old age alert...?

[Holly02]

Hi all, just a slightly unsettling topic - for me, anyway!! May sound quite trivial but here goes...

I'm turning 38 this year and have noticed in the past couple of months when plucking my eyebrows, that there have been a couple of little white ones in there... anyway I've just plucked them out, thinking (hoping) it's probably just a one-off thing.

Anyway I went to the hairdressers this morning to have my blonde foils done as per usual, and she found a grey hair on the top of my head!!!! Am I too young for this??? I am starting to wonder if stress has caused it, as neither of my parents went prematurely grey. I know there are lots of people who do go grey quite young, but I still feel that 38 is a bit too young to start sprouting grey hairs. Am I totally wrong about this?

Perhaps I can blame my 3 yr old son

Holly ... total nightmare ... what a shock!!!!
I am really sorry for what I am about to say and you won't like it but .... I think you are doing really well only just going grey at 38! I am one of the only people I know without any grey hair and I am 33 ... One of my close uni friends had grey hair at 25 ... my sister started getting grey hair at 30 and so did my brother.
I don't think 38 is that 'premature'. I thought it was standard to start during your 30s ... but I may be wrong ... I may be surrounded by stressed people!!!!!!!!!!!!

sorry, holly, i got my first grey hair at 20! think it depends on how quickly your parents went grey...

I'm 36 and have had grey hairs for years,and they really show in my dark hair! It's normal, sadly!

I got my first grey hair at 27 and was shocked. Now I have to get my roots done every month and what a beastly bother it is too. I shaved all my hair off 5 years ago to see what it would be like as I wanted to see if I would be treated the same ( a radical experiment) and also to allow my natural colour to grow back in, but I didn't feel as attractive and now there I trot of to the hairdresser once a month with the other blue rinsers !

Holly02, I think it's completely normal at 38. I don't think I've got any yet (36) but even if I did I wouldn't know since it's been dyed for about 5 years. Friends who are younger than me have some, as does my sister who is 32. My advice is never let it go back to its natural colour and then you'll never know whether or not there's anything there to worry about

my goodness holly02, 38 and only one grey hair?? I've got loads (37) and really should start doing something about it, but I have NEVER dyed my hair in my life (not even in teenage gold-eyeshadow-and-nail-varnish years) so not sure if I can be a***. All my friends dye theirs though so I'm sure they've got grey to hide too. I'd shut up and think yourself lucky

ps I noticed my very first silvery hair when I was about 16...

Hey I've just realised that I've said I'm 37 on a couple of threads now....just worked it out and I am in fact only 36 (for a couple more weeks anyway!!) Put it down to pregnancy brian...

Brian? Who's Brian?!!!

Holly..... my Mum started going grey at 27. I'm 25 and starting to worry! My hair is black so when I get the odd grey hair it is VERY noticable!! I usually pluck it out pronto.

ah, ghengis - you must have missed the classic 'pregnancy brian' thread....do a search, it will brighten your day

I've never found a grey hair on my head, yet I discovered my first 'down-there' grey hair when I was 17 !! It must have beenb a freak occurence as no more have sprouted since then ! V. disturbing though !

Blimey, I've had grey hairs for as long as I can remember. I will NEVER let it take over though, am resigned to a life of dying it. Oh to be blonde so I wouldn't notice it!

The best thing about being dyed blonde is that you never go grey. Actually I grew it all out at 40 when I was pg and didn't have one grey hair yet, bet I have now though so I'm not ever intending to find out, pass the Recital, luv

Holly02, I think you're doing very well. At least you have eyebrows to find grey hairs in, mine all fell out recently for no known reason!! Feel very strange with no eyebrows. No grey head hairs yet (age 36), but then I've got red hair so I'll go white! Am going gradually blonder though.

I was just thinking that elliot's post could have been written by me, when she spoiled it by being only 36 after all. I'm 37 and have been getting more and more silver (as I like to think of them) hairs for years. The overall colour's still pretty dark though. I don't think I can be bothered with dying it just yet.

Actually, I have been thinking about this topic recently and almost considered starting a thread. What do people think about the going grey / dying hair question? My mum looks great with short silver hair - but she's 62. Is it inevitable that mainly dark, but quite a bit of grey, hair looks dowdy and middle aged in your late 30's / early 40's? Do I really have to bother with dye? - I can't even be bothered to blow dry (not brave enough for the shaving it off option).

Bother - when did I start thinking of myself as "late" 30's? I was planning to be "mid" 30's for at least a couple of days yet. This is not being a good day.

I meant a couple of years, not days - see what I mean?

I'm 26 and I have quite a few silvery white hairs, people in my family tend to go snowy white rather than grey. There used to be just the odd one or two that I could spot in a certain light but I noticed the other day quite a few that I could see without having to actually look for them! aagghh

In my family it's hereditry to go white very early, thanks to my great grandad for that it comes from his side of the family. My granny likes to tell me that I'm lucky to have got to this age without being totally white as happened to my cousin when she was 16, she dyed her hair for years because of it and often in very interesting colours so I'm told.

If you've got to 38 and your only just going grey I think you're doing very well.

I got my first grey hairs at 16!! Now I'm 33, I'm pretty grey - least I would be if it wasn't for the dye. My Nan's hair was completely white by the time she was 20.

The only good thing about this is that I can't be depressed about it being a sign of aging, not if they appeared at 16!

I am 7 years younger than you Holly and have been dying my hair to cover up the growing number of grey haris for a decade now. As I have naturally very dark hair I don?t have the luxury of toning in with blonde/white...I think you should cheer yourself up with the fact that you are doing well to have only a few and that having blonder hair is a huge advantage in the covering up game!

Sigh... guess it's not that abnormal after all. Both my SIL and a good friend of mine have been dying their hair for years because of greys, but I really thought they were in a minority at their age. (welcome to the real world huh??)

Caroline5 you poor thing! I wonder if it could be alopaecia..? DH's cousin had it a couple of years ago and she said her hair thinned a lot and her eyebrows also fell out... not very pleasant at all.

Jane101, I think dying your hair dark has to be easier (and much less expensive) than maintaining blonde hair - my mum just uses the kits that you buy from the supermarket (to cover the grey) and it turns out really nicely. Also you wouldn't have to blow-dry your hair if you didn't want to... it's just a thought but I don't think dying your hair would be that much trouble, it just depends if the grey really bother you or not. BTW, I also think white or steel grey looks great on older women - quite classy actually!

I'd love to go natural - the expense for a start -it's 45quid a month to cover the roots. If I do it myself, it only lasts for two weeks. I just look much much older and washed out with natural hair and I'm still hanging on to being an attractive woman. SB or what?

When I was young, I just didn't realise that women used the arts to conceal their age or make themselves look attractive - I didn't know anything about makeup as my mum didn't use any and had a bun so never went to the hairdresser.Was anyone else naive in the ways of womanhood?

Me! I come from a No Makeup family too.