Redheads and grey hair..

[goodasitgets]

Is it right that red hair goes grey a lot later in life? I've been colouring my (natural) red hair for a while. Weirdly the roots are coming through so light now that I'm almost strawberry blonde
Was bright almost fluorescent orange when I was younger but it's looking lighter and lighter

One of my closest friends has beautiful red hair. We are now in our 40s and as you describe, hers is just sort of fading to a lighter colour..she was deep strong ginger and now it's more strawberry blonde.

I envy her as you can't see it going grey.. unlike mine!

Thanks, that's interesting. It's no use me looking at my mum for what happens as she is dark brown almost black hair and olive skin
Am 30 so wasn't expecting it, it looks like almost highlights. Might let the colour grow through and see

DM was dark red, in her late 30's/40's her hair started going naturally lighter and looked strawberry blonde. Now (60's) it is white with a red tinge. Still a more beautiful colour than most. Very jealous I didn't inherit the red hair gene.

Apparently so, they also apparently feel the cold more and have lower pain thresholds.

I'm a 36 year old natural redhead and mine has definitely turned a touch lighter, but definitely (touch wood) no greys yet.

I laugh in the face of cold and pain.

Yes I heard we need more anaesthetic. The dentist gave me extra and muttered about "red hair and bleeders"

See if this works
Photo as child, photo of temples tonight (you can see the lighter bits)
No laughing at the horrendous haircut!!!

Is that true? I was a redhead as a kid, now I'm brunette with some red mixed in. I'm a heavy bleeder according to the nurse who takes blood from me! Also in my diabetes test I shocked the chemist by bleeding all over the table!

Oh and also apparently red heads are notorious for being hard to get blood out of.

Wonder if all these are true...

I never knew that about the cold! I DO always feel the cold but thought I was just "soft"!

I'm 41 and am getting quite a few white hairs. I colour them every 4 weeks though so not sure what my hair would look like if I left it. I don't really feel ready to find out either!

Do you think red headed peoples skin ages badly? Or is that just me?

I've been told the thing about the lower pain threshold, and also when I was stitched up after both labours, both doctors said that red heads skin is harder to stitch as it's thin and the skin tears.

With my first labour he had to do the stitches twice as my skin wouldn't hold the stitches - ouch!

I really hope it's true about going grey later, I've only started loving and appreciating my red hair in my 30's, dreading losing it

Another red head but my hair has got darker over the years, to the point where people ask me where the DC got their red hair from. Have loads of white hairs though at 36, but hairdresser promises me it looks like highlights!

I'm red headed - or used to be! I'm 40 now and my hair is 80% white. It does not look like strawberry blonde or a lovely faded colour, it just looks meh . It's been like this since I was about 35, so I have 5 weekly visits to the hairdresser for a mix of all over colour and some blonde highlights. It's very lovely, but not my natural colour (sob!).

I had a major surgery a couple of years ago and my consultant expected me to be "a bleeder" because I'm red headed - and indeed I was.

I'm a bit of a wimp when it comes to pain, so I can't comment on the pain threshold thing.

If redheads feel the cold more (I do) it could be a link with hypothyroidism. I've also got a low pain threshold, but put that down to anaemia. Have been told thyroid function can make hair go gry too, though mine is just less red, and i use a wash in light colour for the 'highlights'.

I'm not a bleeder though, just the opposite.

Your hair looks like Crystal Tipps'! [mean] So did mine. Not purple though, obvs.

My hair was lighter ginger when I was a child, faded to more of a coppery blonde by my 20s and now it only really shows red in sunlight - it's more of a medium blonde with "a strong copper reflex" apparently (that's what one hairdresser told me ).

I'm 47 now and the last time I had my hair cut, I asked the hairdresser about how many white hairs she could see - she said less than 1%. I've found a few, but they are very definitely bright white, not grey at all. Mostly you can't see them though, I have to hunt for them!

I did have one white nipple hair, but that's disappeared...

Ha, I didn't notice all the physiology comments along with the red hair!

Apparently redheads are more likely to have joint problems because they have looser connective tissue, so get more twists and sprains and so on. This is true for me at least. I don't think I feel the cold much more than anyone else, I am a bit of a bleeder but not excessively and in fact have a blood clotting condition called Factor V Leiden thrombophilia, which means I'm more likely to have blood clots.
Pain threshold - hmm, dunno. I don't think it's that bad.
My skin is thicker rather than thin - the only minor surgery I had, the doctor was having troubles getting the needle through it! (maybe his needle was blunt though...)
I bruise very easily though.

Thumbwitch - I know! The days of having a brush yanked through it (ouch)
The hairdresser didn't seem to realise if it was cut straight across it would go triangular
This is it now

Not in my case. Boo.

goodas - ha, I had an even worse one when I was 15, the hairdresser who cut my hair hadn't seen it dry, it was washed by a junior and she clearly failed to realise the level of curl it had. It was cut layered, and when it dried, it went SQUARE! I had a square head Took me years to go back to a hairdresser after that.

Your hair looks lovely now :)

My hair was quite carroty as a youngster. By late teens it had changed to more auburn, like this :

As I got into my early 30's white hair started appearing, and by the time I was 39 it was 100% grey. I've been colouring it ever since, not ready to go grey yet.
I did try a lighter shade of strawberry blonde, following the usual advice to go a bit lighter as we age, but although I think it's a gorgeous colour it looked off on me.I've had to keep more depth and warmth.

As for getting blood out of a redhead - the only clinicians who are able to get blood from me are the phlebotomists. Nurses give up after 3 or 4 attempts. Doctors are the worst, sorry to say. They seem to think it's a personal challenge to get it out, after a nurse has failed. I've been very badly bruised and nearly fainted a couple of times because of a doctor being determined - and unable - to get some. Doctors usually end up going into the veins on the back of my hand.

I'm a redhead and noticed the vibrancy fading a bit in my late 30s but was still a good dark auburn shade. A third baby at 40 and by the time he was one, my hair started to grey a little. Because I didn't want people to think I'm his Granny, I've been having a semi permanent colour done by professional colourist. She does a lovely job of recreating my natural colour from my 20s. I do need it done 6weekly, but as I never previously coloured my hair, I don't mind paying now.

She says stick with semi as when it washes out a bit, it still looks natural and variable all over, rather than the line you get with permanent. It is the beauty "thing" I won't be without, it takes several years of my face....I love it.

Agree with the veins. The blood clinic use a nurse nicknamed "the vampire" on me
She's never failed, one attempt and gets it