I’m 24 and I have gray hair! What’s going on?
- asks Kat from London
Lindsey Bewley • October 8, 2007
![Gray hair can happen at any age--even in your teens or early twenties. [Credit: Abouthair.com]](https://scienceline.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/hair1.jpg)
Gray hair can happen at any age--even in your teens or early twenties. [Credit: Abouthair.com]
I was only 18 when I spotted my first gray hairs, interlopers among my chestnut-colored tresses. As a freshman in college, I chalked these gray hairs up to stress from calculus class and a bad boyfriend. But by the time I aced calculus and dumped the boyfriend, those silver wisps were still there—and now, at the age of 25, a few gray strands have multiplied to what seems like nearly a hundred, silently taunting me when I look in the mirror as if to say, “You’re getting old. You’re getting old. You’re getting old.”
To explain the mystery of graying hair, you must get to the root of the problem, err, I mean the root of your hair. Under the scalp, a tube of tissue called the hair follicle surrounds the root of every hair strand. Each follicle contains a number of pigment cells that produce melanin, the polymer that gives the growing shaft of hair its color. Usually these pigment cells continuously produce melanin, but if your body stops generating it, the strand of hair will have very little pigment to paint over it’s normally transparent hue; this base-transparency will then present itself as gray, white, or silver.
Melanin production is brought to a halt for a variety of reasons–some natural, some indicators of greater health issues. As people continue to get older, the number of pigment cells around to produce melanin will actually be reduced. Eventually, these cells will be so depleted, the hair will look completely gray. Incidentally, melanin also provides moisture to the hair strand, so when less is produced, hair tends to grow brittle, losing its bounce. This is why as your hair leans towards the color of the snowy peaks of the Alps, its texture becomes dryer and coarser, making it more curly or wiry.
My gray hair started when I was still in my teens—a far cry from the usual graying age range of 30 to 50. But it turns out that people can get gray hair at any age, depending on genetics. This means that most of us will start having gray hairs around the same age that our parents or grandparents first did. I called my mother to find out our family’s graying hairstory. She told me it wasn’t any surprise that I had started to gray at a young age—her uncle’s hair was completely white by the time he was 25. Aha! I thought. Now this mystery is starting to make sense.
Researchers have shown that gender plays a role in graying. The average male starts to gray around age 30, while women typically began to notice lighter strands around age 35. In some families, many members develop white hair in their 20s. “It obviously clusters in families in one sense. Whether that is a single gene or common gene we don’t know,” writes Dr. Meyer in the magazine Scientific American. “Generally speaking, among Caucasians, 50% are 50% gray by age 50. There is, however, wide variation. This number differs for other ethnic groups, again demonstrating the effect of genetics.” But this biological fact of life varies greatly from person to person, which made dermatologists and geneticists conclude that age is not the the only indicator of when gray hair will appear.
For starters, smoking is known to decrease melanin production. Sometimes, the arrival of gray hair can be a sign of an underlying health problem. Werner’s syndrome, a disease that mirrors the symptoms of aging in people as young as 20, can spur the premature growth of gray hair. Pernicious anemia, a disease marked by a vitamin B12 deficiency, is also associated with decreased melanin production.
Although there are people who think that a big shock or trauma can turn a person’s hair white overnight, only a rare disease has been known to cause this phenomenon. Called alopecia areata, the condition causes the thicker, darker hairs to stop growing before it affects the growth of gray hairs—meaning people with the disease seem to “go gray” overnight as the darker strands are diminished and the gray ones keep on growing strong.
Overnight graying myth aside, what about that pesky old wive’s tale that says pulling out a gray will result in five more springing in it’s place? That’s also wrong! So yank away. I, however, don’t have that kind of patience, so it’s back to the salon for me, for a little color to cover those stubborn grays.
369 Comments
I’ve had white hair since I can remember. I think since 3rd grade and I’ve gotten used to ppl telling me ‘omg u have white hair!’ some have the audacity to pull it out e,e;;
I’m 18 and at this point in my life I dont care anymore I jst wanted to know why. But I do feel self-coincious so I’m going to dye my hair. Ima get highlights so I dont have to get all my hair done so its all kool. I think that you have to get confortable with yourself.
If you feel uncertain about your hair and feel like ppl talk about you and stuff its best if you dye or highlight your hair.
If you’re proud of your wisdom shinnig through your darker hairs I admire you, takes attitude to love yourself so much.
As for me I just want to know how does it feel to go about without feeling ashamed.
