:40:01Z")
> [@MoonMoon](#): > > Ha! I have a friend who calls them platinum highlights. Do I know you? 🆒 I call my grays platinum highlights too. I’m a redhead, and I do have a some gray but it does look like highlights unless you get really close. At least that’s what everyone tells me, even the lady who cuts my hair. I first noticed a gray hair in my teens, I’m in my late 30s now. I’m hoping I will take more after my mom, who is 64 and still not even halfway gray, than my dad who was pretty much totally gray at 40. ---
**Author:** ![Sarabellum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarabellum/32/3492_2.png) [@Sarabellum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarabellum)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whend-you-find-the-first-white-hair-on-your-head/687256/66 "2014-05-04T02:06:56Z")
I think I was 17 when the first gray (silver, really) was long enough to get noticed. I plucked it. By 20, I was plucking them out weekly. At 22, I started dying my hair and/or using color enhancing shampoo. By 30, I was 20% gray. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2014, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whend-you-find-the-first-white-hair-on-your-head/687256/67 "2014-05-05T00:38:55Z")
I was 12, but the white hair was at least 12 inches long so it had been hiding there for a while before I saw it. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2014, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whend-you-find-the-first-white-hair-on-your-head/687256/68 "2014-05-05T19:26:07Z")
When I was about 35, and in my goatee. Which is comical, since I had never in my life allowed for any facial hair until roughly a year before then. At the time, I blamed one of our white cats for implanting it in the middle of the night. It has since been joined by a companion on the other side, for which I blame the other white cat. There is no other reasonable explanation I can come up with. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2014, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whend-you-find-the-first-white-hair-on-your-head/687256/69 "2014-05-05T19:37:58Z")
It’s probably all the estrogen hormones in your food. Soy milk, dairy & meat products, etc. Have you grown boobs yet? ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2014, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whend-you-find-the-first-white-hair-on-your-head/687256/70 "2014-05-05T20:10:00Z")
My oldest child was born when I was 21. A few weeks later, we drove across the state to bring him to meet his great-grandmother. As I was getting out of the car, my own grandmother pointed out the patch of silvery-white hairs on top of my head. I’m now 45 (almost,) and I seem to have a Bonnie Raitt thing going on: white streak at the forehead, but mostly red otherwise. It works. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2014, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whend-you-find-the-first-white-hair-on-your-head/687256/71 "2014-05-05T23:32:35Z")
I think I was around 48 when I got my first grey hairs. They don’t bother me that much- they are just mostly located in a small patch mostly located in one area. I’m female and do dye my hair about 2 or 3 times a year. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whend-you-find-the-first-white-hair-on-your-head/687256/72 "2014-05-06T00:06:47Z")
I forgot the answer to “how did you react?” I was a bit miffed that my own grandmother - who had almost no gray hair at the time, despite being 71 years old! - was the one who pointed out my strands of silver. And I was a little amused that my first noticeable gray came along with the first child. Otherwise? No real reaction. I have an enormously thick, curly head of hair that appears red, but has strands of everything from jet black to copper to blond to silvery-white. I kind of dig my streak of white. (My husband, on the other hand, shaved his head for many years. About two years ago, he decided to grow hair. It’s a very distinguished gray/silver, and I think it looks awesome. He doesn’t like it so much… I told him that of course, it’s his head and his decision, but I love his hair. If he wants to shave it again, that’s his prerogative, but he honestly looks a little scary without hair, and quite handsome with. I think we’ve compromised: he’ll shave when the girls start bringing boys home to meet us!) BTW, finding a gray hair on your head isn’t nearly as traumatic as finding one further south, IMO. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whend-you-find-the-first-white-hair-on-your-head/687256.md?page=3)