MetaChat - I found my first grey hair today.

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20 April 2008

I found my first grey hair today. I pulled it out by accident while trying to take a picture of it. Oops. I'm not alarmed, although I am 24 so it seems a little early for this.

post by: youngergirl44 at: 15:25 | 26 comments

≡ Click to see image ≡

posted by youngergirl44 20 April | 15:26

24? Pheh, ya wee sprout! I got my first gray hairs in high school. wear 'em with pride.

posted by jonmc 20 April | 15:32

I found my first grey hair the day after my wedding. That should have been warning enough.

posted by essexjan 20 April | 15:36

I found a little patch of gray hair on the right side of my head at age 14.

posted by JanetLand 20 April | 15:43

At 35 i spotted a long one somewhere on my left. Haven't seen it since.

posted by ethylene 20 April | 16:00

Eh, I was a couple of years younger, IIRC, when I started going grey. It all went a bit crazy after that. Gimme 10 years and I'll be 100% grey, I'm sure.

posted by TheDonF 20 April | 16:06

I was close to your age when I spotted my first gray hair. Not sure if I was 24, 25, or 26 but it was around there. I blame it on my first husband. These days, although at 41 I really don't have tons of gray, I color it anyway. There just aren't enough grays to be interesting.

posted by redvixen 20 April | 16:08

When I'm an old lady with all grey/white hair, I'm gonna dye it crrrrazy colors.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 20 April | 16:13

I saw my first when I was about your age, but I wasn't sure if it was gray or blond until I picked it out.

posted by brujita 20 April | 16:13

I didn't start going gray at all until I was in my late thirties. My head is still only a little gray at the temples but my beard is about 50% gray now.

posted by octothorpe 20 April | 16:44

Meh, there seems to be some sort of competition going on on my head to see whether it all goes grey or all falls out first.

posted by dg 20 April | 16:59

I started going grey when I was around 22 or so. No big deal.

posted by gaspode 20 April | 18:31

I was 15 when I had my first gray hairs pointed out to me by a Jamaican-Canadian who told me that in Jamaica it's said that going gray early means you will become rich.

Alas, this has yet to prove true.

posted by Orange Swan 20 April | 18:41

Ah, I am 49 and just now really getting some gray. But not really enough to be that noticeable yet. Once in a great while everyone gets a stray gray hair even when you are young, is my experience.

posted by bunnyfire 20 April | 18:44

I went to school with a guy who was salt and pepper gray at around 17 years of age. It looked great!

posted by tomble 20 April | 21:24

Just today, I had 11.5 inches of grey hair cut off.

My wife begged me not to do it. . .but it had gotten to be too much of a hassle, generally.

posted by danf 20 April | 22:58

danf, between you and the beard-championship guys, I'm sorely tempted to grow my hair long.

I've definitely got some gray, mostly in my temples, but a bit in my beard too. I want more--I like the multicolored-ness of the brown and blond and gray.

posted by box 20 April | 23:08

I think I'd like my hair to look like this guy's:
≡ Click to see image ≡

posted by box 20 April | 23:13

Here's another one that's had silver on the sides since 14.

posted by pokermonk 21 April | 00:00

My first grey hair appeared at 28 or so. My boyfriend of the time actually gasped a little when he found it, although he tried to cover it up. :-) I've only had a few more since then, but I'm glad - I think it'll look rather distinguished.

posted by mykescipark 21 April | 00:04

i'm looking at Paul Newman in Slap Shot.
He's all grey and Paul Newman and funny in a fight.

posted by ethylene 21 April | 00:38

I just had a couple of greys until... I guess I was about 32, 33, something like that. I shaved my head for a play I was doing. (Believe it or not, I was cast as a Chinese eunuch. Not my proudest moment on the stage, for several reasons.) When I grew my hair out again, there was this Bride of Frankenstein grey swoop right in front. It's been downhill from there - my beard is pretty much all grey now, as are my temples, and the rest is all shot through.

I earned each and every one of those greys.

posted by bmarkey 21 April | 00:59

I don't know if this is an old wives tale over here, but what they say is that you're not supposed to pluck out your grey/white hairs, but cut them, so as to avoid more of them sprouting.

Now, I have no idea how true this is, since it was revealed to me by a cousin brother of mine, and if you ever saw this guy you'd think the last thing on his mind is whether he should "pluck or cut" his white hair (him being so butch and all).

posted by hadjiboy 21 April | 07:43

I remember the first time my hairdresser told me I was getting grays (early thirties). At the time, I wasn't phased that much. Now, I get a tiny bit sad about it. They are around my hairline and I think they make me look frumpy when the start to grow out.

posted by LoriFLA 21 April | 08:08

Although I've been getting gray on my head for 20 years and actually kind of like the "distinguished temples" thing,... I found my first couple of gray pubes last week. That was a little tough. "You mean I'm getting old there too?"

I can't wait to see a pic, danf. Enjoy the summer breeze. :)

posted by danostuporstar 21 April | 08:27

This may date me but I think that grey hair, on an otherwise well-maintained person is really sexy. The new New Yorker has a model on about page 5 that is just really pretty. Much moreso than two-week-old roots.

posted by danf 21 April | 09:32

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