No one in my family started to go grey until their mid-thirties (if not later) and here I am plucking them at 24! There has got to be other factors than just genetics at play here. My boyfriend noticed the first couple on jan 30 ad they keep sprouting up since then. I’m actually starting to believe that “pluci one and five more will grow” theory! Will be making a trip to the salon.
One more 25 year old here turning gray. My mom didn’t gray till her late 30. My dad is 54 and is only 50% gray. I had/have a lot of stress in my life so I’m thinking it might be playing a role. But I found my first grey at 18, which is premature. I’m trying to get comfortable with them and stop plucking them out, to see them as a sign of maturity and wisdom. It is comforting to hear all the other people on this board :] Let’s get together for “gray pride” parade. LOL.
grey pride parade … lol
yes, let’s do it…
Hey, My name is Darcy, im 14 and im starting to spot a little gray hair every now and then through out my head. I really dont want to be gray at such a young age :( , does anyone know anything i can do.
iv had highlight in my hair a few times when i was about 10, does that have an affect on it?
okay wtf??I am 29 young and plucking out grey hairs like I’m gonna go bald in the front.I had a baby 10 months ago.cut my hair short and it turned dark brown cause of hormones I call them my old blonde patchs..LOL…I love the grey pride thou..I laughed..I think its in the air..stress the economy..omg!!we will all be grey soon..LOL..
I Started to get grey hair at age of 19yrs old…but nw i feel they are getting worse and also some are grey strands from the root. for this i have to dye my hair regurlary, as i have dark black hair and the grey really stands out….please can anyone give me some ideas….
I noticed grey hair on my beared at 22 Years old, i grey my beared out for awhile probably an inch because i didnt feal like shaving and i noticed some hair on my chin was “shiny” i plucked it out and a closer examination turned out to be silver/grey in color. My natural hair color is black/brown mix.
I hear that for men grey usually starts on the beard then goes up. Oh well having grey doesnt bother me really. I find it will probably make look more experianced and distinguished. So i wont bother with dye’s even if my whole head turns grey
I’m 28 and last night i found a partial grey hair. My hair is very long and it only greys at the middle section. Is that a real grey hair or is it just bleached out? My mom did not have gray hair until 40, so i should not expect to have it any earlier?
Got my first greys when i was 15 years old. Im 24 now and nearly half my head is grey. Im Syked about it because the whole unusual thing but the grey hairs are not tame at all. They go where they want to. got em on face and other areas:)
i have noticed my first gray hair when i was 17, it was a desaster,,,, i thought i was aging faster than usuall, eventually i saw the same thing happened to my young brother and sister when they were 16 and 17 years, when i asked my mom about it, she told that this very commen in her family, by her age of 40 her hair 100% gray.
im so glad im not the only one! my best friend noticed my first silver hair at 16 and i was like omg! i hope this is the only 1! i couldnt believe it so i asked her to check my head and that was the only one so she plucked it out for me but unfortunatly for me i thought by plucking it out i would say by to that little silver thing for good!…..but oh no! i am now 21 and i can probably count about 30 strands or more! its so depressing!!! i stand in the mirror every morning searching for them. i dont know if its good plucking them out but i think the more you do, hopefully those “silver” roots will get damaged and no grow hair at all? i also have very dark brown hair so its always so easy to notice them.
I am 15 and just found my first gray hair today. its making me go nuts, i have no idea how anyone can stay calm after seeing it.
Im 11 and 40% gray….. I started going gray at age 7
HI, im 34 and geting grey fast, didnt bother me before as i use to keep my hair short, until people started passing comments.All i want to know besides dying my hair is there a cure? Will B12 help?
Hello, I’m 27 and noticed my first grey hair at the age of 20. My hair is now about 30% grey and everyday I look in the mirror and wonder why me? I have two older brothers and none of them have grey hairs. My fiance says she loves it but everywhere I go the only conversation people seem to have is about all the grey hairs on my head. I know it’s natural but I really just want to know how does everybody cope, and should I feel ashamed that I’m not as proud of my grey hairs as I should be? Thanks for all the advice and yes, maybe a “gray pride” parade would help. And is it spelled grey or gray?
Hey!I start noticing a few grey hairs when i was about 18, and i didnt really take much notice as they werent obvious, but i am now 21 and in the last 2 months or so i can clearly see a large number of greys without looking too hard, i am really concious of it, and i pull them out, but it is impossible to try get rid of them all! i have naturally light brown hair but it is dyed black, so im thinking of just letting it go light again and maybe the grey wont be as noticable! It is def genetic, my dad went grey in his 20’s but none of my siblings have started to go grey yet, and i am the youngest!:-(
I am 19 years old and half my hair is grey, and im hair color is black , so it stands out, but that does not worry me. I am more worried now i might have Werner’s syndrome or Perinicious anemia, althgough both of my parents had grey hair at around the same time.
I’m 14 right now and im spotting grey hair gah! what could this mean and the only person in my family that prematured like in there teens to is my uncle when he was 18 and now he’s in his late 40’s and his hair is grey hair isd like 70% on his head…….
I started to notice this like 2 weeks ago so now i have like 10 grey hair what is this?
I’m 22 years old and I have about a 150 grey hairs, about a year ago I didnt even have half of them and now they doubled. My uncle is 42 years old and he has full gray hair and I just might be like him.. Its a shock to some people when I say im only 22 they dont believe it!
26 and going gray! I hate the idea that stress actually causes this but I have to say that I had a huge fire at 23 and lost almost everything so as much as I hate to admit it genetics might not be the only thing going on here. These hairs are remarkably long so I’m guessing they started growing sometime in April 2006. Sucks to lose all that stuff and my hair color! I feel robbed of everything now!
I’m 24 and started going gray around the age of 16. You couldn’t notice my gray hair until a couple of years ago. Now I have to color my hair every two weeks. It totally sucks because my roots turn auburn and the rest of my hair is dark brown. Any solutions? I hate feeling so old.
I’m 25 & I just found my 1st gray hair today. I’ve colored my hair regularly since I was 14 b/c I don’t like the red tint to my hair. Now I guess I’ll be coloring it to cover up the gray. My fiance is 30 & doesn’t have a single gray hair.
Hey all, i’m sara i’m only 16 nd i’m really really depressed because of my stupid grayed hair.. When i first realized that i have gray hair i freaked out nd every night in my bed i cried nd thought that i’m the only one.. At skul i know that some kids laugh nd always point on my hair.. One day i went home nd cut every white hair i layed my hands on.. But now i color my hair with some blond high lights, but till now i’m sad nd i feel jealus of the kids who have natural hair.. HELPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP
ND THE WOST PART IS THAT NEITHER MY MOM NOR MY DAD HAD WHITE HAIR WHEN THEY WHERE YOUNG ND ALL MY BROTHERS HAVE NO SINGlE WHITE HAIR..
I REALLY REALLY JUST HATE MY LIFE :'(
HI GUYS,I’VE GOOGLED FOR A WHILE AND I VE FOUND THE WAY TO GET RID OF GRAY.I’M 20 YEARS OLD AND I HAVE ABOUT 10 GRAY STRANDS,I PLUCK THEM BUT THEY COME BACK AGAIN,SO I’VE GOOGLED AND FOUND A SOLUTION.IT’S CALLED SUBLIMINAL MESSAGES.I PAYED FOR IT ABOUT 11$..AND YOU HAVE TO DO IS LISTEN TO IT,PUT YOUR MP3 AND GET RID OF GRAY.HONESTLY IT HELPED ME.MY GRAY STRANDS DISSAPEARED,AND ALL OF MY HAIR IS BROWN AGAIN.I TOLD MY MOM TO CHECK MY HAIR AND SHE COULDN’T FIND ANY..
Hey Guys,
I’m a 25 year old male and noticed my first grey on the side of my head a few weeks ago. I couldn’t believe it!
I plucked it out and I have had a few more come since.
I know compared to some of you guys I’m not that young but it is still kind of distressing… I Wasn’t expecting grey at this age.
I have recently been under some extreme stress and I’m thinking it is possible that it may have contributed.
It is starting to become a bit of an obsession now.. every morining I’m looking for grey hair and if I find one I feel crap :(..
I just hope it stays at a few until I’m older but I guess it’s out of my hands… If things get real bad I guess there is always ‘Just for Men’ ;).
Im 14 and I have about 45% of my hair white, I got it at a young age like 7 but I’ve learned to live with it, when people joke about it, it still gets to me and there;s nothin i can do but i know im not tha only one
Hi guys, I am 27 now and found my first Grey at the age of 12. I guess, 40% of my hair is grey now. But No one can make it out as I apply Mahendi(henna) regularly. It gives dark brown color with burgundy tint. I am giving you the recipe for the same.Hope it may be helpful to you.
Take 100 gms Henna powder, add 1 tea spoon Indian gooseberry(aawla) powder, 1 tea spoon coffee and mix up with sufficient water to make paste(use iron utensil). Keep overnight.
Apply it to clean hair and keep it till it dries in your hair. Rinse thoroughly with water. Do not shampoo for 24 hrs. You will get nice dark brown color with 2-3 applications.
I noticed this on the net:
http://www.pioneerthinking.com/graydye.html
check it out. If anybody will try it please leave a respons.
Lili
I’m 15, i shaved my head today(in respect of my late dad, who died of leukemia.) and saw half of my hair was gray! I was kinda freaked out at first, but wouldn’t mind a head of gray hair. people already tell me I look older than I am, so why not top it off?
I started getting gray hair at ten. I am 14 now and I have a lot of gray at the top of my head, but that is about it. Is there any treatment. I’m so young!!!
I found my first gray around around 12, mainly because i’ve always had alot on my mind and been really stressed out, and wasn’t able to find a way to just relax. I’m 14 now so things aren’t as bad, which you would expect them to be worse, but there are ways for me to just do nothing. mainly if you are stressed out it will happen, and there isn’t really a way to stop it after that, but you can slow it down by trying to relax more.
im 19 when i was 17 my hair started to lose its pigmentation, but i didn’t really make a big deal over it because my biological father and othe related family had the same issue just at a younger age then what i started out. but i just dye my hair over the years and don’t make a big fuss over it, i know that im loved for who i am no matter how young i look and for people to say stress is what causes it? r u kidding me? thats a hoax!
Im 40 and 100% grey. Itis annoying as my hair is brittle, coarse and dry. I have to use dye every 2 weeks and the annoying thing is my scalp is itching hard out.
My son was only 10 when his hair was 50% grey. He had to leave school in young age as he could not stand kids tease him grandpa. he shave his hair all the time.
I tried diff shampoos but no luck.
Looks like I have to scratch for the rest of my life.
I am not alone…i have my first grey hair when I was 17. Is people at long ago(maybe 18 century) have gray hair?or just now?maybe it’s the effect of chemical food or drink.
I am 12 and i just discovered a few peices of gray hair i dont want gray hair in middle school going to highschoool is there a cure and i dont want to die my hair it is lite brown and blonde and the hair is white and i dont know what i should do. do i need more vitamin is it the shampoo i am going to words for horse back riding maybe its the stress? I dont know help me out please!! It will be much appreciated!
Worlds**
i am now 17 and have strands of white and silver hair, and this started around 8 this really does suck…
Im forteen and i just found my forth gray hair :(
my mom has had to dye since she was 25 years old… this is depressing!
aww i kno how you guys feel i got my 1st strand of grey hair at the age of 14 and now i have like 10-15strands and their all on my back, but ppl get so annoying sayning ” you have grey hair! ” like 24/7 even when they told me that once aready i wish they get it too so they can stop annoying me… and im asian so black hair and my hair is kinda long too…
I’m 16 and I have several grey hairs……..normal? No.
I was born with blonde hair, and I had a patch of dark black hair at the back of my head. As I grew older, that patch turned white. My mother was the first to notice this, when I was around 8 or 9. More or less two years ago, I noticed 3 or 4 more white hairs at the side of my head, but close to the back (opposite side of the patch) while brushing my hair, and other people have noticed them as well. Now this week, I noticed ANOTHER white hair that is extremely hard to find, and I see it when brushing my hair sometimes. It is one strand that is on the same side as the part with 3 or 4, but this one is closer to my face. I’m 15……WHAT’S WRONG WITH ME????? My parents started graying in their 40’s, and my brother in his 30’s…..
yea i got my first grey hair at eleven and was more grey than brown at 14 and totally grey at 17. But am 24 now and it has only recently started to bother me really! I call it ash blonde :)
I’m only 20 and the other day my mom noticed that i have a grey hair
at least i know I’m no the only one. for a second i was thinking i was too young to get a Grey hair.
I am 14 and i got a few gray hairs and it is really depressing… what it wrong with me? Does anyone know how i can fix it please!!
u guys think u got it bad i got my first white hair when i was only 8 or 9 now im 11 and i have about 10% of my head and everyone bugs me about it but its good to know im not the only one. im a little concious about it so if anyone has an idea about how to fix it without dying it it would really help thx
argh so many people annoy me about my gray hair and it is… well annoying so if someone could help it would… well it would help
i just need to learn how to not care right (please respond by starting with “i have an answer john” plz it would help)
actually i have to revise the 10% statement it is actually about 50-100 hairs